Grand Rapids Community Media Center ringing in 2021 with WYCE countdown, Wealthy Theatre virtual marathon

Services of Grand Rapids Community Media Center (CMC) are helping the community celebrate the new year with a dual set of programs spanning radio, television, and online.

WYCE 88.1fm, a service of CMC, is counting down the top 2,020 songs of 2020 on its station, with number one hitting at midnight on New Year’s Day. Wealthy Theatre, GRTV, and The Rapidian, also CMC services, join forces for a virtual and televised marathon of New Year’s Eve concerts held at Wealthy Theatre from previous years.

The countdown on WYCE began on Saturday at midnight. The 2,020 songs being aired are based on spin counts of songs played on the station throughout 2020, with number one being the most played. These played songs in 2020 were not only programmed by WYCE’s team of volunteers, but through listener requests.

“From local and regional music by Jammie nominees to the loss of our musical heroes like Bill Withers and John Prine, this list of the 2,020 most played songs truly reflected a shared musical experience between our volunteer programmers and our beloved listeners,” WYCE’s Music & Production Manager, Shane German, said.

WYCE will also be giving away prizes throughout the multi-day countdown. Some of these will be related to listeners who correctly guess the number one song. More details will be shared on WYCE, as well as its website.

For Wealthy Theatre’s marathon of New Year’s Eve concerts in its historic space, GRTV will begin broadcasting this on its Comcast channel 25 on New Year’s Eve afternoon. The marathon will simultaneously stream on GRTV’s 24/7 Twitch feed at Twitch.tv/GRTVaccess, as well as on The Rapidian.

Running through midnight, the marathon will feature videos from the last 10 years of New Year’s Eve performances at the theatre. Among performing artists are: The Crane Wives, May Erlewine, Joshua Davis, Rachael Davis, The Go Rounds, Seth Bernard, Vox Vidorra, The Starlight Six, and Heavy Color.

“This retrospective concert event for the community is a joint project of Community Media Center’s programs and platforms,” said CMC’s Executive Director, Linda Gellasch. “Wealthy Theatre, 88.1FM WYCE, GRTV, The Rapidian, and our technology services have all come together to make this special event possible.”

More details about the New Year’s Eve concert marathon will be announced through Wealthy Theatre and GRTV’s social media closer to the event.