The Day Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer was Played 310 Times in a Row on the Radio

Our college radio station ran the holiday favorite, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, 310 times in a row without commercial interruption some years ago.

I can't remember how many times people told me they hoped I'd get run over by a reindeer when they found out I had a hand in it.

Even Dr. Elmo Shropshire, who wrote the song, was delighted with what we did when I told him about it during a telephone interview a few years ago.

THE DIABOLICAL PLAN IS HATCHED

Although I always cheerfully take credit for coming up with the idea, it was more accurately that of Mike Dreith. My own involvement really stemmed from my approaching a staff meeting for the campus radio station, WLCA, with a few promotional ideas.

I was a broadcast student at Lewis-Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois. Mike was the broadcast coordinator and the sole instructor, with the exception of a part time radio news instructor. As a result, the radio station, which was cleared for 24 hours broadcasting and had an 18-hour schedule, was operated by the broadcast students from 6 am to midnight daily, seven days a week, as part of the class requirement.

In one of our scheduled classes, the issue of promotions came up. No one else picked up on this but I got to thinking on it as a chance to increase our listenership and do something a little different. One of my suggestions was to break some sort of record.

Dreith was inspired by that and recalled a DJ who got a huge amount of publicity by running Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer 28 times in a row until the staff allegedly smashed down the control room door with an axe, took the song off the air, and put Jack on a two week suspension (read "vacation"). I'd heard of it too.

How about we do it not a couple dozen times but a couple hundred? asked Dreith. It won't cost anything. We just play the song over and over again.

Just to make sure we don't mess up our regular schedule, we could do it on the final full day of broadcasting before shutting down for two weeks of Christmas vacation on campus.

It would be fun, too. There was no downside.

THE DIABOLICAL PLOT IS EXECUTED