A New Year? Heck yeah!

New Year’s Eve 2020 marks the 26th anniversary of our first “Cheap Date Life After Dark New Year’s Eve Extravaganza” broadcast on WGN radio. Sadly, 2020 being what it has been, our annual kicking out the old and welcoming in the new celebratory radio party joins the ranks of many of the year’s sidelined events.

Do we like a good radio party with a studio full of talented guests? Yup!

During this Covid 19 year, do we think it would be a good idea to ask our talented friends to join us in a close studio environment that could put all of us at-risk? Nope!

So, even as we take a pass on partying this year, we’re hoping that a year from now when, hopefully, Covid 19 has been put in check, we’ll all be able to gather again in studio A and party like it’s …. well, a normal year.

But, to prime the pump for future possibilities, we thought it might be fun to look back at a few “moments” from our past celebrations.

During our 2015/16 New Year’s Eve party in WGN radio’s Michigan Avenue Showcase Studio a Jimmy Reed jam broke out with Ronnie Rice, Magoo and Steve. As you can see, we had fun and thought you might like to crank your speakers up to the threshold of pain and join in. A HUGE thank you to Dr. Daiki Ishiyama for capturing it all on video.

2015/16 New Year’s party blues jam

And, speaking of our broadcasts from the Showcase Studio, as you can see from the photo below, taken during our 2016/17 broadcast, there were times when the size of the crowd right outside our studio on Michigan Avenue made it a little hard to concentrate. Thank goodness for soundproof glass.

Just a small portion of the Michigan Ave. crowd right outside the WGN studio during our 2016/17 broadcast.
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Back in the days of the Y2k scare, we broadcast from inside the Tribune Tower in our regular studio as we prepared for who knew what when the clocks ticked over to the new year and potential computer havoc all over the world. Spoiler alert: we survived.

HimNHer getting ready for the Y2k New Year’s broadcast.

More recently, we loved the view from WGN’s Skyline Studio A when the New Year’s fireworks went off.

Part of the 2019/20 New Year’s fireworks display.

We’d never looked down on a fireworks display before.

And, speaking of a crowded studio ….

Empty Pockets, Ronnie Rice and the River Road Trio were just part of last year’s show.

OK, that’s just a taste of the past and, “if the fates allow,” we look forward to more “cheap date” celebrations with you.

For now, like many of you, we’re celebrating “safer at home” with Johnnie’s Dad, John, and Steve’s brother, Lee, who safely quarantined to be with us . As we’ve said each year, “What you do on New Year’s sets the tone for what you’ll do the rest of the year” and, after the year all of us have been through, starting 2021 safely with family seemed like a very good idea.

We wish you a healthy, happy 2021!

Stay safe.

Steve & Johnnie