WXPN's 885 Greatest Artists - Counting 'Em Down in Real Time, Part 3 - The Top 285
It's over! 's countdown of the 885 Greatest Artists of all time as voted by the xpn community ended at 7pm Monday October 23rd with the final entry, #1 - THE BEATLES. The only thing better than listening to the countdown was simultaneously listening while reading and participating in the xpn .
The thread with the most fun was the running commentary on the thread. Also check out xpn's , and xpn's . My picks w/full discussion are .
Coverage of the first three days of the countdown can be found . Coverage of the middle portion of the countdown is . The party finally concluded Tuesday when Helen Leicht devoted her entire airshift to playing The Beatles from 10am to 2pm as she celebrated her 30th anniversary on Philadelphia radio.
The four hours went by in a flash and the Beatles (and Helen) never sounded better. Helen's anniversary tribute continued Tuesday night at the Philly Local concert at World Cafe Live, taped for future broadcast; full coverage and pictures to be posted soon.
The Finale at World Cafe Live, Monday 10/23/06
David Dye hosted the final three hours of the countdown from World Cafe Live Upstairs, with the listenership invited to hang and party.
After the World Cafe break from 2-4pm, David came back on the air at 4pm to present #3 - THE ROLLING STONES. After an hour of prime Stones tracks, the big moment was at hand. After the 5pm news, David began the 5pm hour with no intro other than that the following song begins with a famous drumbeat, going right into the first track of #2 - BOB DYLAN with "Like a Rolling Stone".
Nice touch, following an hour of the Rolling Stones with that track.
During the broadcast Dan Reed explained some of the voting statistics. The total number of listeners who voted was approximately 6,400.
At the bottom of the list, artists received votes from approximately 10-15 people. The vote count was close between #2 and #3, and even closer between #3 and #4 (about 100 points), however #1 beat #2 by a landslide.
With #2 revealed, it was instantly clear that the final position of the countdown would be #1 - THE BEATLES.
And even though the suspense was gone, it with with a celebretory air that Helen Leicht joined David at the mike to introduce the final hour. The good feelings seemed totally mutual between the station staff and the listenership. It was the most fun that two weeks of radio can be, and here's hoping that they come up with another great idea for next year.
Remember to click on each photo to enlarge.
News RSS