This year’s Christmas Vespers service was recorded by PBS station WGVU for telecast and was recorded for radio, and will be featured on multiple stations.
The stations and broadcast times of which the college is aware are:
PBS Television:
- WGVU, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Sunday, Dec. 24, at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.; and Monday, Dec. 25, at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
- WCMU, Mount Pleasant, Michigan: Sunday, Dec. 24, at 1 p.m.
- WDCQ, Flint, Michigan: Monday, Dec. 18, at 8 p.m.; Monday, Dec. 25, at 7 p.m.; and Tuesday, Dec. 26, at 2 a.m.
- Those living elsewhere should check their local listings to see if the station in their area will be carrying the program.
Radio:
- KPDQ FM Portland and 820 AM The Word Seattle, on Friday, Dec. 22 at 4 p.m. and True Talk Portland on Friday, Dec. 22 at 10 p.m.
- WCHT - AM 600 and 93.5 FM on Dec. 24 at noon
- WFUR 92.9 FM and 1570 AM on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m., Dec. 15 at 7 p.m., Dec. 18 at 7.m. and Dec. 21 at 7 .m.
- WHTC, 1450 AM and 99.7 FM, Holland, Michigan on Saturday, Dec. 24 at 6 p.m.
- WHCB Radio 91.5 in Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City market. Covering Tennessee, Virginia and parts of western North Carolina, on Tuesday, Dec. 12
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WTHS 89.9 FM in Holland on Sunday, Dec. 24 at 8 p.m. and Monday, Dec. 25 at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
This year’s audio program is also available on the college’s website, along with past Vespers services.
In addition, a gallery of images from this year’s Christmas Vespers, held on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 2 and 3, is available online.
The program of Christmas carols and anthems is presented by the college’s Department of Music and features more than 200 performers in historic Dimnent Memorial Chapel. The services include a variety of Hope instrumental and vocal groups as well as the college’s historic Skinner organ.
Christmas Vespers was first held on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. The timing, Pearl Harbor Day, was coincidental, with the program having been planned earlier in the semester. The first service included performances by multiple ensembles, as well as an organ soloist and an organ and piano duet, and ended with the Chapel Choir singing the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah.”