In some bizarre Christmas news, an Austrian disc jockey's Xmas prank earned him a sharp end-of-year punishment. According to the Washington Times, the 27-year-old disc jockey locked himself in the studio (propping a door closed with a wooden stick) on Christmas Eve and broadcasted Wham!’s “Last Christmas” 24 times in row. The stunt both amused and angered some of the station’s listeners and, as a result, he will not be fired, but instead punished by having to work on both Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
Playing Wham!’s “Last Christmas” 24 times in a row might seem a fairly benign Xmas prank, but in one case of “angering” listeners, the Washington Times continued that the disc jockey’s own daughter had called the studio, begging her father to stop playing the Wham! hit because it was “making everyone mad”. By the same token, the programming chief for Antenne Kaernten (the Austrian radio station), Timm Bodner, was amused by the stunt, but nevertheless asserted his authority by stating, according to IBN Live, “In general, it was funny, but there must be consequences … as a consequence he will have to work tomorrow on Christmas and on New Year's Eve.”
Amidst a slew of second-rate Christmas pop songs to come out of the 1980s, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” is more fondly remembered than some of its contemporaries. In full-blown 80s pop veneer, “Last Christmas”’s whitewashed music video visually expands on the lyrics’ emotionally complex undertones while depicting an otherwise cheerful white Christmas between couples at a Swiss ski resort. The video was nominated for the Brit Award for British Video, and the song continues to get plenty of radio play... even if 24 times in a row goes a tad above and beyond.
