Newsradio Concordance

Christmas – Most Christian faiths annually acknowledge the birth of Christ on December 25^th despite scholarly disputes over the accuracy of the date. Though a religious observance, it is also considered a federal holiday thereby impacting people of all beliefs in the United States. For some, it is merely a secular yuletide celebration and this is evidenced in several holiday songs that refer to cold weather and snow without any references to Christ whatsoever. The secularization of the holiday is ironically also the result of depicting a saint—Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus)—as supernatural being capable of bringing toys to children across the world singlehandedly. Imagery of Santa Claus has eclipsed that of Christ and his nativity story in pop-culture, in part due to an increasing sense of public political correctness.

The first three Decembers that Newsradio was on the air featured Christmas-themed episodes.

• In “Xmas Story”, the news crew receives lackluster gifts from their multi-millionaire station owner, Jimmy James. When James learns that no one like their baseball caps with iron-on patches, he replaces all but one them with Mazda Miata convertibles. Matthew Brock receives a box of old time radio tapes instead. Meanwhile Bill McNeill is being threatened with violence by a man in a Santa Claus outfit collecting charity money in the lobby of the Criterion building.
• In “Christmas”, the crew looks to finish their work early to get home for the holidays, but wind up just pushing their tasks on their boss, the easily manipulated Dave Nelson.
• The last Christmas-themed episode, “Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show” has the least references to the holiday. Matthew Brock, now fired from the station, calls up the office to sing “Silent Night” to his former co-workers (and is promptly beaten up by someone waiting to use a payphone). The rest of the episode entails the crew trying to win Matthew’s job back by winning a holiday talent show.

["Christmas", "Led Zeppelin Boxed Set", "Stupid Holiday Talent Show", "Xmas Story"]