An older adult male wearing a dark gray jacket over a red and white checkered shirt, with large black over-ear headphones, sits in front of a microphone at '104.1 KRBE' radio station. 2:01
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Grandpa's Christmas song is on the radio at last

Johnny Gondesen wrote a Christmas song more than half a century ago and put it out on a 45 record. DJs got copies. Not one radio station would play it. more

He was not a professional, just a man with a song called "Christmas Is Here" and a big hope for it. "My hopes would be to have it played on the radio," he says, "and have it played all around the world." Over the years, he got really kind of disappointed.

So the song stayed in the family. Johnny would bring out his guitar and sing it at gatherings during the holidays. "It's been a staple in our family my whole life," one of his relatives says. "He wrote it before I was born." In that relative's mind, it sits right up there with "Jingle Bells."

An older man in a red shirt smiles while seated near Christmas stockings and garlands. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
For decades, Johnny's song was a holiday staple at family gatherings.

His grandchildren saw how much the song meant to him. They uploaded "Christmas Is Here" to Spotify, iTunes and Amazon Music, then went on social media with a plain request. "Help our grandpa feel famous." Local news picked up the story.

Then KRBE, a radio station in Houston, put it on the air. At 83, with big headphones on and a microphone in front of him, Johnny hears his song play on commercial radio for the first time ever, 54 years after he recorded it. "When I finally got to hear it on the radio," he says, "I was so excited."

An older adult male wearing a dark gray jacket over a red and white checkered shirt, with large black over-ear headphones, sits in front of a microphone at '104.1 KRBE' radio station. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Johnny Gondesen wrote a Christmas song more than half a century ago and put it out on a 45 record.

Most people who hear it want to talk about the song itself. It's catchy, and one fan says the ho-ho-ho part will be stuck in their head all day. Another hears a beachy feel in it. Plenty more just like seeing how much Johnny is enjoying himself.

Above all, people are glad the wish came true, even if it took a while. One listener plans to play it on Christmas Day.

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