In its 20 years on air, the Current has enlisted thousands of its members and hundreds of Minnesota figures to assemble playlists for public consumption. It’s hard to think of the radio station ever broadcasting a playlist with as much meaning and emotion behind it as the one planned for broadcast Wednesday morning.
The children of assassinated Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, have put together a list of songs to pay tribute to their parents on Minnesota Public Radio’s rock and pop outlet.
Colin and Sophie Hortman’s tribute will air during the Current’s morning show on Wednesday at 8:05 a.m. The Twin Cities-based siblings, ages 30 and 28, approached the station with the idea of discussing their parents on air while playing songs that honor their spirit.
According to the Current, the playlist is “a loving, sweet, and pretty awesome playlist of 8 songs alongside endearing memories that will connect us to Melissa and Mark, Colin and Sophie.” Melissa and Mark Hortman and their dog, Gilbert, were fatally shot in mid-June in their Brooklyn Park home.
At the Hortmans’ June 28 funeral, family friend Robin Ann Williams talked about their disparate music tastes, with Melissa loving ABBA and Mark being heavily into Led Zeppelin. Current program director Lindsay Kimball said Colin and Sophie turned to the station “to help reconcile those two music traditions.”
“It’s an immense responsibility and honor for Colin and Sophie to entrust the Current with capturing these cherished memories and songs to share with the community,” Kimball said. “It speaks to the power of music to create connection and evoke memories.”
Sophie Hortman, right, and Colin Hortman arrive at the funeral for their parents, Mark and Melissa Hortman, at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis on June 28. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The final playlist is still under wraps. A promo for Wednesday’s morning show mentioned the tribute with a snippet of John Denver’s 1974 classic “Annie’s Song,” which he wrote about his wife at the time, St. Peter, Minn., native Annie Martell Denver. The word is that a very different kind of sentimental favorite, ‘80s synth-pop duo Yaz, is also part of the mix. Sources at the station said that Mark in particular was an avid music lover and regular listener of the Current.
Along with its MPR sister stations and other nonprofit stations statewide, the Current is facing cutbacks and new financial strains amid federal funding cuts to public broadcasting by the Trump administration.