This Holiday season, join us on WMRA and WEMC for special programming to welcome the holidays. Seasons Greetings from all of us at WMRA and WEMC.
WMRA Holiday Programs
Saturday, Dec. 20
12pm Acoustic Café Holiday Special
WMRA’s Tina Owens will spin holiday favorites from the acoustic folk music world.Join us to hear your favorite holiday music done acoustically.
Monday, December 22
8pm Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites
This year a radio tradition continues - stories from the NPR archives that touch on the meaning of Christmas. David Sedaris, Bailey White, John Henry Faulk--these and other NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season.
Tuesday, December 23
8pm Tinsel Tales 3: Even More NPR Christmas Favorites
Listeners tune to NPR for extraordinary Christmas stories that transport you to unexpected places. Baxter Black ponders the meaning of Christmas for Cows, Bailey White sneaks into her neighbor’s yard in search of an elusive hemlock tree; Julie Zickefoose serenades her neighbors on the coldest night of the year.
Wednesday, December 24
8pm Selected Shorts: Unwrapping The Holidays
Host Meg Wolitzer presents three unexpected stories that let us see the holidays’ associations—family, friends, food, gifts, and goodwill—in different ways. Selections from Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Sherrie Flick, and John Cheever will be read by Jayne Atkinson, James Naughton, Adina Verson and Teagle F. Bougere.
Thursday, December 25
8pm Jonathan Winters' A Christmas Carol
Master comedian Jonathan Winters presents a distinctive reading of Dickens' holiday classic, with a special performing edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations.
WEMC Classical Holiday Specials
Monday, Dec 22
7pm Bob’s Record Shelf - The Christmas Program hosted by WEMC’s Bob Satterwhite
Join WEMC’s Bob Satterwhite for 3 hours of Classical Christmas favorites.
Wednesday, December 24
12pm Christmas with Madrigalia 2025
This holiday season, the Rochester, NY chamber choir Madrigalia and their Artistic Director Cary Ratcliff return to public radio for Christmas with Madrigalia. Christmas with Madrigalia celebrates the excitement and joy of the holiday season with traditional carols and anthems from the Medieval era through the 21st century celebrating Winter Solstice, Chanukah, Christmas, and the New Year.
1pm Welcome Christmas 2025
There’s no better way to welcome Christmas than Welcome Christmas!, the VocalEssence holiday concert. It’s an hour of joyful, classic holiday music from VocalEssence, one of the world’s premiere choral groups, singing traditional carols and new discoveries.
2pm A Rochester Festival of Lessons and Carols
This Christmas, enjoy a Festival of Lessons and Carols from the Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, under the direction of organist/choirmaster James Kealey. Featuring traditional readings that were selected by King’s College Dean Eric Milner White in 1918.
3pm Carols, Customs and Candlelight
Listen as host Andrea Blain explores music and customs that have roots in ancient winter celebrations and traditional Christmas festivals. The music features classical ensembles and soloists like Apollo’s Fire and Bryn Terfel, as well as traditional instruments like harp, fiddle and mandolin.
4pm A Chanticleer Christmas 2025
Grammy award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer is known as the “orchestra of voices” for its unparalleled range and abilities. This holiday season, the group brings its brand-new Christmas program includes original arrangements of well-known tunes.
5pm St. Olaf Christmas Festival
A service in song and word that has become one of the nation’s most cherished holiday celebrations. The festival includes hymns, carols, choral works, as well as orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians in five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
6pm In Winters Glow
In Christmas with Cantus, Cantus weaves together three holiday stories with time-honored carols and new classics. Blending narration and song, the program features Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Christine Lê’s The Hawai’i Snowman, alongside Mark Twain’s “A Letter from Santa Claus,” offering an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and joy of the holiday season.
7pm Winter Holidays Around the World
Winter holidays are celebrated around the world, and their music is wonderful to hear, regardless of which tradition you observe. Bill’s spirited selection starts in the 12th century with Nova Stella, medieval Italian Christmas music from Saint Francis of Assisi’s staging of the nativity
8pm A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols presents your audience with an opportunity to share in a live, world-wide Christmas Eve broadcast of a service of Biblical readings, carols, and related seasonal Classical music. This special will be presented by one of the world’s foremost choirs of men and boys and performed in an acoustically and architecturally renowned venue, the 500-year-old Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, England.
Wednesday, Dec. 25
Holiday Music from Classical 24
