WMRA Holiday Programming
Saturday, December 19:
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.
3pm All Songs Considered for the Holidays
Holiday songs from NPR Music. New for 2020.
4pm The Big Tiny Desk Holiday Special
Celebrate the season with amazing holiday performances from The Tiny Desk Concert series. Hosted by NPR Music frenemies Bob Boilen and Stephen Thompson.
6pm Blues Valley Holiday Special
Professah Blues will share holiday favorites from the blues music world. Join us to hear your favorite holiday music done with the blues.
Sunday, December 20:
12pm Tinsel Tales: NPR Holiday Favorites #1
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.
1pm A Paul Winter Solstice Concert Celebration
Celebrate the return of the sun - and the warming of the heart with Paul Winter's Winter Solstice Celebration. On the darkest night of the year, we head back to New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine to hear a new performance of The Paul Winter Consort and the glorious Cathedral Pipe Organ. John Schaefer hosts.
2pm Hollywood Holiday
Hooray for "Hollywood Holiday"! Join Saturday Cinema host Lynne Warfel for this one-hour musical retrospective of some of Hollywood's most cherished Christmas-themed movies. Whether your listeners are running holiday errands or trimming the tree, they're likely to sing and dance with these stars.
3pm Tinsel Tales: NPR Holiday Favorites #2
NPR fills millions of homes each holiday with humor, warmth, and a host of festive voices. Continuing with the tradition of first Tinsel Tales program, this is another collection of the best and most requested holiday stories. Joy, hope, and childhood memories overflow as NPR voices, past and present, tell stories of the season. Hosted by Lynn Neary.
4pm Selected Shorts: Christmas Spirits
We want Christmas to be merry and bright, but sometimes the season can be challenging. Our two stories, presented by guest host Cynthia Nixon, do deliver good cheer in the end. In Laurie Notaro’s “O Holy Night, or The Year I Ruined Christmas” there’s a hideous Christmas tree, and a demanding parent with a long memory. The hilarious tale is read by Kirsten Vangsness. In Jeanette Winterson’s luminous “Spirit of Christmas” a married couple set off for their holiday with frayed tempers and too much stuff. They wind up with nothing but a miracle. Christina Pickles is the reader.
Monday, December 20:
8pm Tinsel Tales: NPR Holiday Favorites #3
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.
Tuesday, December 22:
8pm An Afro Blue Christmas
Here's a very special holiday concert with Howard University's premiere vocal ensemble Afro Blue and special guest pianist Cyrus Chestnut. The a-cappela group performs a variety of holiday songs including African-American spirituals, jazz and pop tunes, and classical repertoire. The joyous celebration includes one of a kind arrangements on traditional holiday songs plus new compositions. Hosted by Michele Norris.
Wednesday, December 24:
8pm Tinsel Tales: NPR Holiday Favorites #4
For many of us, Christmas is about family and traditions. For others it's a stressful or even a sad time. No matter how good or bad your holiday is, it’s quite likely to include music. This year, Tinsel Tales includes stories of the season told thru music with interviews from the NPR Archives. Kenny Rogers, Katie Melua, Sting, Amy Grant and Jon Batiste talk about the power of music at Christmas. Hosted by Lynn Neary
Thursday, December 24:
3pm 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.
8pm The Moth Holiday Special
A special Holiday Hour from The Moth. The unexpected gifts of December: holiday customs, brand new traditions, flying cows, fruit, luminaries and a magical forest. Hosted by The Moth’s Executive Producer, Sarah Austin Jenness. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media.
Friday, December 25: Holiday themed shows from our regular line-up of programs.
WEMC Holiday Programming
Sunday, Dec. 20 and Tuesday, Dec. 22:
7pm The Christmas Story through Carols Old and New (hosted by Kimberlea Daggy)
This choral music show tells the Christmas story through a variety of carols. They range from medieval music to carols written in the last few decades. Each set focuses on a different part of the story, from the angels to Mary and the baby Jesus to the shepherds and how they spread their joyous message.
Monday, Dec. 21
7pm Bob’s Record Shelf - The Christmas Program
Join WEMC’s Bob Satterwhite for 3 hours of Classical Christmas favorites.
Thursday, Dec 24:
9am Welcome Christmas
Welcome Christmas 2019 is a perennial Christmas favorite from VocalEssence, one of the world’s premiere choral groups. An hour of traditional carols and new discoveries, including the world premiere of two carols from the annual Christmas Carol Contest.
10am All Is Bright: Contemplative Music for Christmas
One hour of gorgeous, contemplative music related to the Christmas season and its symbolism. Hosted by Lynne Warfel.
11am Hygge Holiday: Cozy Classics
It’s the season for reveling in wintry nostalgia and enjoying cozy indoor activities with family. Join host Elena See for an hour-long program of favorites for the winter season.
12pm A Chanticleer Christmas
This unique, one-hour program of holiday music is presented live in concert by Chanticleer. Hear why this superb 12-man ensemble is known as "an orchestra of voices," as they perform holiday classics and new favorites.
1pm The Christmas Story through Carols Old and New (hosted by Kimberlea Daggy)
This choral music show tells the Christmas story through a variety of carols. They range from medieval music to carols written in the last few decades. Each set focuses on a different part of the story, from the angels to Mary and the baby Jesus to the shepherds and how they spread their joyous message.
2pm 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, and orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and featuring more than 500 student musicians who are members of five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.
3pm Christmas with Madrigalia 2020
The Rochester, NY chamber choir Madrigalia, and their Artistic Director Cary Ratcliff return to public radio for Christmas with Madrigalia 2019, a holiday concert that celebrates the excitement and joy of the holiday season. Once again this year, the Rochester Bach Children’s Chorus joins Madrigalia for traditional carols arranged by Cary Ratcliff.
4pm PSO: Messiah
Handel's much adored oratorio, Messiah, returns to Heinz Hall! Performed by The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Handel's celebration of the human response to the divine will lift spirits and provide the perfect Christmas Eve evening of music.
6pm A Choral Christmas with Stile Antico
Celebrate Christmas with the sound of soaring voices. Stile Antico, the award-winning choir from London, pays a visit to St. Paul's Church on Harvard Square for a concert of radiant sacred music for the Christmas season by the most acclaimed composers of the renaissance. Hear the group's luminous blend of voices sing the intricately woven music of Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. Hosted by Cathy Fuller of WGBH.
7pm A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Hosted by Michael Barone, this is a live, music and spoken-word broadcast from the chapel of King's College in Cambridge, England. The 30-voice King's College Choir performs the legendary Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service of Biblical readings and music.
9pm 20th Century English Christmas - Hosted by Kimberlea Daggy
Friday, December 25
Holiday Music from Classical 24
** All images Creative Commons License.
