This holiday season, tune into a festive lineup of programming on BPR News and BPR Classic to celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year. Read on for the full schedule of special programs below.
BPR News
Friday, December 19
Hanukkah Lights
Time: 9 a.m.
This NPR favorite returns with a new story plus gems from the archive. Hosted by Murray Horwitz with a special tribute to our beloved Susan Stamberg who passed away just a couple of months ago. NPR is not quite the same without her – perhaps most of all, Hanukkah Lights. But with thirty-five years of stories in the can, there are dozens of Susan’s performances that can still move us, make us laugh, and bring us fresh meaning. To use her favorite word, she still sounds “terrific”
Wednesday, December 24
A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols
Time: 10 a.m.
Host Michael Barone presents this live service of spoken-word and music (choral and organ) 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.
A Christmas Carol with Jonathan Winters
Time: 7 p.m.
Master comedian Jonathan Winters will present a distinctive reading of Dickens' holiday classic with a special performance style prepared by Dickens for his own presentations.
Thursday, December 25
St. Olaf Christmas Festival
Time: 10 a.m.
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.
Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites
Time: 12 p.m.
This year a radio tradition continues with 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.
More Tinsel Tales
Time: 1 p.m.
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.
Monday, December 29
NPR Special: Beyond the Headlines - NPR Correspondents on the Craft of Reporting Stories
Time: 7 p.m.
Host Scott Detrow talks with NPR Correspondents, going "beyond the headlines" to explore the craft of reporting stories. Reporters open their notebooks and share the ways they find stories and bring them to the audience. Topics include riding a migrant train across Mexico in the dead of night, how to get Elon Musk’s attention and what it was like to cover the Sean Combs trial. Derived from the year’s best conversations.
Tuesday, December 30
NPR Special: Cineplexity: Smart Conversations About Movies
Time: 7 p.m.
NPR film lovers take movies seriously, exploring themes like how to get time travel right in movies, what draws so many men to Nora Ephron films and why we all seem to love movies about the movies. In this one hour special, NPR host Scott Detrow shares the best movie conversations the team at All Things Considered and NPR’s Culture Desk had over the past year.
BPR Classic
Friday, December 19
Itzak Perlman's Chanukah Radio Party
Time: 10 a.m.
Itzhak Perlman invites you to his Chanukah Radio Party. Join the superstar violinist as he tells the story of the Jewish festival of lights, and shares his favorite recordings for the holiday – some serious, some silly. This engaging one-hour special includes numbers from Itzhak Perlman’s radio-addicted childhood in Israel; evocative songs in Yiddish and Ladino; classical music that revolves around the Maccabee heroes of the story; and Chanukah gems by American folk singers. The master storyteller also regales you with jokes and memories, plus tales of three classic Chanukah symbols: the menorah, the latke, and, of course, the dreidel.
Monday, December 22
In Winter's Glow
Time: 7 p.m.
Hosted by Steve Seel.
Wednesday, December 24
A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols
Time: 10 a.m.
Host Michael Barone presents this live service of spoken-word and music (choral and organ) 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.
Thursday, December 25
St. Olaf Christmas Festival
Time: 10 a.m.
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.
Christmas with the Morehouse & Spelman Glee Clubs
Time: 12 p.m.
One of the great holiday traditions in America, the choirs of Morehouse and Spelman Colleges — two of the most prestigious historically black institutions in the nation — gather for a spine-tingling concert program. This year's program features the best works of the last several years. It's a joyous celebration of the schools' tradition of singing excellence, with their trademark mixture of spirituals and carols. Korva Coleman hosts.
A Chanticleer Christmas
Time: 1 p.m.
Hosted by Melissa Ousley.
Wednesday, December 31
Toast of the Nation
Time: 9 p.m.
Join host Christian McBride as he journeys through a multiplicity of genres and performers, from the spirit of Sinatra and jazz supper clubs in Las Vegas to bold acoustic arrangements in the tradition of A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes.
Thursday, January 1
New Year's Day from Vienna
Time: 11 a.m.
The ever popular annual New Year’s Day Concert will be performed by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Seguim in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. Hosted by WBUR's Lisa Mullins.
