BPR is pleased to share our 2021 line-up of specials to accompany your Thanksgiving holiday.
Join us on BPR Classic for Every Good Thing, where host Andrea Blain spends the hour celebrating one of life's most meaningful gifts: music. Up next is the two-hour music and storytelling special Giving Thanks. This year Stanley Tucci shares stories from his new book “Taste: My Life Through Food,” a memoir about food, family, and life; and Naomi Shihab Nye gives listeners a gift: poems celebrating her Palestinian-American heritage, and our shared humanity. Music from Eric Whitacre, Bach, Copland and more complete the scene.
On BPR News, we begin at 9 AM with Science and Thanksgiving, a special from The Pulse. We’ll explore Thanksgiving through a scientific lens, including stories about the neuroscience of gratitude and the environmental impact of our holiday feasts. Next, Academy Award-winner Frances McDormand guides listeners through a journey of people who rebuild, restore and reinvent in The Keepers: Archiving the Now, a special from the Kitchen Sisters. And you won’t want to miss this year’s Turkey Confidential: Francis Lam takes calls to solve your holiday meal quandaries and you’ll hear plenty of laughter with dinner guests David Chang, Priya Krishna, Pati Jinich, Kenji Lopez Alt and Cheryl Day.
Listen on-air, stream online or on BPR’s free mobile app.
BPR Thanksgiving Schedule – Thursday November 25, 2021
Every Good Thing
BPR Classic -- 10:00-11:00 AM; Repeats 7:00-8:00 PM
On Thanksgiving, host Andrea Blain and classical music fans from all around the country take some time to give thanks and celebrate one of life's most meaningful gifts: music. It's "Every Good Thing" — an hour of stories and music to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Giving Thanks
BPR Classic -- 11:00-1:00 PM
BPR News – 11:00-Noon
Giving Thanks shares music and stories that reflect the meaning of gratitude. This year, Stanley Tucci joins our Thanksgiving table to talk about his new book Taste: My Life Through Food, a memoir about food, family, and life – and his classic foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia. Naomi Shihab Nye shares her poems celebrating her Palestinian-American heritage, and our shared humanity. Giving Thanks sounds the way Thanksgiving feels: inviting, warm, and festive. No clichés about pilgrims and pumpkin pies. Instead, it’s a contemporary, thoughtful celebration of spirit of the holiday. Music from Eric Whitacre, Bach, Copland and more complete the scene.
Science and Thanksgiving
BPR News -- 9:00-10:00 AM
Thanksgiving usually means we’re going big — way over the top. Twice the size bird we could possibly eat. More side dishes than the table can hold, and of course, so much pie. We travel great distances to see our families and friends — we hug, we eat, we argue, and we nap. On this special episode of The Pulse, we explore the traditions and rituals of Thanksgiving through a scientific lens. We hear stories about the neuroscience of gratitude — and how it can help us through grief; the environmental impact of our holiday feasts, from cranberries to food waste; and ask whether turkeys are really as dumb as they look.
The Keepers: Archiving the Now with Host Frances McDormand
BPR News -- 10:00-11:00 AM
The Keepers: Archiving the Now — a new hour-long special from The Kitchen Sisters and PRX with host, Academy Award-winner Frances McDormand. Stories of can-do people. Must-do people. Get-it-done people. People who are grappling with the now, with where we are and where we’ve got to get to. As the world we all knew unravels and communities begin to re-shape themselves, The Kitchen Sisters have been gleaning, looking for those who have something to offer during these uncharted times. People who rebuild, restore, reinvent. Nobody showed them the path, they cut it themselves. Striking stories of grit, hope and possibility.
Turkey Confidential
BPR News -- Noon-2 PM
Thanksgiving is full of high expectations, a huge menu and a house full of guests – which can make for a stressful day or two in the kitchen. That’s why holiday cooks, hosts and eaters tune into The Splendid Table’s “Turkey Confidential” on Thanksgiving morning. Francis Lam takes calls and comes to the rescue of Thanksgiving cooks, kitchen helpers, and dinner guests during the biggest cooking day of the year.
Featured Guests:
David Chang and Priya Krishna authors of the new book Cook at Home: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (And Love My Microwave)
Pati Jinich of PBS’s award -winning series Pati’s Mexican Table
Kenji Lopez Alt of Serious Eats and his latest book The Wok Recipes and Techniques
Baker Cheryl Day author of Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking
