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2019 Holiday Programming

From Thanksgiving to Hanukkah to Christmas, join us as WRKF celebrates the holiday season with a selection of seasonal programming designed to give you a unique, diverse, contemplative perspective on the holidays. Enjoy traditional musical selections, poetry, radio theatre, storytelling, a little scientific exploration, and more.


Giving Thanks: A Celebration of Fall, Food, & Gratitude
Thursday, November 28 at 10am and 8pm

Great American writers will grace us this Thanksgiving, 2019. Giving Thanks remembers poet Mary Oliver as she reads poems of gratitude and nature. Walt Whitman stops by to celebrate Thanksgiving and his 200th birthday, and we'll set a place at the table for New Yorker writer, best-selling author, humorist, and turkey aficionado Adam Gopnik.


Splendid Table's Turkey Confidential
Thursday, November 28 at 11am

The annual live Thanksgiving call-in show... Francis Lam comes to the rescue of Thanksgiving cooks, kitchen helpers, and dinner guests during the biggest cooking day of the year. This year’s special guests include Melissa Clark, Samin Nosrat, Kwame Onwuachi, and Shauna Sever.


Science and Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 28 at 1pm

Thanksgivingusually 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 program, 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 Great Listen from StoryCorps
Thursday, November 28 at 7pm; Tuesday, December 24 at 11am

Hosted by NPR's Audie Cornish, this StoryCorps special will highlight the importance of documenting family history, and give instructions on how people can record conversation during the holidays and preserve them for generations to come. Featuring StoryCorps segments, plus voices of teachers and students and Dave Isay.


Hanukkah Lights
Sunday, December 22 at 7pm

On this the first night of Hanukkah, Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz bring us this special program of holiday stories from contemporary authors.


Center Stage's "The Gift of the Magi"
Sunday, December 22 at 8pm

A radio play by T.C. Scott adapted from the short story by O. Henry, conveying a sentimental story about a young married couple with a moral lesson in gift-giving. This special Baton Rouge production is narrated by Brian Pope, host of WRKF's Center Stage, and stars local theatrical figures Timothy Callais Scott, Savannah Scott, Jeff Johnson, and Michele Taylor Johnson.


A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Tuesday, December 24 at 9am

An annual and beloved Christmas tradition, "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" is an extraordinary and memorable live service of word and music from the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, England. Audiences will share in a live, world-wide Christmas Eve broadcast of a service of Biblical readings, carols, and related seasonal music (anthems a cappella and with organ accompaniment, and congregational hymns), presented by one of the world’s foremost choirs of men and boys and performed in an acoustically and architecturally renowned venue.


Two Holidays and a Blizzard
Tuesday, December 24 at 7pm

Three short plays. "The Blizzard," a chilly thriller, features Jesse Eisenberg as a snowed-in screenwriter facing unexpected guests. In "The Miracle of Chaunukah," a holiday guest’s personal miracle throws a family for a loop. In "Christmas Breaks," a guy dumps a girl but presents a substitute. Interview with David Ives, John Rando and "The Blizzard" cast; Sheri Wilner and "The Miracle of Chanukah" cast; and the cast of "Christmas Breaks.


Jonathan Winters' A Christmas Carol
Tuesday, December 24 at 8pm

An updated version of a public radio traditionhosted by NPR's Susan Stamberg. Master comedian Jonathan Winters presents a distinctive reading of Dickens' holiday classic, with a special performing edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations. Also featuring Mimi Kennedy.


Tinsel Tales
Wednesday, December 25 at 9am and 7pm

Hosted by Lynn Neary, this collectionof extraordinary Christmas stories that will transport you to unexpected places. Audie Cornish, Ken Harbaugh, Nina Totenberg and other voices from NPR's past and present tell stories of the season in this hour-long special. Some tales are funny; some are touching; some are insightful or irreverent or nostalgic or surprising. You might recognize them from our broadcast archives — or you might fall in love with them for the first time.


Yule Like This
Wednesday, December 25 at 11am

Fir tree needles embedded in carpet are a holiday headache. Why not opt for a genetically-modified, needle-retaining tree instead? Also, science experiments on fruitcake include zapping it with heavy electric current and blasting it with a blowtorch. And can physics provide insight to those tricky, how-does-he-do-it questions about Santa’s one-night deliveries?


Tough Love for the Holidays
Wednesday, December 25 at 8pm

Robert Sean Leonard presentsthree ways of looking at the holiday season. "Interview with God," by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, performed by Jayne Atkinson and James Naughton; "The Fir Tree," by Hans Christian Andersen, performed by James Naughton; and "A Present for Big St. Nick," by Kurt Vonnegut, performed by Tate Donvan.