The East Colonnade of the White House is decorated for the holiday season during a press preview of holiday decorations at the White House, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
2022 Holiday Programming on WITF Radio
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Fred Vigeant
The East Colonnade of the White House is decorated for the holiday season during a press preview of holiday decorations at the White House, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Thursday, December 22
12:00pm – 1:00pm – Candles Burning Brightly – A delightful hour for everyone to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights! Lots of music from Jewish communities around the world, plus a hilarious lesson on how to prepare a classic Chanukah dish, and a timeless and touching holiday story that brings light into every home.
Friday, December 23
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm – Welcome Christmas – The VocalEssence holiday concert conducted by Philip Brunelle. 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.
- 1:00pm – 6:30pm – Regular Programming
- 6:30pm – 7:00pm – The Christmas Skater – Sherwin Sleeves has retired to a small cabin on top of Marked Mountain in Lemon, New Hampshire. Every year at Christmas, he takes out his skates and goes for a ritual journey down a wilderness river…always hoping that a woman from his long ago past will finally agree to meet up with him at a certain special spot along the river.
- 7:00pm – 8:00pm – Selected Shorts: Holidays with Mom – Guest host Meg Wolitzer presents our holiday show–two stories about being home for the holidays and how you can count on your Mom to be there for you—and possibly to complicate things.
- 8:00pm – 9:00pm – Jazz Piano – Spotlighting talented Japanese musical phenom Hiromi, Mountain Stage’s Bob Thompson, and Bolivian prodigy José André Montaño, chosen as one of the Kennedy Center’s “Next 50” leaders.
- 9:00pm – 10:00pm – Jazz Night in America – Featuring drummer Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O; a ruckus band recorded at Jazz at Lincoln Center that flip seasonal songs on their head while inserting humor and joyful swing. and new takes on classics in this special episode.
- 10:00pm – 11:00pm – A World Cafe Holiday – Revisiting special holiday performances from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Los Lobos, Andrew Bird, The Bird and The Bee, Pink Martini, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and more. Hosted by Raina Douris, this musical gift will provide a full hour of hip holiday cheer.
- 11:00pm – 12:00am – All Songs Considered: Holiday Extravaganza – A night of music and tall tales with Kishi Bashi, Dan Deacon, Carrie Brownstein and Nellie McKay. We hosted the festivities at a secluded cabin we rented one weekend in a snowy woods. It was a chilly night, but we had a roaring fire, plenty of eggnog, vegan haggis and lots of holiday songs to keep everybody warm!
Saturday, December 24 – Christmas Eve
- 10:00am – 12:00pm – A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols – 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.
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm – Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me (moved from 10:00am)
- 1:00pm – 2:00pm – Tinsel Tales 2 – NPR fills millions of homes each holiday with humor, warmth, and a host of festive voices. Continuing with the tradition of the 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.
- 2:00pm – 3:00pm -Tinsel Tales 3 – 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.
- 3:00pm – 4:00pm – Tinsel Tales 4 – NPR revisits interviews with musicians about their Christmas albums. Some, like Katie Melua and Sting, celebrate tradition and winter mystery in their Christmas songs. Others, like Kenny Rogers and Amy Grant, find spirituality and stability in holiday music. Jon Batiste and Anthony Hamilton bring new energy to old favorites on their Christmas albums.
- 4:00pm – 5:00pm – St. Olaf Christmas Festival – One of the nation’s most treasured holiday celebrations. Programming includes sacred choral and instrumental music from many traditions: beloved hymns, classical masterworks, folk songs from around the world, and African-American spirituals.
- 5:00pm – 6:00pm – All Things Considered
- 6:00pm – 7:00pm – Imagine Neighborhood – It’s Cardboard Boxing Day! The day when everyone in The Imagine Neighborhood uses the empty boxes from their Kwanzaa, Christmas, Yalda, and Hannukah gifts to make fabulous cardboard creations to share with all their friends! With rhymes and good times, the Cardboard Boxing Day Holiday Spectacular is all about generosity, friendship, and giving the greatest gift of all— kindness! The Imagine Neighborhood is an award-winning kind and kooky story-based podcast for kids aged 4-10 and their families.
- 7:00pm – 8:00pm – Jonathan Winters’ A Christmas Carol – An updated version of a public radio tradition hosted 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.
- 8:00pm – 9:00pm – An Afro Blue Xmas – Join us for a very special holiday concert with Howard University’s premiere vocal ensemble Afro Blue and special guest pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Hear the a-cappela group perform 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…music perfect for the holidays and the spirit of Christmas.
- 9:00pm – 10:00pm – A Soulful Christmas – An uplifting, relevant display of Black music in the classical, gospel, spiritual, and jazz-inspired style. This special celebrates the non-idiomatic Black classical music, while exploring non-idiomatic choral traditions.
- 10:00pm – 11:00pm -Tinsel Tales 1 – Featuring 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.
- 11:00pm – 12:00pm – Tinsel Tales 4 – NPR revisits interviews with musicians about their Christmas albums. Some, like Katie Melua and Sting, celebrate tradition and winter mystery in their Christmas songs. Others, like Kenny Rogers and Amy Grant, find spirituality and stability in holiday music. Jon Batiste and Anthony Hamilton bring new energy to old favorites on their Christmas albums.
Sunday, December 25 – Christmas
- 6:00am – Welcome Christmas – The VocalEssence holiday concert conducted by Philip Brunelle. 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.
- 7:00am – 8:00am – All Is Bright – Contemplative music related to the Christmas season and its symbolism. This program uses sacred choral music grouped in a way to tell the traditional Christmas story by way of songs about angels, the star, and the manger scene. Featured artists include Cambridge Singers, Cantus, and Chanticleer.
- 8:00am – 10:00am – Weekend Edition
- 10:00am – 11:00am – Tinsel Tales 1 – Featuring 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.
- 11:00am – 12:00pm – Selected Shorts: Holidays with Mom – Guest host Meg Wolitzer presents our holiday show–two stories about being home for the holidays and how you can count on your Mom to be there for you—and possibly to complicate things.
- 12:00pm – 1:00pm – Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me
- 1:00pm – 2:00pm – 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.
- 2:00pm – 3:00pm – A Chanticleer Christmas – This one-hour program of holiday favorites, new and old, will be presented live in concert by Chanticleer, the superb 12-man ensemble known as “an orchestra of voices.” Chanticleer is one of the premiere vocal ensembles in the nation. The ensemble has won two Grammys and is a member of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.
- 3:00pm – 4:00pm – Christmas with the Morehouse and Spelman Glee Clubs – 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 — get together to present a spine-tingling concert program. This encore presentation features the best works of the last several years.
- 4:00pm – 5:00pm – A Mountain Stage Holiday – An hour filled with beautiful music to mark the season. The show features special guests Holly Cole, Joan Baez, Bruce Cockburn, Loudon Wainwright III, The Roches, Kathy Mattea and more. All performances were recorded live on the Mountain Stage.
- 5:00pm – 6:00pm – All Things Considered
- 6:00pm – 8:00pm – A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols – 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.
- 8:00pm – 9:00pm – St. Olaf Christmas Festival – One of the nation’s most treasured holiday celebrations. Programming includes sacred choral and instrumental music from many traditions: beloved hymns, classical masterworks, folk songs from around the world, and African-American spirituals.
Monday, December 26
12:00pm – 1:00pm – A Season’s Griot 2022 – Hosted by acclaimed storyteller Madafo Lloyd Wilson, A Season’s Griot is an annual one-hour special that captures the tales and traditions of African American and African peoples. The show’s poet laureate, Beverly Fields Burnette, and other members of the Season’s Griot family return with familiar and favorite elements of Griot.
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