Christmas: Editor's Picks
The best-reviewed, most-licensed, and most fun holiday fare.
Table of Contents
Hour+ Specials
- Beat Latino 12: Feliz Navidad!
Catalina Maria Johnson, 58:47 - Christmas music from throughout the Latino musical universe, including Christmas classics such as "Jingle Bells" and a Cuban guaguanco version of "Little Drummer Boy."
- Christmas with the Philadelphia Singers
WHYY / PRI, 58:23 - An annual favorite, "Christmas with the Philadelphia Singers," is a concert of traditional and contemporary holiday music performed by the renowned choral group.
- Footprints to Paradise: A Mediaeval Christmas
Malcolm Bruno / PRI, 58:59 - Features the New York Polyphony, a quartet of solo male voices.
- The Pleasures of Winter
Jay and Molly Ungar / PRI, 59:00 - This year's program features Kate Pierson of the B-52s, winter songs from the British Isles with Noel Sing We Clear, American folk duo John Kirk and Trish Miller, and Jay Ungar & Molly Mason and their house band.
- I Saw Three Ships
Malcolm Bruno / PRI, 58:59 - A holiday special on the settlement of Jamestown as a historical marker for contemporary times.
- Fear Not: For Behold!
National Lutheran Choir / PRI, 59:00 - A Christmas Festival of music and readings presented by the National Lutheran Choir.
- A Baroque Christmas
WQED / PRI, 59:00 - Chatham Baroque excites audiences with its dazzling technique and artful interpretations.
- A Christmas Carol (A Ghost Story for Christmas)
Quicksilver Radio Theater, 55:19 - This production returns to the heart of the 1843 story - mining the dark veins of what its author called "a GHOST story - for Christmas."
- Hot Jazz for a Cool Yule
Margaret Pick and Jim Cullum / PRI, 59:00 - Jim Cullum and the Band welcome an all-star cast of legendary jazz players, outstanding vocal artists and one outrageous tap dancer to the stage of The Landing to interpret carols and holiday classics in a jazz band mood.
- Christmas Vespers With Apollo's Fire
WKSU, 119:00 - Apollo's Fire gives a rousing, vital performance of music that the early 17th century German composer Michael Praetorius might have used at Lutheran services for Advent and Christmas Day Vespers. The concert features a "big band" of strings, winds, children's and adult's voices, and period brass including sackbuts, trumpets, and cornetti.
- An Open Gate
Claire Schoen, 59:00 - Interfaith couples grapple with the challenge of celebrating holidays as a family as they attempt to instill a sense of religion, community and holiday spirit.
- New Orleans Christmas
Putumayo World Music, 59:00 - It's Christmas New Orleans-style with many of the crescent City's finest.
- Glad Tidings
KBYU, 57:30 - Traditional Christmas program featuring the premiere choirs and orchestra at the Brigham.
- The Retro Cocktail Hour Christmas Special
Kansas Public Radio, 118:45 - A space age bachelor pad Christmas show!
- Cool Yule
WFUV, 58:58 - Host Rita Houston talks with Bette Midler, Sarah McLachlan and Aimee Mann about holiday music and traditions, featuring exclusive live performances and new additions to the Christmas catalog.
- She Grooves Holiday Hour
Theresa Orlando, 60:05 - Rare Christmas selections by artists including The Andrew Sisters & Etta James. She Grooves then pushes forward to include gems such as Joan Baez singing in French, a Kwanzaa song which opens the show, featuring the Women of Calibashi and other pleasant auditory modern diversions that include adding Annette Strean from Venus Hum into the mix.
- A Jethro Tull Christmas With Ian Anderson
Douglas Grant, 59:00 - Seasonal music by the legendary British band Jethro Tull, with humorous commentary by its founder, Ian Anderson.
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A Cowboy Christmas
Hal Cannon of the Western Folklife Center, 54:27 - A musical and poetic celebration of the Christmas holiday from the open ranges of America's outback.
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Do You Hear What I Hear: A Holiday Folk Tour with Judy Collins
Paul Ingles, 59:00 - Folk singing legend Judy Collins hosts an hour-long tour around the nation with a stop or two overseas to hear musical takes on the holiday season from folk artists.
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A Christmas Carol
Jason Brown, 59:00
- A sound-rich audio drama of the famous Charles Dickens story.
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Holiday Light: Singing Angels, Silver Bells
William Zukof, 58:22
- A collection of holiday music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance to the present sung by The Western Wind and narrated by Roma Downey.
Half-hour
- B-Side Radio: 2007 Holiday Special
B-Side Radio, 29:00 - Just in time for the holidays, the B-Side Radio crew brings you stories of holiday cooking, shopping, tree hunting and charity gone awry.
- The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes, Christmas Special
Joe Bevilacqua, 28:57 - Holmes, Watson and Watson's wife, Mary Morstan, visit Scotland and the castle of Lord Tavis Mac Millian, only to become entangled in the curse of the Loch Alsh monster and the ghost of Macbeth.
- Hawaiian Christmas with Slack Key Master Kapono Beamer
Heidi Chang, 29:00 - Experience the magic of a Hawaiian Christmas with Slack Key Master Kapono Beamer, who weaves his own unique tales of a Hawaiian Christmas and his family's musical legacy, which has been passed down for generations. He also sings "Silent Night" in Hawaiian during this half-hour music special, mixed with interviews.
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The Courtyard: Gang Violence
Labalaba Media, 27:41 - Some kids at the Courtyard decide to feed the homeless this coming Christmas holidays.
Segment
- Holiday Tech Toys 2007
Spectrum Radio, 09:31 - Special report exploring the latest tech toys for the holiday season.
- Schnartzenholler
Outfront, 13:19 - It's not Christmas. It's not Hannukah. It's Schnartzenholler! When Emily Pearlman was a child her Jewish father and Christian mother created their own unique holiday celebration.
- My Favorite Things
Rebecca Sheir, 07:11 - A closet Christmas music junkie discovers the real meaning of the holiday season -- and it's got everything to do with bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.
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A Bosnian Christmas Carol
Radio Netherlands, 13:38 - Jonathan Groubert follows his Bosnian in laws up a mountain to take part in a Serbian Orthodox tradition and discovers the true meaning of Christmas.
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The Death of the Christmas Chicken
Eric Nuzum, 09:18 - Eric Nuzum laments the demise of his favorite Christmas ornament.
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Christmas in the Trenches
Scott Gurian, 05:51 - Folksinger John McCutcheon describes a lesser-known chapter in world history, a 1914 Christmas Eve truce between British and German soldiers in the midst of World War I.
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Farm Christmas
Mark Urycki, 07:35
- Mary Elva Urdialas describes Christmas on her family farm for her and her seventeen siblings.
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Cujo Christmas
Jeff St Clair and Eric Nuzum, 07:30 - Imagine spending your Christmas in a car, terrorized by an angry dog.
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Tuba Christmas
David Giffels and Eric Nuzum, 06:01 - David Giffels is about to become a tuba soloist, now all he has to do is learn to play.
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Jingle Bells
Robert Smyth and Judah Leblang, 05:22 - Christmas caroling--and setting a world record, in Medford, Mass.
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Carols on the Carillon
Dale Short, 07:09 - Holiday thoughts and sounds from a blind musician in a college bell tower.
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Dad and Sam (Locked in Brotherhood)
Jay Allison, 04:45 - A short meditation on the relationship between my father and his mentally disabled older brother, Sam.
Drop-Ins
- The Man Who Gave Away Christmas Trees
Sean Hurley/Mark Bevis, 4:38 - An interview with "Harry", a man who gives away Christmas trees.
- Cell Phone Santa
Scott Gurian, 4:22 - An act of Christmas charity goes horribly awry.
- Who Killed Santa Claus for You?
Curie Youth Radio, 01:58 - Parents, take heed. Kids, close your ears. Teenagers from Chicago remember the exact moment they found out that Santa wasn't real.
- Christmas with Grandma
Ken Cormier, 02:24 - The last time we had Christmas with Grandma, she just about puked...
- Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh: A Six-Year-Old's Christmas Story
Vermont Folklife Center Media, 04:28 - From the Saviour's conception to offerings of gold, frankenstein and myrrh, six year old Erin Magill of Moretown, Vermont tells her version of the Christmas story, with help from her creche figures.
- First US Christmas
Youth Radio, 03:22 - A young mom celebrates Christmas far from home.
- Brooklyn Christmas Tree
Lizzy Cooper Davis, 02:15 - Two minutes with Vincent van Rhyn, a Christmas tree seller in Brooklyn, NY.
- Homeless for the Holidays
Eric Whitney, 06:15 - Shelter houses homeless teens during holidays.
- Baby, It's Cold Outside
KUOW, 03:56 - The story of the famous holiday song.
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The White Before Christmas
Imakhu Mwt Shekemet, 04:04 - Spoof: The urban youth version of "The Night Before Christmas."
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Christmas Kids
Barrett Golding, 04:23 - Story, myths and rumours of Christmas from a 2nd-grader's point of view.
- A Not-So-Perfect Holiday
Cheryl-Anne Millsap, Patrick Klausen, 03:36 - We're driven by the belief that we can create this one perfect day or season, and the warmth generated by it will carry us through the rest of the year.
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Snowballs at Midnight Mass
Andrew Witmer, 04:33
- Essayist Jonathan Malesic learns something new about Christmas after attending one of the only midnight Catholic masses ever to end in a snowball fight.
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A Cook's Notebook: Christmas Lobster
Viki Merrick and Steve Young, 03:01
- The last Xmas meal I cooked for my Jewish husband was lobster. That was in 1994.
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Three Days Before Christmas in the Zombie Hut
Brendan Greeley, 02:48
- Several people in a tiki bar respond to the question "What's the worst gift you've ever received?"
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Santa Laws
Sean O'Connor, 03:32 - Just in time for the Polar Express...shouldn't there be a law against the poorly trained and costumed "Santas" that are patrolling our streets? Why can't we be more like Canada? Snowmen image by Thomas Hawk. Holly by Liz. Gingerbread men by Lex.
© 2007, The Public Radio Exchange
