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Playlist: Music Station Picks for December

Compiled By: PRX Editors

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Curated Playlist

PRX Format Curators are here to help stations quickly locate radio pieces that are more relevant to their local air. Format Curators are very good in their fields: they have proven content expertise and have worked at local stations. They get the challenges of programming to a specific format and a local sound.

Here are the December picks for music stations from David Srebnik.

David produces Virtuoso Voices, an interview clip and fundraising service heard on 115 stations. As an Associate Producer at NPR, he programmed the music heard on Performance Today, and directed news and music programming at stations in Texas, Michigan, Florida, New Orleans and North Carolina.

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Austin Music Unlimited Holiday Special - 'Home for the Holidays'

From KUT | 00:55:11

A strong, but laid back mix of holiday music from Austin, KUT and David Brown.

There's Willie Nelson (Silent Night), with Marsha Ball (fab), Jimmie Dale Gilmore (stunning arrangement of a should-be holiday standard), Asleep at the Wheel, Kelly Willis, Ruthie Foster, Tish Hinojosa, Sara Hickman, Los Lonely Boys and other Austin based performers contributing originals and holiday standards.

Austin Music Unlimited Holiday Special and host David Brown offer your station's listeners a very high music to talk ratio. The quieter musical moments are exquisite both musically and for the sheer contrast they provide the other non-musical sounds of the season.

Austin Music Unlimited Holiday Special is a special gift to public radio listeners for musical reasons and more.

Schedule the show in the heat of the holidays, late at night and even before noon. (Audition the ending to appropriately prepare your local announcer to localize the KUT promo at the end.)

Christmas Vespers With Apollo's Fire

From WKSU | 01:58:56

Conductor Jeannette Sorrell knew what she wanted in terms of sound and authenticity, and she also knew what she did not want -- and it paid off in a stirring and memorable performance of Advent and Christmas Vespers music by Michael Praetorius (1571 - 1621).

Singing and instrumental performances by Angel's Fire (and associated instrumental and vocal ensembles) approach unbelievable excellence in sound, spirit and consistently capture the sweet and emotional qualities of the Praetorius melodies.

Michael Praetorius is practically and un-rightfully an unsung hero in the music from this era. "Christmas Vespers With Apollo's Fire" is an excellent addition or substitution for the annual Handel Messiah tradition of your holiday program schedule.

Fine work as well for WKSU host and producer David Roden who gives us the short and positively concise historical and musical facts and insights -- and then lets the music both sing and speak.

A stunning musical achievement.

The program is 1:29:30 with a thoughtful option to make it 1:59:00. There are other local break options within the body of the program where you can cover some short but tasteful commerce related to Apollo's Fire CDs.

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A Jethro Tull Christmas With Ian Anderson

From Douglas Grant | 00:58:56

This piece was last reviewed in 2006 and those solid reviews, and the program itself, still hold up. Not much to add to what Bill Anderson, Carl Vasconcellos and Curt Nighswander didn't already say, and say well.

Perfect for stations looking to add at least one holiday program that doesn't follow the norm, but still absolutely captures the holiday music sound and seasonal craze. The arrangements of known and not so well-known holiday tunes, are rendered with Tullian touches, but their enjoyment is not limited to Jethro Tull fans.

It's a good time to meet and hear the music and thoughts of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, and this program makes the introductions clever, pleasingly cynical, smart, unpredictable, intimate and appealing.

Music to talk ratio is almost always right where you want it.

Recommended for AAA and other contemporary music formats, news, and selected news/music formats.

Because I know the trauma of being a programmer and getting SURPRISED on the air, I encourage you to audition this and all (my) other program recommendations. Words from these recommendations are never substitutions for your own ears and expert knowledge of your station's listeners.

Hot Jazz for a Cool Yule

From PVP Media | Part of the Rivewalk Jazz series | 00:58:56

Just about any visit to the Riverwalk to hear Jim Cullum and his band is a lock on good times -- musical and other. That tradition is firmly in place with "Hot Jazz for a Cool Yule."

The universal appeal to the music that extends beyond and around the core jazz audience -- so this program is worth considering for news stations and all others pursuing a varied (but not-all-over-the-map) holiday sound.

And a noncritical point of reference, this is early jazz, more towards Dixie than straight ahead. That's something to keep in mind especially in today's context of what we consider to be either hot or "cool" as in "Hot Jazz for a Cool Yule."

That advisory out of the way -- schedule H-J-F-A-C-Y in the evenings and weekend afternoons to enhance your holiday schedule and your listeners enjoyment of the holidays.

Holiday Light: Singing Angels, Silver Bells

From William Zukof | 00:58:19

The music (Middle Ages, Renaissance, Appalachian to contemporary) and the performances by the Western Wind blew me away.

In this program, your listeners will get Christmas music and the Christmas story. While the music is consistently moving and engaging, the brief narratives read by Roma Downey might, for some stations and listeners, lean more towards religious-interpretive than a straight-forward telling of the Christmas story.

Knowing how we all hate surprises, I suggest you audition random narrative tracks to see if they fit your definition of holiday programming on your station. (On second hearing, the texts did not stand out as much.)

Again, musically speaking, this is one of your best bets for your holiday programming, and a most welcome addition to the public radio holiday music "catalog."

Worthy of almost any public radio format; schedule it morning, afternoon and night; ideal for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

BEAT LATINO 012 - Feliz Navidad!

From Catalina Maria Johnson | 00:58:43

Very nice, upbeat and effervescent holiday music, with a few fresh takes on some well known tunes. It's the spirit and charm of the music that carries you through the program -- it just happens to be Christmas music.

Host Catalina Maria Johnson mostly stays in the background and does her back announces in Espanol and English. (These are mostly brief and should not be too distracting for non-Spanish speaking listeners.)

This could fairly be described as a mostly mainstream Latin American music program. Suitable for eclectic music stations and other stations whose listeners' appetites have already been whet for music from around the world.