Seasonal Programs 2008
For Seasonal Programming for 2009-10, click here.
2008
This is normally my favourite time of year to be a radio listener. 2008 has been a year of challenges, personally and for others. I have been swamped by responsibilities at home looking after both my senior citizen mother, and the affairs of my good friend and land lady who has been hospitalized for almost 7 months and counting.
While I have had little time for the “fun stuff” I have to say this may be the most blessed Christmas of my life. My mother is doing well and my friend is improving daily. While everyone else is enduring the self imposed “stress” of the holiday season, for the first time in months, my own burden has lifted somewhat. Its a very relaxing time for me…for a change.
I hope you, dear reader are enjoying your own holiday season, should you choose to honour one and may your 2009 be the best year ever.
Most of these articles also have audio files, so features can be heard or downloaded as well.
General Interest articles are at the beginning. Listings are towards the end. And some added web goodies thrown in for good measure.
Sunday December 14
The Spirit of Things - Bonhoeffer’s Legacy - ABC Radio National (Australia)
Sunday 14 December, 6.05 pm, and Tuesday 16 December, 1.05 pm, and Wednesday 17 December, 2.05 am. (All times Australian) Presented by Rachael Kohn
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who was marched naked to the gallows by the Nazis in 1945 for his part in plots to kill Hitler. An inspiration to many, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Bonhoeffer is the subject of Professor John Moses’ forthcoming book, ‘The Reluctant Revolutionary’. MP3 download available after broadcast.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/spiritofthings/
Christmas | 30.11.2008
Advent In Europe Sparkles With Christmas Markets
Every Advent, a special atmosphere grips cities across Europe as Christmas shoppers jostle through unique and colorful outdoor markets in search of the perfect gift and mugs of mulled wine.
The crisp air is redolent of gingerbread, egg punch and fir needles. “Silent Night” hums quietly above the bustling market as people gather around small tables at outdoor Christmas markets across Europe, warming up with mulled wine or hot cocoa.
While the Christmas markets in Dresden and Nuremberg, known locally as the Striezelmarkt and Christkindlesmarkt respectively, are probably the most famous, many others across Europe have their charms, too. For a complete guide to this year’s season offerings, beginning in Germany, look no further.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3826728,00.html
From the Radio Prague Archives
A weekly look back at some of the unique recordings in Czech Radio’s archives.
A Christmas message from the survivors of Lidice in 1945
[18-12-2008 12:17 UTC] By David Vaughan
With Christmas just round the corner, we break our chronological journey through the archives this week to go back to Christmas 1945. We’re in Kročehlavy, a suburb of the industrial town of Kladno near Prague. This was home to the survivors of one of the horrors of the wartime occupation, the murder in June 1942 of all the men and most of the children from the nearby village of Lidice. Only one Lidice family had survived the massacre intact: Josef Horák was one of two young pilots from the village who had fled at the beginning of the occupation, and he spent the war serving in Britain’s Royal Air Force. After the liberation he moved straight back to Czechoslovakia with his English wife Wynne and their two small children. The family was a symbol of a new life for Lidice, and over Christmas 1945 Czechoslovak Radio arranged a radio bridge to Britain from a Christmas party in the Horáks’ living room. Here is a slightly edited version of that broadcast.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/111449
Through Radio Prague you can send your friends and relatives a Christmas greeting via the internet.
http://www.radio.cz/en/html/christmas_greeting.html
Radio Prague presents its Czech Christmas pages, where you can not only read about the traditional forms of celebrating the Christmas holidays, but also about more current Christmas events in the Czech Republic.
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/98585
Polish Radio External Service
Christmas Wishes! 24.12.2008
From all of us here at the English Section of Polish Radio’s External Service, may we wish you all the best this Christmas!
We would also like to extend our greetings by saying Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish audience, as well as Season’s Greetings to all our listeners of whatever faith.
Thank-you for being with us through 2008, and we hope that you will stay with Polish Radio over the festive period and well in to 2009!
Best wishes from everyone in Warsaw!
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/news/artykul98826.html
Celebrating Christmas Eve
24.12.2008
Christmas Eve is a very special day for Poles when families unite for the most carefully planned meal of the year, known as Wigilia, the Christmas supper. It is a meatless meal consisting of herring, carp, beetroot or mushroom soup, noodles with poppy seed and other traditional dishes. The feast is followed by the exchange of gifts and, in many homes, the singing of carols.
http://www.polskieradio.pl/zagranica/news/artykul98794_Celebrating_Christmas_Eve.html
Radio Slovakia International
Christmas in Slovakia
Anca Dragu, RSI
Slovaks celebrate the Christmas Eve on December the 24th. The decoration of the Christmas table is of great importance in the economy of the celebration.
It is considered to be a sacred place and everything that is on it, under it, next to it and also above it on Christmas Eve is supposed to gain a positive magic character. Many of the following customs are, however kept only in villages nowadays. Under the table people usually place different working tools, which should have secured good working results in the next year, but also strength and health to all who sat around the table. A chain has also been placed round the table legs, in order to strengthen the health and togetherness of the family.
http://www.slovakradio.sk/inetportal/rsi/core.php?page=showSprava&id=12785&lang=2
While “the weather outside is frightful” in the Northern Hemisphere, to the south it is Summer time. Christmas is a time to go to the beach and enjoy fun and sun.
Like our summertime, networks like Australia’s Radio National and Radio New Zealand take this time to run special programs, re runs and summer replacement show.
Here’s the schedule for ABC Radio National:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/schedule/default_rest_summer2008-9.htm
Sights and Sounds of the Season from the Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/english/upload/ddcastChristmas2008.wmv
Wednesday December 24 2008
CHML 900 AM
6:00 pm (EST) Mission Services Christmas
7:00 pm (EST) A Christmas Carol
8:00 pm (EST) A Paul Reid Christmas (the best holiday program…ever IMO)
10:00 pm (EST) Old Radio Shows Christmas Edition
CBC Radio One
6:30 pm (EST) As It Happens - Christmas Eve Special features a reading of The Shepherd by the late Fireside Al Maitland and messages from Canadian Forces personnel around the world.
More CBC Holiday programming notes can be found at:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/Christmas2009.pdf
David Marsden Christmas Special - The Rock 94.9FM Oshawa
Annual Christmas Eve Show 7pm EST - Midnight
“The chat room will be open for the show. Come and hear what Happy Pants is leaving for the chatters and listeners this year.
“It’s music and conversation your ears will thank you for.”
David’s website is linked at the right…go there and click the links for the program and chatroom.
BBC Radio 2
So many programs to choose from!
All Holiday programming:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/festivehighlights/highlights.shtml
December 24:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/festivehighlights/wed24.shtml
Fred’s Picks:
“A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO YOU: THE PHIL SPECTOR CHRISTMAS ALBUM
2000-2100
“Amanda Holden presents a Christmas Eve appreciation of an album that has become as much a part of the Holiday season as mince pies and mistletoe: A Christmas Gift For You.
“Perhaps better known to British listeners as The Phil Spector Christmas Album, the 1963 classic originated on Spector’s own Philles label in the States. Long a cult favourite, the album reached a larger audience when re-issued in the UK by Apple in the 1970s.”
MICHAEL BUBLE WITH THE BBC BIG BAND
2200-2300
Another chance to hear singing star Michael Buble in concert with the BBC Big Band, recorded at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre.
A reminder: All BBC programs are archived online for 7 days.
The new running dogs of capitalism….
Xmas Eve in an Economic Downturn
With the global economy on the way down and many people fearful about what their economic future holds, how many of those last-minute shoppers are going to be out and about this year?
http://english.cri.cn/4026/2008/12/24/1481s436052.htm
Thursday December 25 2008
BBC Radio 2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/festivehighlights/thu25.shtml
Fred’s Picks:
MARK LAMARR
1700-1900
Mark takes your Christmas dedications and raids his record collection for some lesser known seasonal treasures.
GROWING UP WITH THE GOONS
2000-2100
For years, Andy Secombe was hounded by teachers and classmates expecting the son of Neddie Seagoon to be as feckless as his father, Sir Harry’s, Goon character. Thus, despite a successful career as an actor, including playing a leading character in two Star Wars movies, Andy made it a point of policy not to publicly discuss the Goons. It was only in 2001, after being persuaded to take part in the 50th anniversary Radio 2 Goon Show re-creation, that he felt he was ready to accept his inheritance.
In this programme, Andy goes in search of the other children of the Goons to discover their experiences – good and bad – of living in the shadow of one of the most influential 20th-century British radio comedy shows. He also meets some of today’s radio comics, Mitch Benn and Steve Punt, whose fathers both introduced them to the Goon Shows in the 70s.
BBC Radio 3 (suggested by Glenn Hauser)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/christmas2008.shtml
BBC Radio 4
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols24 December 15:02-16:30
Repeated on Radio 3
25 December 14:00-15:40
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
By kind permission of the Provost and Scholars of King’s College, Cambridge
photo: Andrew Houston
A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols
Live from the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge.
Ninety years ago, shortly after the end of the First World War, the then Dean of King’s, Eric Milner-White, devised and led the service in the College Chapel for the first time.
Ten years later, in 1928, it was first transmitted by the British Broadcasting Company. The pattern of the Festival, based around nine Bible readings which tell the story of the loving purposes of God, has remained the same and for many people all over the world, it heralds the beginning of Christmas.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/advent/ninelessons.shtml
Pick of the Year25 Dec 2008, 14:15 on BBC Radio 4
Sandi Toksvig chooses her favourite moments from the best of BBC radio in 2008.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g3h5b
HM the Queen
25 Dec 2008, 15:00 on BBC Radio 4
The Queen’s Christmas message to the Commonwealth and the nation, followed by the national anthem.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g3h5d
Christmas Crackers
Monday 25 December 2006 11:00-11:30 (Radio 4 FM)
Phill Jupitus recalls the way that television and radio have celebrated Christmas Day over the last 70 years.
Christmas has always given broadcasters an excuse to throw the regular schedules out of the window and offer the audience something a little special. One of the very first religious broadcasts was made on Christmas Day 1922 by the Rev John Mayo.
The first Royal Christmas message was broadcast on the Home and Empire services in 1932 - quite a technical feat for the time.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/pip/st2uh/
We Three Kings
Last broadcast 20 Dec 2008, 10:30 on BBC Radio 4 (FM only).
Ian Hislop investigates the Three Kings of the Christmas story.
They merit only a small mention in the Bible but they have had a huge impact on our understanding of Christ’s birth story. Ian asks why these characters have captured people’s imagination to such an extent and finds out how two thousand years of the telling of their story has shaped the legend of the Kings.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g1rmq
BBC Radio 7
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue
I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Christmas Carol
25 Dec 2008, 12:00 on BBC Radio 7
Humphrey Lyttelton and the all-star Clue cast’s unique Dickens interpretation. Stephen Fry narrates. From December 2003.
CBC Radio One
12 AM
A Yule Night Host Nora Young6 AM
Christmas Morning Host: Tom Allen Tom Allen brings you a wide selection of seasonal favourites.
10 AM
Handel’s Messiah Host: Julie Nesrallah
12:50 PM
The Queen’s Message Host: Andrew Craig
1 PM
CBC Christmas Sing-In from Montreal
2:50 PM
The Queen’s Message Host: Andrew Craig
3 PM
A Wright Christmas with Michelle Wright Host - Andrew Craig Michelle Wright is one of Canada’s most widely recognized and awarded country singers with over 30 major music industry awards to her credit, a string of 25 Top Ten hits on radio, including seven Number One singles, and nearly 2 million albums sold in North America. The first Canadian-born artist in the modern era of country music to have a Top Ten hit in the U.S., to have a Number One video on CMT-USA, and to win an Academy of Country Music Award, Michelle has been recognized from the outset for her expressive voice and distinctive style. This concert is part of her ‘I’m Dreaming Of A Wright Christmas Tour 2008′, which visits more than twenty communities this year. The show - recorded December 18, 2008 at the Kiwanis Theatre in Michelle’s hometown of Chatham, Ontario - includes some traditional seasonal carols, some of Michelle and her band’s favourite Christmas music, some personal holiday family reminiscences, and some surprises, too - all punctuated by the powerful hits that have earned Michelle recognition as one of Canada’s greatest vocal talents.
4 PM
A Quartette Christmas Host - Heidi Petracek A Quartette Christmas is a wonderful mix of Christmas songs old and new, performed by ‘Quartette’, four of Canada’s finest singer/songwriters–Cindy Church, Caitlin Hanford, Gwen Swick, and Sylvia Tyson.
Their rich harmonies, warm humour, and love for the music brings back many happy memories of Christmases past, and creates wonderful new ones. It is an unforgettable concert that will fill your home full of the joy of the season.
Recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Moncton, New Brunswick by Producer Peggy Hemsworth with recording engineers Karl Falkenham and Rod Sneddon.
5 PM
George Canyon Christmas: My Song is My Gift Host - Katherine Duncan
George Canyon invited Tyler Connolly, Jully Black, Dave Gunn, Andrea Menard, and Johnny Reid join him in a special Christmas concert in the remarkable setting of the Banff Springs Hotel. The invited audience includes members of the Canadian military and their families - George sings his hit song “I want to Live” especially for them. You can also see the show on CBC Television on Christmas Day.
6 PM
A Very Deep Roots Christmas Host Tom Power Are you sick and tired of hearing the same old-same old Christmas songs, will one more decked hall make you lose your mind? Well we have the remedy, on ‘A Very Deep Roots Christmas’ Tom Power will play some of the best in new and unique Christmas tunes, with some interesting variations on the familiar ones. We promise, no ‘The Hat I got for Christmas is too big’.
9 PM
A Quebec Christmas Host - Kelly Rice The CBC/McGill Concert Series presents its 6th annual Youth Choir Gala. Guest conductor Jeff Joudrey leads two hundred young singers from the Montreal area: the McGill Conservatory Youth Choir, The English Montreal School Board Senior Chorale, Les Voix Boréales, Les Petits Chanteurs de Laval, and the South Shore Children’s Chorus. Joining them for the grand finale is the John Roney Trio to perform Robert Chilcott’s roof-raising Little Jazz Mass. The Trio also plays selections from A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi, in a new arrangement created especially for this concert by pianist John Roney.
10 PM
Alleluia! A Joyful Sound Host: Michel Lalonde CBC and Radio Canada in Saskatchewan presents a bilingual Christmas concert from Saskatoon. The concert is called in English ‘Alleluia – A Joyful Sound’ or in French ‘Alleluia – Glorie et Louange’, takes place before a packed house at the beautiful historic Knox United on Church located along the Saskatchewan River. Head liners for the evening include on the English side from Saskatoon, Jessica Robinson, the 2008 female vocalist of the year at the Saskatchewan Country Music
Awards, and on the French side, Rachel St-Phard, a young rising star from the Montreal Caribbean community. Regina’s Spyder G (aka Garland Headley) - gospel, rap and hip hop artist performs and Annette Campagne, a member of the world-renowned Campagne family, is featured along with her Francophone Gospel ensemble. These performers are supported by a fine house band led by Saskatoon musician Sheldon Corbett with a quartet of superb players include Brett Balon, Lloyd Tomczack, Glenn Ens andRichard McFarlane. Radio-Canada personality Michel Lalonde hosted the evening.
11:00 PM
The Once Upon A Christmas Host - Francesca Swann “The Once Upon a Christmas” extends the hospitality of a Newfoundland house party to radio listeners across the country. Francesca Swann hosts this one-hour Christmas special from the revelry and warmth of a St. John’s house party where “The Once” (Geraldine Hollett, Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale) - a new 3 piece vocal/instrumental group - is standing by with some familiar seasonal fare and a few arrangements inspired by the repertoire of the Irish group, “The Voice Squad”. ‘The Once’ is joined by traditional singer, and multi-instrumentalist, Greg Walsh in a kitchen full of merry-makers. Festive songs are augmented by instrumentals (bouzouki, mandolin & fiddle) that blend traditional tunes from Ireland and Newfoundland to entertain you over the Christmas holiday.
CHML 900 AM
12:00 AM - Old Radio Shows (Christmas Edition
03:00 PM - Mission Services Christmas
04:00 PM - Paul Reid Christmas
06:00 PM - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
06:30 PM - Charlie Brown Christmas
07:00 PM - A Christmas Carol
08:00 PM - Old Radio Shows (Christmas edition)
Never Ending Wonder Radio
DECEMBER 15-DECEMBER 26:
ALL HOLIDAY MUSIC!
6AM-6PM PACIFIC TIME: Non-traditional type holiday music. A freeform mix of comedy Christmas tunes, punk, swing, alternative, rock, reggae, electronic, anti-Christmas, Hannukah & Solstice music.
6PM-6AM: Traditional sounding Christmas music- acoustic, folk and international, Hannukah, classical, Solstice, winter themed songs, as well as favorites by Judy Garland, Bing, Frank and others.
http://www.neverendingwonder.com/
Radio Sweden International
A number of Christmas features are available on the Radio Sweden website, including an Advent Calendar
Treasure Island Oldies
Treasure Island Oldies 11th Annual Christmas program is available via the program archive until early January.
You can access this popular program at:
http://www.treasureislandoldies.com/pages/listen1.html
Even Santa is asking for a bailout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxBl9BXLom4
Radio New Zealand National
Friday, 26 December12:35 pm (UTC 2330 December 25)
Matinee Idle’s fifth season
Friday December 26th 2008 until Friday January 23rd 2009
Matinee Idle - Radio New Zealand’s enfant terrible turns five this summer. But don’t expect any maturing - presenters Phil O’Brien and Simon Morris unashamedly promise more of the same.
‘Matinee Idle is Radio New Zealand’s Mufti Day. They let me and Simon “loose in the asylum” for four weeks. We get to be the guys testing the outer limits of listener patience and we benignly abuse this privilege.” says O’Brien. ‘They let us play whatever we want! It’s every radio presenter’s dream.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/highlights/matinee_idle2