We bring you NPR specials on "Connections with Evan Dawson" today.
12:00: Special broadcast — "Tinsel Tales 4: NPR Christmas Stories Told through Song"
1:00: Special broadcast — "Tinsel Tales 2: More NPR Christmas Favorites"
In our first hour, 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. This broadcast is hosted by Lynn Neary.
Then in our second hour, 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. This broadcast is hosted by Lynn Neary. Featured stories:
- "Santa Claus, Private Eye" (Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre of San Francisco)
- "Pass the Fois Gras: Christmas Menu Hard to Digest" (Firoozeh Dumas)
- "A 'Silent Night' that Brought Healing" (Steve Banko)
- "The Christmas Club" (Bill Harley)
- "All I Wanted For Christmas" (NPR staffers)
- "Christmas Gift Records" (The Ban-Smo Label)
- "The Night Before Christmas, Latin Style" (Read by NPR's Claudio Sanchez)
- "The Designated Celebrator" (Melinda Shoaf)
- "Christmas Truce" (Historian Douglas Brinkley)
- "Wolf Christmas" (Daniel Pinkwater)
Then, for our evening broadcasts:
9:00: Special broadcast — "Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites"
10:00: Special broadcast — Jonathan Winters’ "A Christmas Carol"
This program features 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. This broadcast is hosted by Lynn Neary. Featured stories:
- "Dad 'n' Sam" (Jay Allison)
- "Homeless Christmas" (Lee Stringer)
- "Christmas Morning, 1949" (Sylvia Seymour/Paul Auster)
- "Low-Glamour Christmas Party" (Bailey White)
- "Doing it in the Closet" (John McIlwraith)
- "Christopher" (Jay O'Callahan)
- "Ode to Christmas" (Chuck Kramer)
- "Santaland Diaries" (David Sedaris)
- "Modern Day Joseph and Mary" (Scott Simon)
- "John Henry Faulk's Christmas Story" (John Henry Faulk)
Then in hour second hour, 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, "A Christmas Carol," with a special performing edition prepared by Dickens for his own presentations. The broadcast also features Mimi Kennedy. From NPR and KCRW.
