WKU Public Radio has a wonderful day of special programs set for Thanksgiving Day. Some have become holiday traditions, while others will be heard for the first time.
Here is our complete Thanksgiving Day rundown:
Ties that Bind: Stories of Love and Gratitude from the First Ten Years of StoryCorps (Thanksgiving Day at 9 am central, 10 eastern)
Radio producer Dave Isay had an idea that something was missing from the American historical pantheon, and in 2003, he founded StoryCorps to capture the quintessential American voice, telling the invaluable American story. His mission was simple, to give all Americans the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of their lives. Since then, with two airstream trailers traveling across the country, the StoryCorps team has collected over 45,000 stories from 90,000 participants. All are preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Ten years later, Isay and StoryCorps are celebrating the decade with an anniversary collection of stories chosen from the archives. In Ties that Bind: Stories of Love and Gratitude from the First Ten Years, he focuses on the relationships among family, friends, neighbors and strangers and the events in their lives that bind them to each other.
The Splendid Table's Turkey Confidential 2013 (Thanksgiving Day at 10 am central/11 am eastern) Help is on the way for cooks, kitchen helpers and dinner guests on this, the biggest cooking day of the year. Lynne Rossetto Kasper, award-winning host of public radio's national food show The Splendid Table, will be available to answer listener questions throughout the live, two-hour program.
A Shaker Tradition (Thanksgiving Day at noon central/ 1 pm eastern) Kevin Willis hosts this program of instrumental and vocal arrangements of Shaker hymns and dance tunes. Included are vocal performances by the South Union Shaker Quartet, and instrumental arrangements by musicians William Coulter and Barry Phillips. In addition to the music, the program features comments by Tommy Hines, director ofthe Shaker Museum at South Union, Kentucky, and an interview with musician Barry Philips.
Giving Thanks 2013: A Celebration of Fall, Food, and Gratitude (Thanksgiving Day at 1 pm central, 2 eastern) As Thanksgiving brings family and food together to share common blessings, Giving Thanks brings classical music and stories together in a thoughtful reflection on the meaning of the holiday.
Hanukkah Lights (Thanksgiving Day at 2 pm central, 3 eastern) A perennial NPR favorite, Hanukkah Lights features stories and memoirs written by acclaimed authors expressly for the show, as read by NPR's Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz.