WHRO Public Media has the soundtrack for your holiday! Set your dial to WHRV or WHRO FM, or stream it online. 

Dec. 23

6:00 - LOCALS ONLY - Local and regional artists present their best holiday songs and greetings. Also, the first annual “Holly Jolly Sing-A-Along” with Doug Alan Wilcox, Ron Fetner, Narissa Bond, Jerry Sowers, Mike Proffitt, and Skip Friel.

7:00 - PICKIN' - Bluegrass Seasonal standards with some of the greats of the genre- tune in for Ralph Stanley, The Country Gentlemen, Larry Sparks, Del McCoury and plenty of others really set the mood for an Americana Holiday.

9:00 - ACOUSTIC HIGHWAY - Christmas classics are performed by some of the great acoustic artists like James Taylor, Emmy Lou Harris, Art Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot, and so many others. Renditions to calm the spirit and spread holiday cheer. Also, hear the WHRO staff reflect on the year 2023 in their own “Christmas Letter.”

11:00 - A COWBOY CHRISTMAS - It’s the cowboy holiday way with The Riders in the Sky gang. Also, music from Sleep at the Wheel, John Denver, Michael Martin Murphy and others who celebrate Christmas on the range.

Dec. 24

12:00 - WELCOME WELCOME CHRISTMAS DAY - songs celebrating the arrival of Christmas day with music from John Gorka, The New England Irish Harp Orchestra, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The Moody Blues, and many others

1:00 - AN HOUR OF SEASONAL INSTRUMENTAL TUNES - Beautiful music from Stephen Bennett, Mark O’Connor, Eileen Ivers, and Robin Bullock. A perfect backdrop as you assemble that train set, bicycle, or doll house in the early morning.

2:00 - A SWINGIN HOLIDAY JAZZ PARTY - Wynton Marsalis hosts an hour of holiday jazz favorites by Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Gregory Porter, René Marie, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

3:00 - HOLYWOOD HOLIDAY - Enjoy a one-hour musical retrospective of some of Hollywood's most cherished Christmas-themed movies. Selections feature scores from “Scrooge, the Musical”, “A Muppet Christmas Carol”, “The Polar Express”, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” and more.

4:00 - JOY TO THE WORLD - The internationally acclaimed "little orchestra" Pink Martini decks the airwaves with festive holiday songs from around the globe. From timeless classics to rarely heard gems, here is a multi-denominational, multicultural jubilee that overflows with enough holiday spirit to warm your entire family.

9:00 - TINSEL TALES - Wistfulness, joy, doubt, hope, all the emotions we feel at this time of year, all summoned up in memorable stories from the NPR broadcast archives.

10:00 - AN UNFAMILIAR CHRISTMAS - An hour of rarely heard holiday music. A gift of discovery, for your listening adventurers. Holiday music highlighting artists, arrangements, lyrics, and compositions, from today and yesterday, seldom heard in mass media.

11:00 - A SOUL CHRISTMAS with some of the greatest Soul and R&B holiday winter classics ever recorded from James Brown, Otis Redding, The OJays, Donnie Hatthaway, The Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, Booker T and the MGS,, plus many others. Enjoy a very merry SOUL CHRISTMAS today on Soul Roots.

Dec. 25

12:00 - 1940s RADIO - Christmas programs on the radio in the 1940s ranged from variety shows, to dramas, to comedies... all of them, containing a generous portion of music, from swing to, sentimental, to religious. Listen to a decade of holiday programs from this incredible era.

1:00 - THE BIG TINY DESK HOLIDAY CONCERT SPECIAL - Celebrate the season with amazing holiday performances from The Tiny Desk Concert series including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Steve Martin, Hanson, The Polyphonic Spree and more!

2:00 - JAZZ PIANO CHRISTMAS - Check out your favorite holiday classics as you’ve never heard them! This year, our annual sell-out event spotlights ferociously talented Japanese musical phenom Hiromi, Mountain Stage’s Bob Thompson, and Bolivian prodigy José André Montaño, chosen as one of the Kennedy Center’s “Next 50” leaders.

3:00 - AFRO BLUE - A tambourine jingled merrily and spirits were high when Afro Blue visited NPR's Studio 1 to share a brilliant assortment of holiday music. The group delighted the audience with fresh, thoughtful arrangements of Christmas favorites, from a rollicking "Angels We Have Heard On High" to a sublime, weighty "Silent Night."

7:00 - OOTB CHRISTMAS EDITION - begin the wind down to a long day of celebrating with a seasonal dose of great Christmas music as only Paul Shugrue can present.

9:00 - JAZZ FOR THE SEASON - wrap up your Christmas night with holiday-themed jazz from our own jolly elf Jae Sinnett.