Bring VPR To The Table This Thankgiving!

We hope you’ll invite VPR to your table to celebrate Thanksgiving. After all, we’re just like family…except we won’t take the last slice of pumpkin pie or overindulge on the wine and make inappropriate comments. Heck, we’ll even help with the cooking!

Listen Thursday from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. for Turkey Confidential from The Splendid Table. Lynne Rossetto Kasper will be available to answer your cooking questions live. Quickly becoming a Thanksgiving morning tradition, past shows have included everything from a cross-country trucker cooking his Thanksgiving dinner on the manifold to a panicked first-time cook who didn't realize a turkey needs to be thawed. Lynne will be joined by renowned chef and food advocate Jamie Oliver; restaurateur and PBS host José Andrés, wine entrepreneur Joshua Wesson, and restaurant guides Jane and Michael Stern. Call with your questions at 1-800-537-5252 or learn more here.

Check out the rest of our Thanksgiving program lineup below, and you’ll find our full holiday schedule online here. From all of us at VPR, we wish you a warm, safe, and enjoyable holiday!

Thursday, November 26: Giving Thanks With John Birge

7-8 p.m. on VPR; 8-10 p.m. on VPR Classical

Host John Birge creates a thoughtful, contemporary reflection on the meaning of the holiday. This year, he’s joined by author Deepak Chopra, who reflects on gratitude in India, his pilgrimage to America, and shares poems of thanks by Rumi. The program also features food writer Nigella Lawson on the tradition of feasting, and brings along suggestions for turkey leftovers.

The program also features classical music, including Simple Gifts from Yo-Yo Ma, a hymn of Thanksgiving from Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, the autumnal lyricism of Mark O'Connor's American Seasons, and a cornucopia of Bach.

Friday, November 27: Best of the Best

Noon (Hour 1) and 7 p.m. (Hour 2) on VPR

Best of the Best showcases the winning entries of the 10th annual Third Coast Audio Festival. This is the place to hear the most accomplished producers and best emerging talent from around the world, artists who are shaping the future of public radio.

(The photo above is courtesy of Flickr).

WRVT Rutland Is Getting An Upgrade

If you listen to Vermont Public Radio on WRVT 88.7 FM in Rutland, you may have noticed poor or no reception at times this week. I wanted to provide you with an update on the issues we are experiencing and provide details about an exciting improvement on the horizon!

A couple of weeks ago, our main signal from our Colchester studios to WRVT on Grandpa’s Knob failed, and the back-up signal system kicked in. That back-up system does not provide the same level of quality audio our listeners expect, but it at least kept WRVT and running. Unfortunately, the back-up signal also failed, so now we are using a second back-up solution that is operating normally and at 100% power.

The other issue has to do with the time of year: in the fall, many broadcasters (including VPR) are doing critical maintenance work on towers because, as you might imagine, getting to those towers in the dead of winter is a challenge! Because we share our transmission facilities with other broadcasters, we sometimes have to go to low power or off the air completely to protect the safety of engineers working on the tower.

Fortunately, I also have some great news: we were recently granted permission by the FCC to nearly double the power of WRVT 88.7 FM. Beginning November 29th, VPR will be upgrading that transmitter and other critical infrastructure. Once the work is complete, WRVT listeners will have a stronger and better signal – and 40,000 more people in the Rutland County area will be able to receive VPR! We expect the work to upgrade and improve WRVT will be completed during the week of December 13.

Thank you very much for your patience as we work through these issues. Until then, I hope you’ll listen to VPR online if you are able.

I've Got An NPR Tat And An NPR Tote...

As a fan you may have already seen this public radio hip-hop video floating around the Internet over the last day or so. If you haven't, not to worry - you still qualify as a fan. How big a fan, of course, depends on how many public radio references you catch in the video below.

Check it out and let us know your favorite lines...or make up your own!

Live On VPR Classical Today!

We were blessed with another sublime live performance today! It was a chilly morning outside (check out the frosty leaves from my garden, above), but guitarist John Muratore and accordionist Roberto Cassan warmed things up on VPR Classical with a beautiful program including music from Cuba, Paraguay, and Argentina.

One of the last pieces they played was an original by Cassan, Domenie - a title that comes from his native Italian dialect, meaning "Sunday". It's also the title track from their new recording together.

(Muratore and Cassan will also be in concert this evening at 8, at St. Michaels College in Colchester.)

The VPR Table

Food is a powerful uniting force. Not only do most of us love to eat – we love to talk about food, cook for each other, and share recipes.

That’s why it only seemed natural to produce a local program about food on VPR!

VPR is thrilled to have two great hosts for The VPR Table, a feature running through mid-April.

Marialisa Calta has written widely about food and travel The New York Times, Gourmet, Smithsonian Magazine, many others. She writes a weekly column, “Food” which is syndicated to more than 500 newspapers, including the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.

Marialisa is practical and straightforward, with a great sense of humor. Her latest book exemplifies her primary interest – family meals. It’s called Barbarians at the Plate: Taming and Feeding the Modern American Family.

In a few weeks, we’ll hear from another Vermonter -
Rowan Jacobsen. His books have earned the James Beard Award twice. He also writes for the New York Times, Newsweek, Harper’s, Eating Well, and other publications about 'the taste of place' - food, the environment and the connection between the two. His new book is, American Terroir, Saving the Flavors of our Woods, Waters and Fields.

The Vermont Table will include great recipes from Marialisa and Rowan. We also invite you to share your own recipes with the VPR Community on The Vermont Table page, and send photos of your favorite creations!

Listen for The Vermont Table Friday afternoons at 5:55 and Saturday mornings at 8:55. And as always – let us know what you think.

Thanks to Carol Brown of Montpelier for sending us this cool photo!

Join The VPR Classical Street Team!

If you're a VPR Classical listener, you already know how great our 24/7 classical music service is. Will you help us share the love with your community?

We're trying to raise awareness and listening to our many VPR Classical stations, including WOXR 90.9 FM in the Burlington area, and our two newest stations, WVXR 102.1 FM in central Vermont, and WOXM 90.1 FM in Addison County.

To help with this effort, we've produced a series of posters featuring VPR Classical’s local weekday hosts – Cheryl Willoughby, Walter Parker, and Joe Goetz. If you listen to VPR Classical, please download and print a few posters and hang them at your workplace, library, neighborhood coffee shop, general store, community bulletin board, or anywhere else people will see them! There are four versions of the poster to download and share: one for 90.9 FM Burlington/Plattsburgh, one for 102.1 FM in central Vermont, one for 90.1 FM in Addison County, and one featuring all of the VPR Classical Frequencies.

We also have some pre-printed posters at our Colchester studios in Fort Ethan Allen. If you're in the area, please feel free to come pick up a few!

Not sure of your VPR Classical station? Check out our coverage map to the left, and thank you so much for your help!

A New Season Of Moth Stories Begins Saturday

I’ve got a long trip coming up this Saturday. While I’m usually glued to my radio whenever VPR is on, I lose track of time completely when I’m listening to The Moth Radio Hour. This weekend VPR will broadcast the first of five new episodes of The Moth Radio Hour, so I’ll be sure I'm driving Saturday at 4 o'clock.

This new season features some of the best stories I’ve heard from The Moth. Comedian Mike Birbiglia hosts the first episode, and has a story of his own—a tale of a free vacation that leads to a breakthrough and a breakup. Dan Kennedy—an occasional host of The Moth—has an unforgettable therapy session with an unconventional social worker. And Al Letson, host of State of the Re:Union, offers a heartbreaking story in which he realizes he's not quite ready for a second child.

As faithful Moth listeners will know, this program features stories told live without scripts, notes, props or accompaniment. The stories are often funny, sometimes poignant and always compelling. Please let us know what you think of The Moth at our homepage. And enjoy!

8 Days, 4 Live Performances On VPR And VPR Classical

There's always lots of beautiful music emanating from the studios of Vermont Public Radio, but over the next 8 days much more of that music will be live. From tomorrow through next Friday VPR and VPR Classical will broadcast 4 LIVE performances in 8 days!

It all begins with a double-header on Thursday, November 4, on VPR Classical. At 1pm, the Johannes String Quartet with Soovin Kim join Walter Parker for a special performance. Then at 3pm, Joe Goetz is joined by Pedja Muzijevic to perform a piece from his upcoming program for the UVM Lane Series.

On Tuesday, November 9 at 9pm, the live music continues on Jazz with George Thomas on VPR. Local musician Bryan McNamara stops by for a set with his band Souls' Calling, featuring Parker Shper,Ken Haing, and Robinson Morse. They'll be performing a few days later on Saturday the 13th at Burlington's FlynnSpace.

The 4th show in this 8-day span happens next Friday, November 12, when guitarist John Muratore and accordion player Roberto Cassan join Walter Parker at 11am for a live performance on VPR Classical.

VPR & VPR Classical are pleased to be your connection to local music, through live concerts from our own performance studios!