Special Programming This Week

Best wishes from all of us at VPR for your Thanksgiving Holiday. We're grateful to everyone in the VPR community - our listeners, friends, business partners and volunteers - for helping us bring you great public radio every day.

VPR and VPR Classical have some special programming to listen to while you're shopping, chopping, washing dishes and relaxing:

VPR:

Wednesday at Noon: Counting Vermont, a VPR Documentary examining the meaning of the 2010 Census. Counting Vermont is made possible by The VPR Journalism Fund. (Vermont Edition returns Friday at noon)

7pm: The Moth Radio Hour. A special broadcast of "true stories told live with no notes."

Thursday 11am -1pm: Turkey Confidential with Lynne Rosetta Casper, a two hour live call-in program. Lynne offers solutions for your Thanksgiving dilemmas, along with recipes and great conversation. Call (800) 537-5252.

7pm: The Hidden World of Girls, hosted by Tina Fey. The first in a two part series about girls around the world and the women they become. Listen Friday at 7 for hour 2.

Friday at 7pm: The Hidden World of Girls, Hour 2.

VPR Classical:
Thursday at noon: Thanksgiving with Cantus. Join one of America's best male vocal ensembles for an hour of singing and story telling about gratitude.

8pm-10pm: Giving Thanks with John Birge, a Celebration of Fall, Food and Gratitude. John Birge is joined this year by authors Nora Ephron and Roy Blount, Jr. Hear the premiere of "Table Grace", Matthew Brown's choral setting of a grace by Garrison Keillor, sung by VocalEssence.

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me On TV

You can see Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me on BBC America Friday, December 23rd. In this special NPR/BBC collaboration, Peter Segal, Carl Kasell and a panel of US and UK talent will lead us through a “2011 Year in Review” with perspectives from both sides of the pond.

Doug Berman, creator and benevolent overlord of NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! and Car Talk, says: “It’s going to be pretty much what we do every week, except NPR has to add a budget line for pants.”

Host Peter Sagal says: “This is terrific, because I always assumed that the only way I could get on the BBC would be to have David Attenborough narrate my mating rituals. Glad this happened instead.”

The show will air Friday, December 23rd at 8pm on BBC America. You’ll hear the radio version Saturday the 24th at 11.

Does this mean a weekly Wait Wait.... Don't Tell Me TV program is in the works? In a recent New York Times article, Sagal said, “No comment. (I’ve always wanted to say that to The New York Times.)”

©2004 NPR Photo by Tony Nagelmann

'Counting Vermont:' Documenting The State's Changing Population

VPR News has been poring through the 2010 Census, and a portrait of settlement patterns has emerged.

One ummistakable conclusion is that a lot more people live in Burlington and the necklace of towns around the city. More and more, northwestern Vermont has become the center of the state’s population.

But what does that mean for the rest of the state? We take a look at that and other questions in a documentary, “Counting Vermont,” which airs on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The short answer is that Burlington’s gain is not necessarily a loss for other parts of the state.

Population in some of the state’s other traditional centers has declined in some cases. And in other places population has not kept up with statewide growth. But those communities are still vital, inviting places.

Increasingly, access to broadband computer hookups is allowing towns large and small to hold their own. In “Counting Vermont,” we’ll meet Carmen Tedesco. She lives in Huntington and works for a firm in Washington, D.C. She commutes via her computer.

Experts tell us that such technological advances allow Vermont, and its many small towns, to compete in the 21st century even at a time when our population is growing much more slowly than other parts of the country.

Steve Delaney hosts “Counting Vermont” on Saturday at 4.

The Race For Burlington Mayor

Burlington voters will elect a mayor on Town Meeting Day in March. Before they do, VPR is looking at the candidates who are currently in the running.

The Progressive Party has held the mayor’s office for 28 of the past 30 years. In the wake of the Burlington Telecom, scandal both the Democratic and Republican parties say it’s time for a change.

The field of candidates is crowded with politicians promising to restore trust and increase transparency. With four candidates, it's a wide-open race for the Democratic mayoral nomination. The Democrats caucus on Sunday, November 13th. In partnership with CCTV.org, you can stream that video here beginning at 1 p.m.

Our Newest VPR Classical Fan

Caroline Anderson is only two and half weeks old, but she's been listening to VPR Classical for months. Congratulations to Karen and Seth Anderson! Karen is Traffic Specialist in VPR's Operations Department.

Caroline is a proud Walter Parker and Joe Goetz groupie.

Going To Bat For Vermont Farmers

VPR Classical host, and fan of the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, Walter Parker is preparing to attend Saturday's Going to Bat for Vermont Farmers benefit at Vermont Technical College in Randolph.

Some of the best minds in baseball will be at the November 12th Roundtable event. Former Red Sox GM and new Chicago Cubs President Theo Epstein will join Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman and Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington for a discussion that includes a question-and-answer session with the audience about their teams, their sport, and off-season plans.

All proceeds will go to the Vermont Community Foundation Farm Disaster Relief Fund.

Listen to Mitch Wertlieb's interview with baseball writer Buster Olney, who grew up on a farm in Randolph.

You can purchase tickets through the Flynn Box Office. When you go, say hi to Walter!

National EAS Test Wednesday

The first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will be held Wednesday, November 9th at 2pm.

The test is being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and will be broadcast on all radio and TV stations. It will be less than a minute long and sound very much like the EAS tests you hear regularly on VPR and VPR Classical.

This Nationwide EAS Test will help the federal government and EAS participants determine the reliability of the system and its effectiveness in notifying the public of emergencies and potential dangers nationally and regionally.

FEMA encourages everyone to have an emergency preparedness kit and have emergency plans for themselves, their families, communities and businesses.

Visit Ready.gov for more information about how to prepare for and stay informed in the event of an actual emergency: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed.

BirdNote - A New Feature On VPR

VPR's Vermont Garden Journal with Charlie Nardozzi has concluded for the season, and it's time to put out the bird feeders.

Beginning Saturday, you can listen to and learn about the intriguing ways of birds on VPR. Listen for BirdNote, a new feature Saturday mornings at 8:57.

From New England to the tropics, migration patterns to mating rituals, BirdNote brings you into the world of nature. You'll also hear the featured bird each week, so don't be surprised if your cat runs for the radio on Saturday mornings!

This is a 'test run' of BirdNote, so please let us know what you think.