We welcome 2017 with comedy, jazz, remembrances, and more. See the schedule here.
Saturday afternoon, The Capitol Steps manage to put a humorous spin on the election. Later, hours before the Mountain Time Zone new year, Toast of the Nation travels to Blue Note jazz clubs around the world for performances from Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau, the Ron Carter Quartet, and more.
Sunday special programming includes a remembrance of the (too) many musicians who passed away in 2016; an hour-long feature on the meaning of the New Year to cultures from the Lakota to the ancient Gaels; and the annual Best of the Best documentaries of the year from Third Coast.
Here's the schedule, with program descriptions below.
All of us at KSUT hope your 2017 is happy, healthy and prosperous!
Thursday December 29
1:00 p.m. - The Best of the Blend 2016
Saturday December 31
3:00 p.m. - The Capitol Steps Politics Takes A Holiday: New Year's Edition
9:00 p.m. - Toast of the Nation
Sunday January 1, 2017
12:00 a.m. - Toast of the Nation (music continues until 3:00 a.m.)
2:00 p.m. - The Agonizingly Long 2016 Memorial Musician Special
3:00 p.m. - New Year's: A Reflection
4:00 p.m. - Third Coast Festival's Best of the Best 2016 Documentaries
Program highlights:
The Best of the Blend 2016 (Thursday Dec 29, 1:00 p.m.)
KSUT Music Director Stasia Lanier reviews some of the biggest and best releases to cross our airwaves in 2016.
The Capitol Steps Politics Takes A Holiday: New Year's Edition (Saturday December 31, 3:00 p.m.)
If only the Capitol Steps had some funny material to work with in 2016…! All your election favorites appear in the Capitol Steps year-in-review special: President-Elect Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Vladimir Putin…wait, what?!?
Toast of the Nation 2016/2017 (Saturday, December 31, 9:00 p.m.)
An NPR tradition since the 1970s, Toast of the Nation is festive jazz you can party to, all night and into the wee hours of the New Year! Toast of the Nation 2016/2017 stops in a Blue Note venue throughout the U.S. and the world. **This year's schedule: The Ron Carter Quartet is at 9pm, Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau at 10, the Fred Hersch Trio at 11. At midnight, it's public radio favorite Dee Dee Bridgewater and her band. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band follow at 1, exciting new singer BUIKA is at 2.**
The Agonizingly Long 2016 Memorial Musician Special (Sunday January 1, 2:00 p.m.)
This year was an especially costly year in the world of music with the deaths of far too many favorites. Music producer Paul Ingles gently hosts an hour featuring tracks from 17 of those who passed in 2016: David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Ralph Stanley, Sharon Jones, Glenn Frey, Mose Allison, Guy Clark, two-thirds of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Leon Russell, and a few more.
New Year's: A Reflection (Sunday January 1, 3:00 p.m.)
A meditative journey featuring an ancient Gaelic ritual of bringing in the new year with fiddler Alasdair Frazier; a Native American way of marking time with a story from a Lakota elder; and, from the Grand Canyon, the hope of a healthy land.
Third Coast Festival Best of the Best Documentaries (Sunday, January 1, 4:00 p.m.)
The Third Coast Festival is back with their annual Best of the Best broadcast featuring the winners of their annual radio documentary competition. From more than 500 entries, ten were chosen as winners. Meticulously crafted and lovingly produced, these stories will intrigue, inform and inspire. **Please note, this year's program features powerful, important stories dealing with issues that might not be suitable for young listeners.**