Holiday Programs 2024

Below is a list of special holiday programs you can expect on WVTF Music and RADIO IQ this holiday season.

New Years Eve- Tuesday, December 31st

Radio IQ:

Capitol Fools 2024 New Years Special- 6pm-7pm
Featuring former cast members of the legendary Capitol Steps and a show written by the former co-writer of the Steps, the Capitol Fools hold up a mirror to our crazy political culture, providing hilarious song parodies and foolish reflections of the day’s news. After touring the country for two years, the Capitol Fools are going on the air! Picking up the annual tradition of the Capitol Steps radio shows that listeners loved, the Capitol Fools are pleased to present an hour long broadcast of our live stage show to welcome in 2025.

2024 Remembered from the Current- 7pm-9pm
Join The Current in honoring the life, music, and legacy of artists we lost this year with 2024 Remembered from The Current. This two-hour musical tribute is a celebration of all sounds - from indie to influential - and the perfect way for music lovers to unite in paying homage to the artists who have shaped music history.

Toast of the Nation- 9pm-1am
An NPR tradition every New Year's Eve since the 1970s, Toast of the Nation is the perfect audio complement for the occasion. It's festive jazz you can party to, all night long.

New Years Day- Wednesday, January 1st.

WVTF:

New Years Day From Vienna 11am-1pm
The Vienna Philharmonic will perform their famous New Year's Day concert from the renowned Musikverein in Vienna on January 1, 2025. The concert will be conducted by Riccardo Muti, Music Director Emeritus of the Chicago Symphony, who has directed the Vienna Philharmonic more than 500 times since his debut in 1971. This will be his seventh New Year’s Day appearance, his first was in 1993.

The 2025 New Year's Day program includes many favorites by Johann Strauss Junior, since 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of his birth, as well as two items appearing on the New Year's Day concert for the first time, including the Ferdinandus Waltz by Johann Strauss’ contemporary Constanze Geiger. As it has for decades now, the encores feature the most famous waltz ever, From the Blue Danube, as well as the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss Senior. Hosted by WBUR's Lisa Mullins.

The Christmas Revels- In Celebration of the Winter Solstice 1pm-3pm
CHRISTMAS REVELS performances have been described as entertaining collections of country, ritual and courtly dances, wassails, carols, songs and ballads, spirituals, hymns and anthems, story-telling, poetry and drama. They are made up of sacred and secular folk materials, plus some composed popular and "art" music, from traditional European, Middle Eastern, Asian and American celebrations of Advent, Chanukah, Las Posadas, Christmas, the Feast of Fools, New Year's, Twelfth Night, Epiphany/Old Christmas, and other end-of-the-year festivals, along with various cultures' hereditary observances of the Winter Solstice, some elements of which date back to pre-Christian times.