Friday, December 23rd

8pm Las Vegas - an Unconventional History
"Las Vegas - an Unconventional History," commemorates the 100th anniversary of Las Vegas with a sweeping look at the city's dramatic past. The program traces Las Vegas' development, from its beginnings as a remote way station to its Depression-era incarnation as the "Gateway to the Hoover Dam," from its mid-century florescence as the gangster metropolis known as "Sin City" to its recent phase as a corporately-financed fantasyland. Drawing upon compelling interviews with historians, journalists and cultural commentators, as well as rich archival sound, the program highlights Las Vegas' on-going value as a barometer of American values, aspirations and ideals. A collaboration with PBS' American Experience.

9pm Friday News Roundup
with guest host Susan Page

Saturday, December 24th

7pm to Midnight Christmas Eve Recollections with Ed Walker
Five hours of holiday classics from Gunsmoke, Lum 'N Abner, Suspense, and Dragnet. One of the highlights is "A Christmas Carol" with Lionel Barrymore and Orson Welles.
Hot Jazz Saturday Night and American Routes will be preempted.

Sunday, December 25th

WAMU 88.5 FM and WAMU.org
With Christmas falling on Sunday this year. WAMU's weekend music hosts will be celebrating the holidays in fine style beginning at midnight with Gary Henderson on Bluegrass Overnight. Red Shipley, Ray Davis, Dick Spottswood and Eddie Stubbs will play bluegrass, classic country and American roots Christmas selections. And, Ed Walker wraps up the evening with more vintage radio broadcasts on "Christmas Night Recollections" beginning at 7pm.

WAMU2 and WAMU.org
As a continuation of our demonstration of HD Radio technology, WAMU will broadcast special Holiday progamming from NPR on an SAC (Secondary Audio Channel) and on our accompanying second online audio channel. If you have an HD Radio receiver and/or you are able to listen online, you can tune in from 6am to Midnight. More information is available on our HD Radio page.

Monday, December 26th

8pm Worlds of Difference
Part one of a six-hour documentary series hosted by Maria Hinojosa that explores local culture in a global age. Intimate and sound-rich, each hour addresses a major theme (the relationship between culture and place, culture and language, culture and power, culture and markets, culture and religious belief, and the challenge of diversity in multicultural societies) and contain pieces previously heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Living on Earth.

Worlds of Difference - Hour 1: Finding a Niche
A look at how traditional societies are responding to challenges and opportunities in the global economy. Hear stories from Newfoundland about the impact of the collapse of cod fishery, along with a report from Scotland's Outer Hebrides, where entrepreneurs are using the Internet to keep an ancient culture alive. Also, hear about a Mexican town's attempt to market its hand-made liquor, and an Andean village's anguished decision about whether to sell its native potatoes to city buyers.

9pm Gray Matters: Learning Throughout Life
The latest in the ongoing and award-winning "Gray Matters" series on brain research. This hour explores how we learn throughout life including using the latest research to answer the following questions: Do we learn the same way no matter what our age? Are there things we can do to "rev up" our brain for learning? Is memory loss as we age a fact of life? Journalist Garrick Utley hosts the hour with other preeminent scientists who delve into these questions and more.

Tuesday, December 27th

8pm Worlds of Difference - Hour 2: Finding a Voice
More than half the languages spoken around the world today will be gone before the century is over. This hour looks at what that means for the people who speak them and explores the connections between language and identity at a time of dizzying linguistic and cultural change. Stories look at efforts to revive Ladino and Welsh, contemporary musicians performing in Provencal and Maori, and an attempt to translate the Bible into an indigenous language in Mexico.

9pm NPR's Hanukkah Lights 2005
A perennial NPR favorite, now in its second decade. Four authors explore Hanukkah traditions in original stories. Hosted by Murray Horwitz and Susan Stamberg.

Wednesday, December 28th

8pm Worlds of Difference - Hour 3: A Home in the World
As people become more mobile, the concept of home changes dramatically. This hour looks at the complex physical and emotional connections between culture and place with stories from a boomtown in Ireland, an island off the coast of Chile, and Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon.

9pm One People, Many Stories
Hosted by Jerry Stiller, enjoy readings of Chanukah stories from around the world by Bill Pullman, Emmy-winner Doris Roberts, and other Hollywood actors.

Thursday, December 29th

8pm Worlds of Difference - Hour 4: The Spirit Calls
Since the 18th century, people have predicted that the end was near for organized religion. But religion seems to be getting stronger. The forces that were once thought to be its doom may be fueling its revival. Listen to stories from a French family that is reconsidering its Jewish identity, intellectual pagans and Orthodox rockers in Greece, Evangelicals and Buddhists in Korea, and veterans of an ambitious Mormon missionary program for the Navajo.

9pm Gray Matters: Crossroads and Frontiers
This edition of the award-winning Gray Matters series centers on three fascinating case histories:

• 1848 Phineas Gage, survives a construction accident that drives a tamping iron through his skull.
• 1953 Patient "H.M." undergoes surgery to relieve epilepsy -- with most unexpected results.
• 1982 Young drug addicts display mysterious symptoms: those of advanced Parkinson's disease.

Scientific research continues to advance studies in frontal lobe damage, memory, and Parkinson's disease.

Friday, December 30th

8pm The Best of The DC Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta
Kojo and Jonetta look back over the past year and present the "best of" DC Politics for 2005.

9pm Capitol Steps "Politics takes a Holiday" Special
The comedy troupe's annual year-in-review. Featuring such loveable characters as Karl Rove, Howard Dean, the Supreme Court Justices (and nominees!), Prince Charles & Camilla, Tom "I'm So Indicted!" Delay and more!

Saturday, December 31st

7pm A Hot Jazz New Year's Eve
Rob Bamberger is your host as we welcome 2006 with 7 hours of vintage jazz, swing and big band music. Rob has been soliciting listener requests for the evening, and if you have a favorite "hot jazz" song you'd like Rob to play, call the AHNYE Hotline at 202-885-8863.

Sunday, January 1st

WAMU2 and WAMU.org
As a continuation of our demonstration of HD Radio technology, WAMU will broadcast special Holiday progamming from NPR on an SAC (Secondary Audio Channel) and on our accompanying second online audio channel. If you have an HD Radio receiver and/or you are able to listen online, you can tune in from 6pm, December 31st to 6am January 1st. You can hear the rebroadcast from 6am to 6pm on January 1st as well. More information is available on our HD Radio page.

Monday, January 2nd

8pm Worlds of Difference - Hour 5: Coming to Terms
Many societies are forced to confront the past as they chart their course to the future. In Burundi, former enemies are learning how to share power without violence, while in northern Spain, a Basque family is divided on the question of self-determination. In Canada, members of the Haida nation are symbolically reclaiming what is theirs, and in Istanbul, a young Turkish novelist digs for memories and clues about the future on the street where she once lived and wrote.

9pm Worlds of Difference - Hour 6: Choosing a Path
For millennia, who we were depended largely on the circumstances of our birth. Today we're exposed to nearly endless cultural options, and identity is increasingly a matter of choice. Listen to stories that examine people and cultures at moments of decision that shape their futures. Featured are a Roma couple in Hungary, the Maasai people of Kenya, Hawaiian drug addicts, and the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan.