Catch Alice’s Restaurant on the 2023 radio dial. See our latest listening guide.
What’s Your Thanksgiving Tradition? (Photo of Jennifer’s mom’s yams by J. Waits)
A few years back I wrote about the tradition of many radio stations playing the lengthy song “Alice’s Restaurant” on Thanksgiving. Every year I’m curious to see how many stations plan to play the classic folk song.
Apparently listeners are vocal about their desire to hear this song on the radio every year. A post on the website for commercial radio station 96.9 The Eagle states, “Arlo Guthrie’s nearly 20-minute epic tale has become synonymous with Thanksgiving, at least to the thousands of people that call/email/Facebook us demanding we play it…”
Here’s an incomplete list of some of the stations that plan to honor this tradition this year:
KZFR 90.1 FM in Chico, CA: According to a blog post by KZFR host Tom Leonardi, this song is a Thanksgiving Eve tradition on the American Pastimes show which airs on Wednesdays from 3 to 5pm.
WGXC 90.7 FM in Greene and Columbia Counties, New York: From 9am to noon on Thanksgiving, the WGXC morning show will be doing a special hosted by Alice Brock, “the artist, activist, and restaurant owner of the iconic Arlo Guthrie song, ‘Alice’s Restaurant.'” The show will feature an interview with Ron Puhalski and will include music from the 1960s as well as the song “Alice’s Restaurant” in its entirety.
93 WXRT in Chicago will be playing Alice’s Restaurant twice on Thanksgiving, including at 11am. XRT also posted a short audio documentary about the history of the song in its Lin’s Bin feature.
KRNN 102.7 FM in Juneau, Alaska will be airing Alice’s Restaurant during the 8am to 10am show on Thanksgiving.
96.9 The Eagle in Sacramento, CA: The Eagle will be playing Alice’s Restaurant at 8am, 12 noon and 5pm on Thanksgiving day this year.
WFUV 90.7 FM in Bronx, NY: WFUV will be airing Alice’s Restaurant at 12noon and will also be playing a number of live performances throughout Thanksgiving day from 10am to midnight (including an excerpt of the Guthrie Family Reunion at the Newport Folk Festival).
KINK 101.9 FM in Portland, OR: Alice’s Restaurant will air at noon and 6pm on Thanksgiving.
WODZ 96.1 in Central New York: I’m guessing they will be airing the song Alice’s Restaurant since they posted about its history. If they do plan to play it, no time was given.
WTTS 92.3 FM in Indiana: WTTS will air Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving at 6am and noon.
WYEP 91.3 FM in Pittsburgh will be playing Alice’s Restaurant at around noon on Thanksgiving.
97 Rock in Buffalo New York will be playing Alice’s Restaurant at noon and 6pm on Thanksgiving.
WBAB 102.3 in Long Island, New York will be playing Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving at 9am, noon and 5pm.
KDKB 93.3 FM in Arizona: Perhaps in order to avoid playing the song over the air, KDKB posted a link to the 23-minute song for listeners to view on their own schedule. According to a post on KDKB, “Once again KDKB is offering up Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ any time *you* choose! No need to schedule your day around us. It’s an ‘on-demand’ world. So, here it is NOW! You can listen over & over, pass it along to your friends, or gather round and listen as a family.”
Well, of course, we can all listen to “Alice’s Restaurant” any time we’d like in the digital space, but isn’t there something magical about hearing it over terrestrial radio at the exact same time as thousands of other listeners in your town?
If your local stations plan to air the song, please let me know in the comments section of this post. Happy Thanksgiving!
