New Hampshire Public Radio

NHPR's Winter Drive: Help Us Make a First Day Challenge

By Beth Szelog on Thursday, January 14, 2010.

NHPR's Winter Drive begins next week and we need your help. When we raise $20,000 between now and noon on Wednesday, January 20, we'll receive $2,000 from a group of dedicated NHPR listeners. Plus, in lieu of thank-you gifts, we'll be donating a portion of your contribution to the New Hampshire Food Bank to help our neighbors in need. Click here to make your gift today. Thank you!

Martin Luther King Day Programs

By Abby Goldstein on Monday, January 11, 2010.

Join NHPR for special programming on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 18:

9 - 10 am (and 8 - 9 pm)
King's Last March

On April 4th, 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a landmark speech from the pulpit of Riverside Church in New York. He called for an end to the Vietnam War. Exactly one year later, King was assassinated in Memphis. He was 39 years old. King’s speech in New York set the tone for the last year of his life. This documentary will trace the final year of King’s life. It was one of the most challenging and controversial chapters of the civil rights leader’s career, yet it has not been the focus of significant public attention. This program illuminates the profound personal, psychological and philosophical challenges King faced in his last year. King's Last March offers listeners a complex view of a man trying to push his philosophy of non-violence to a conclusion many people found more threatening than the dream he described on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial five years before his death.

noon - 1 pm
Say It Plain: A Century of African American Oratory

When one hears the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, the magnetic cadence of his words is almost impossible to resist. King was a remarkable orator, but he was hardly alone. He was nurtured in a centuries-old African American tradition of spoken narrative and oral persuasion. Many powered their messages with relentless optimism that one day change would come. They reminded Americans of how good they could be. Others offered a different version of utopia: a separate nation free of whites. This dramatic and moving program highlights a selection of landmark sermons, speeches and broadcasts by African American orators over the past century. From Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, to Fannie Lou Hamer and Malcolm X, to Shirley Chisholm and Julian Bond, listeners will hear the stirring words of African American figures as they call for action on civil rights and the unmet promise of democracy.

Transmitter Maintenance, 1/6/10

By Steve Donnell on Wednesday, January 6, 2010.

We will be performing planned maintenance work on WEVN, 90.7 FM in Keene, this afternoon. This may temporarily affect reception for some listeners.

We apologize for the inconvenience and will be back to regular operations as soon as possible!

Carl Kasell, Magic Man

By Brady Carlson on Wednesday, December 30, 2009.

Carl Kasell is known in public radio circles not just for his newscasting and his work on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, but for his magic tricks. I found this photo from Wait Wait's first visit to New Hampshire in January 2005. His assistant/volunteer is Kelly Macpherson, wife of NHPR's Scott Macpherson:

Carl Kasell performs a magic trick at an NHPR event in Manchester, January 20, 2005.

I Bought A Car For Carl Kasell

By Becky Kates on Wednesday, December 30, 2009.

Carl was the first guest from NPR that we were hosting, and I had to pick him up at the airport. I knew that Carl was a very tall person, and I own a Saturn. The idea of welcoming Carl Kasell to New Hampshire and then making him fold himself into my Saturn did not seem to be the optimum example of hospitality. So our casual research into buying a new car of late became a frantic search for something that would fit Carl Kasell. We ended up with a CRV and have dutifully tried to keep it tidy and dignified, in honor of Carl.

He is such a gentleman; kind, engaging, respectful, patient and a wonderful conversationalist. He seemed sincerely interested in everyone he met, and was very gracious. I wish we could invite him back more often.

Cookie Walk

By Brady Carlson on Wednesday, December 23, 2009.

We're having a holiday cookie walk today. Everybody's bringing in cookies and/or snacks to share, and I'm starting to wonder if any of us will fit through the door when we head home tonight.

Here's a few photos of the cookies and the people behind them: