WHAV continues its longtime Christmas tradition Sunday night with 24 hours of holiday programming, beginning with the reading of a new story by a local author and followed by classic old-time radio shows Christmas Eve.
“The Night the Wolves Came to Christmas,” written by Georgetown author Richard F. Zapf, will be read by WHAV’s own Win Damon following the 6 p.m. local and national news. During a recent interview heard over WHAV, Zapf explained the origins of the story date back to Christmas in Germany during the 1890s.
“The background comes from my family, which is an immigrant family from Germany. The story about the wolves really came from my grandmother who told me the story when I when I was a little kid—at least she told me part of the story. Other parts of the story really are experiences I had listening to my aunts and uncles and other people in the German community about how they emigrated to the United States and about how things were back in the old country,” he explained.
“The Night the Wolves Came to Christmas” will be repeated at midnight, Christmas Eve, and after the 9 a.m. local news Christmas morning.
Holiday music begins Christmas Eve after the reading of Zapf’s story.
Superman’s Christmas Adventure.
At 8, it’s Superman’s Christmas Adventure as the man of steel fights to stop Dr. Grouch and Mr. Meaney who set out to destroy Santa’s workshop and steal the reindeer. Next up is Fibber McGee and Molly with Fibber putting up Christmas lights and decorations with hilarious results.
Jimmy Stewart returns at 9 as George Bailey in the radio adaptation of the 1948 movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” When Stewart regrets ever being born, his guardian angel grants his wish on Christmas Eve.
Another movie-turned-radio play, “Miracle on 34th Street” airs at 10 with the stars of the classic 20th Century Fox 1947 movie, Maureen O’Hara, John Payne and Edmund Gwenn.
At 11 p.m., a then 23-year-old Orson Welles fills in for Lionel Barrymore, playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the rarely heard 1938 version of the Mercury Theater on the Air’s production of Charles Dickens’ timeless story, “A Christmas Carol.”
All Christmas Eve programs are repeated at midnight.