Three months early: A Thanksgiving "Alice's Restaurant" question

[tzikeh]

For the Americans on my list:

Which (if any) radio station(s) near you plays "Alice's Restaurant" on Thanksgiving, which city is the radio station in, and at what time(s) do they play it (if you know)?

Growing up, I listened to "Alice's Restaurant" on the NYC station 102.7 (I no longer know the name of the station), and it still plays every year at noon. In Chicago, it plays it at noon on 93.1 WXRT.

Anyone else? I believe it plays in Philly on 93.3 WMMR. I think some online-only stations play it: Wildman Steve and Radio Paradise usually play it.

Of course, if nothing else, you can download it from Amazon.com for just 89 cents.

You can get anything you want / at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want / at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in, it's around the back
just a half a mile from the railroad track!
You can get anything you want / at Alice's Restaurant!

Comments

[kaydeefalls]

"This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the restaurant. But Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant. That's just the name of the song. And that's why I called the song Alice's Restaurant."

Staple of my childhood, that was. I could pretty much recite the whole monologue at age twelve.

[tzikeh]

Staple of my childhood, that was. I could pretty much recite the whole monologue at age twelve.

Me too!

You're not proud... or tired...

[sethrak]

::nostalgic::

Local radio in Milwaukee (NPR I *think*) used to play it when I was a kid. If they didn't or we missed it, my aunt Marge, one of the biggest Arlo Gunthrie fans EVER, would be sure to break out her copy. I remember giving her the side eye almost every year and demanding to know why a 'song' was mostly spoken monologue, which did NOT fit my youthful definition of songs. Eventually I developed a better appreciation of his work and she even took me to a couple of his live concerts. :D

No idea if local radio here plays it (CO), and this year we're going to be spending Thanksgiving in the middle of deeply conservative MO visiting the inlaws.

[lomedet]

"With circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, explaining what each one was, to be used as evidence against us..."

When I lived in Philly, (W)XPN would play it at noon on Thanksgiving every year.

[tzikeh]

Did WXPN happen to change their callsign to WMMR?

[d_generate_girl]

Jumping in, sorry.

WXPN (which is also the local NPR station) is a different station than WMMR, but both stations play the song. I've heard it more frequently on XPN.

[tzikeh]

Excellent! Do you happen to know the station number?

[d_generate_girl]

It's 88.5.

[lomedet]

XPN is UPenn's public radio station - they are the originators of World Cafe and tend to play excellent folk-alternative-rock music.

To clarify, Philly also has a more news-y NPR station (WHYY), which is where Fresh Air is produced.

[thaccian]

Along with the Philly stations already mentioned, these places have given the song T-day airplay in the past:

New York City - WAXQ (104.3 FM)
Central Oregon – KPOV (106.7FM)
Sirius Satellite listeners - Radio Margarittaville
Tahoe, Carson City, Nevada region - KTHX (100.1 FM)
Portland, Oregon - KGON(92.3 FM)
DFW/Denton, Central Tx - KXT (91.7)

And for a fun bit of cross-cultural trivia. The one and only Officer Obie was the model for several Norman Rockwell paintings and Saturday Evening Post covers, including this one: http://tinyurl.com/5246z5

[tzikeh]

KFOG, 104.5, in the Bay Area.

[the_shoshanna]

...I've never heard of such a Thanksgiving tradition.

[tzikeh]

All over the country, every Thanksgiving, often at noon, for... as long as I can remember. Certainly since I was seven or eight.

[klia]

Me neither, and I grew up in one of the cities that played it!

Boston

[dorothy1901]

In the Boston area, it's played on several radio stations, including WZLX (100.7 FM, Boston) and WUMB (91.9 FM, Boston). Both stations play it at noon. WZLX also plays it at 9 AM and 4 PM.

Listening to Alice's Restaurant on the radio has been part of our Thanksgiving tradition since at least the mid-1980s. Back then, we listened to it on WBCN (104.1, Boston).

[laurajv]

My mother-in-law claims that WMVY (92.7) on Martha's Vineyard plays it, but that she always just plays her own copy. So WMVY may or may not play it anymore.

I used to listen to it in Pittsburgh as a kid, but I don't know what station. After my mom got a new record player when I was 15 we always just played her LP.

[gwyn]

Oh ugh, now I have an earworm. I have come to hate that song -- there are stations in Seattle that play it at noon, and a million times on Thanksgiving. I can't change radio stations in the car without hitting it. It's everyfreakingwhere.

And of course I can't remember call signs, so the only ones I know of are KZOK 102.5, KMTT the Mountain 103.something, and KJR FM, 95.7, but they just became a generic oldies station instead of an album oriented oldies, and I don't know what they'll be playing. There's another oldies station that plays it here, can't remember the name, and two soft-rock stations that play it. Seriously, you can NOT get away from it in this town.

[rhi]

In Memphis, it used to play at noon on Rock 103, 102.7. I don't know if it still does; I'm usually just outside their listening range with my in-laws on Thanksgiving these days.

[jackiekjono]

92.5 KQRS would play it at noon. I am not sure whether or not they still do.

We're just waitin' for it to come around again on the guitar.

[starfish]

I'm pretty sure WPYX 106.5 out of Albany NY does an hours-long marathon of it, or they have in the past. (I s'pose when you're within spitting distance of Stockbridge, you kind of have to ...) Funny thing is, I grew up in the Berkshires and never heard of it until about 12 years ago. Sheltered life, I guess.

[phoenix64]

I remember stations playing it when I was a kid but I haven't looked for it in years. I have the 30th anniversary live version that I love beyond reason because of the bit at the end where he talks about the similarities between the length of the song and the gap in Nixon's tape and the fact that when the Carters moved into the White House they found a copy of "Alice's Restaurant" in the Nixon record library.