Crabtree Helps Sponsor Christmas Eve Concert on 89.7 Public Radio

Raleigh Magazine Publisher & TV News Anchor Co-Sponsor “A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College” Christmas Eve on 89.7 WCPE-FM Radio

For several years, Raleigh Metro Magazine editor and publisher Bernie Reeves has underwritten the live broadcast of “A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College” on public radio. When WUNC-FM dropped its broadcast of the service, Reeves helped arrange for its airing on WCPE-FM (89.7). This year, WRAL-TV’s chief news anchor, David Crabtree, will join him as co-sponsor for the Christmas Eve performance, which will air from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EST live from Cambridge, England. The broadcast can also be heard via the Internet at www.theclassicalstation.org.

King’s College first presented A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 1917. The BBC began its radio broadcast in 1919 to carry the message of Christmas to the troops in the trenches during World War 1. With one exception, 1930, the service has been broadcast live each Christmas Eve since.

Combining readings and carols sung by the famous King’s College Boy choir,” A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols” evokes the beauty of the original Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the King James edition of the Bible.

Says Bernie Reeves: “With changes in the language of the Book of Common Prayer in the US over the past 25 years, the service live from Cambridge reminds us of the beauty and elegance of the original. I feel it is important to keep the majesty of the lessons and carols alive.”

“A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College”
is produced by American Public Media, the BBC, and BBC Radio International. For more information, click here.

Thanks to Kim Weiss for this capcom story.