Classical 95.9-FM WCRI

In celebration of the coming New Year, this week, we feature two singers from the Narragansett Bay Chorus as they bring us some of their favorite A Cappella music. The first part of the show features Josh Daly, a brand-new member, and then we welcome Kurt Anderson, VP of Music. We'll be listening to some songs by eight different groups. For more information, you can go to www.SingNBC.com

This week, Joe is featuring Pianist/Composer Mike Renzi, Bassist/Vocalist Dick Lupino from their 2011 Self-Published recording titled “December Songs.”

This week, Joe is featuring Vocalist Ray Charles from his 1985 Columbia Records recording, titled “The Spirit of Christmas.”

On what has become an annual Christmas show, this week we feature Shannon Corey, singer, composer, pianist, and teacher. We'll listen to her holiday song “Winter” and other songs from her Holiday CD, “I Wish I Had A River”. We'll also discuss her career and how she has had the opportunity to travel the world singing. For more information, you can go to www.shannoncoreymusic.com  

This week, Jane looks at how things can turn out well in spite of nature.

Theatre By The Sea's announcement of the 2026 season is the subject of this week's program with Bill Hanney, owner of the theatre, and Karen Kessler, GM and Director of Marketing. We talk about next summer's musicals and listen to some of the very popular songs from Little Shop of Horrors, Grease, On Your Feet, and Titanic. For more information, you can call (401) 782-8587 or go to www.theatrebythesea.com

This week, Jane explores how nature corresponds to how we are feeling.

This week on Jazz After Dinner, Joe Features Vocalist Tony Bennett from his 2008 Sony Records recording, titled “A Swingin' Christmas.”

In this WCRI's Kids Hour, we invite you to our annual special radio play of A Christmas Carol! This play, adapted for radio from Charles Dickens' novella by Anthony E. Palermo, was first performed in 1947. We hope you enjoy it! From all of your friends at WCRI & Newport Classical!

This week's guests on The 95.9 Company Break are Mary Noons, Washington Trust President and COO, and Lauren Drury, VP and Chief Fiduciary Officer, Washington Trust Wealth Management. What led to the founding of Washington Trust — people's need for a trustworthy and local financial partner — continues to guide them today. They offer comprehensive financial capabilities all under one roof, including personal banking, commercial banking, mortgage banking, wealth management, and trust services. They make it easy for people to manage their financial affairs — online, on a phone or tablet, or in one of their local branches or offices. And no matter how customers do business with them, they always get the five-star service they are known for. For more information on Washington Trust, visit www.washtrust.com

This week, Joe is featuring Vocalist Nancy Wilson from her 2001 Telarc Records recording titled “A Nancy Wilson Christmas.”

The LaGrua Center in Stonington, CT, is the subject of this week's program, with Dan Brandl, Executive Director. We talk about what has been happening at the Center, the upcoming Whiffenpoof Concert on December 13th, and the Music Matters series, which continues to run. For more information, you can go to www.lagruacenter.org

In this episode of This Old Tree, with Doug Still...High up in California's Sierra Nevada mountains stands the largest tree on earth by volume - the General Sherman Tree. The famous giant sequoia has captivated millions of visitors, but few know the rich tapestry of stories woven around its massive trunk. Join us as we explore the “Giant Forest” of Sequoia National Park with former park ranger and author William C. Tweed. From the indigenous Monache and Yokuts who first walked among these giants, to ambitious Euro-American explorers like John Muir, to a Black Army Captain who became the park's first actual manager, discover how "first encounters" with giant sequoias become life-altering events. What evolutionary secrets enable sequoias to grow so large? Why do frequent fires help them to survive? And what is "sequoia time?" The General Sherman tree and its mates have changed how we view the natural world and our place within it.  

This week, Jane examines how our holiday expectations may differ from how things really are.

This week on Jazz After Dinner Joe features Bassist Charlie Haden from his 1991, Verve Records recording, titled “Haunted Heart.”

Jenette DelMonaco, vocalist of Blues, Country, and Folk music, is our special guest. We are happy to introduce the RI singer to the WCRI audience. We'll listen to examples of her music, most of which was recorded live, and discuss her career and how she has had the opportunity to travel the world. For more information you can go to www.LuckyBmusic.com

This week, Jane shares that pointing up may be better than pointing elsewhere.

This week, Joe is featuring Guitarist Jim Hall from his 1988 Columbia Records recording, titled “These Rooms.”

The Cornerstone Church on Cowesett Rd. in Warwick is the subject of this week's program with Jeff Pierce, Assistant Pastor of the Church, and Jocelyn Pierce, soloist. We'll talk about their church ministry and a special Holiday Concert with the Narragansett Bay Chorus being presented on Thursday, December 4th. For more information, you can go to www.cornerstonechurchri.org

Join us as Ocean House owner and award-winning author Deborah Goodrich Royce moderates a conversation with our featured author, Wilbur Ross, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce. About the Author: Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. served as Secretary of Commerce in the Trump administration following 55 years of experience in investment banking and private equity. In this capacity, he advised President Donald Trump on commercial and economic affairs and helped American entrepreneurs and businesses create jobs and economic opportunity. A native of North Bergen, New Jersey, Ross spent a significant portion of his business career at Rothschild, Inc. Ross negotiated on behalf of creditors in some of the highest-profile bankruptcy proceedings in history, including those involving Pan Am, TWA, Texaco, and Drexel Burnham Lambert. After founding his own private equity firm in 2000, Ross purchased and restored many companies to profitability, including those in the steel, coal, textile, and banking industries. Over the course of his career, Ross restructured more than $400 billion in assets, earning him a distinguished reputation on Wall Street. In 2011, Bloomberg Markets named him one of the 50 most influential people in global finance. Secretary Ross's philanthropic work has included significant support for the Japan Society, the Brookings Institution, the Blenheim Foundation, and numerous entities devoted to the fine arts, including the Rene Magritte Museum in Brussels. He was also a member of the advisory board of the Yale University School of Management. Secretary Ross is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School. He and his wife, Hilary Geary Ross, have four children. Before being named President Trump's Secretary of Commerce in 2017, Wilbur Ross had already earned a reputation as the “King of Bankruptcy” over his 55-year career on Wall Street. Often working on high-profile bankruptcies such as Pan Am and Texaco, Ross helped restructure more than $400 billion in assets, and was named among Bloomberg's 50 most influential people in global finance. After coming to Washington, Ross faced equally tough challenges, yet survived in his post for all four years. About The Book: Creating Success in Business and Life explains how Ross got to the top and stayed there. Rising from humble beginnings in North Bergen, New Jersey, Ross applied simple principles with strict discipline—something readers can apply in their own quest for success. Ultimately, Ross's strategies and dealmaking skills led to relationships with King Charles, Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, the Rothschild family, Steve Wynn, Lakshmi Mittal, Mike Milken, and many other famous personalities. Ross also documents his experiences with President Trump in the Oval Office.  Whether you're interested in Ross' experiences as a neighbor of John Lennon in the legendary Dakota apartment building, celebrating with Sir Richard Branson on his private island, or his tumultuous time in Washington, you will find Risks and Returns to be a candid reflection of a life lived at the pinnacle of Wall Street, New York, and Palm Beach society, and the Trump administration. Above all, anyone driven to find career success will learn from Ross' life the strategies and mentality to achieve it.  Please find out more about Wilbur Ross and his book at www.risksandreturns.net. For details on Deborah Goodrich Royce and the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com

In this week's A Walk In The Park with Jane Andrews...Jane states that we should reduce the noise and choose a different path.

This week on Jazz After Dinner, Joe features Pianist and Composer Herbie Hancock from his 2002 Verve Records recording titled “Directions In Music.” 

This week, Newport Classical is the subject of the program, with Trevor Neal, Artistic Director. We talk about their upcoming Annual Holiday Concerts, which will run at many locations in the Newport area, and listen to music related to those performances. For more information, go to www.newportclassical.org

Join us as Ocean House owner and award-winning author Deborah Goodrich Royce moderates a conversation with our featured author, Lisa Genova, a N.Y. Times bestselling author. About the Author: Lisa Genova graduated valedictorian, summa cum laude from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. ​Acclaimed as the Oliver Sacks of fiction and the Michael Crichton of brain science, Lisa has captured a special place in contemporary fiction, writing stories that are equally inspired by neurological conditions and our shared human condition. She is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels STILL ALICE, LEFT NEGLECTED, LOVE ANTHONY, and INSIDE THE O'BRIENS.  Her first work of nonfiction, REMEMBER: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting, was an instant New York Times bestseller. Her newest novel, MORE OR LESS MADDY, was released in January 2025 and became an instant #1 bestseller in Canada. About The Book: A “riveting page-turner” (Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee) about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand-up comedy. Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out freshman at NYU. Between schoolwork, exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it's normal to feel overwhelmed. It doesn't help that she's always felt like the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy's latest low is devastatingly low, convincing her to go on an antidepressant. She begins to feel good, dazzling good in fact, and she soon spirals high into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dream, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough. With her signature “deep empathy and insight” (Booklist), Harvard-trained neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova has crafted an “affecting, harrowing, beautiful, and enlightening” (Shelf Awareness) novel that makes complicated mental health issues accessible and human. More or Less Maddy is destined to become another classic like Still Alice.   Please find out more about Lisa Genova and her books at lisagenova.com. For details on Deborah Goodrich Royce and the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com

This week, Jane recalls how nature can bring this planet we call home into perspective.

This week on Jazz After Dinner Joe features Drummer and Pianist Jack DeJohnette from his 1984, ECM Records recording, titled “Album, Album.”  

This week Westminster Youth String Ensemble is the subject of the program with Kathleen Curran Monroe, Director. We talk about the upcoming season and the Holiday Concert on Saturday December 6th at 3 PM at the Westerly Armory in Westerly and listen to some selections of past concerts. For more information you can call 401.596.5225 or go to www.westminsterstrings.org

In this week's WCRI's Kids Hour, hosts Jamie and Spencer listen to music about Native American composers, culture, cinema, and more to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. You'll hear music from Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, Andrew Balfour, R. Carlos Nakai, The Last of the Mohicans, and many more!

This week, Joe is featuring Drummer and Band Leader, Mel Lewis, from his 1989 Music Masters Records recording titled “The Lost Art.”

This week, Jane explores how fall gives us many reasons to bathe in the season.

This week, the Jamestown Community Chorus is the subject of the program with B. J. Whitehouse, Music Director. We talk about their successful season last year and listen to some selections planned for the holiday concerts that will be held Saturday, December 13th and 14th at the Jamestown Recreational Center. For more information, you can call 401-207-0771 or go to www.jamestownchorus.com

This week, Jane observes the parallels between airplanes and the behavior of birds in flight.

This week Joe is featuring Pianists, Ramsey Lewis and Billy Taylor, from their 1989 CBS Records recording, titled “We Meet Again.”

The RI Civic Choral and Orchestra is the subject of this week's program with Dr. Joshua Rohde, Music Director. We talk about their upcoming concerts and listen to some of the music being presented on Saturday November 8th in Providence and November 9th in Cumberland. For more information you can call 401-521-5670 or go to www.ricco.org

This week, Jane shares a full circle event, a long time coming.

This week on Jazz After Dinner, Joe features Saxophonist Gerry Mulligan from his 1958 Pacific Jazz Records recording titled “The Gerry Mulligan Songbook.”

The Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra is the subject of this week's program with John Eells, Interim Conductor, and President Greg Henninger. We discussed their upcoming concert and listened to some of the music that will be presented on November 2nd at 3 PM at the E. Providence H.S. Auditorium. For more information, you can call (401) 274-4578 or go to www.nabsco.org

Join us as Ocean House owner and award-winning author Deborah Goodrich Royce moderates a conversation with our featured author, Beatriz Williams, a N.Y. Times bestselling author. About the Author: Beatriz Williams is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of Husbands and Lovers,  The Summer Wives, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, the Wicked City series, and several other works of historical fiction, including five novels in collaboration with fellow bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, Beatriz worked as a communications and corporate strategy consultant in New York and London before her first novel was published in 2012. Beatriz's books have won numerous awards, have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and appear regularly in bestseller lists around the world. Born in Seattle, Washington, Beatriz now lives in southeastern Connecticut with her husband and four mostly-grown children. About The Book: A devastating secret haunts the women of an old New England family in this rich new novel set on Winthrop Island. Audrey Fisher has struggled all her life to emerge from the shadow of her famous mother by forging a career as a world-class chef. Meredith Fisher's glamorous screen persona disguises the trauma of the tragic accident that haunts her dreams. Neither woman wants to return to the New England island they left behind and its complicated emotional ties, but Meredith has one last chance to sober up and salvage her big comeback, and where else but discreet, moneyed Winthrop Island can a famous actress spend the summer without the intrusion of other people? Until Audrey discovers an old wooden chest among the belongings of her estranged father—Mike Kennedy, proprietor of the island's only watering hole—and the astonishing contents draw the women deep into Winthrop's past and its many secrets . . . attracting the interest of their handsome neighbor, Sedge Peabody. How did a trove of paintings from one of America's greatest artists wind up in the cellar of the Mohegan Inn? And who is the mysterious woman portrayed on every canvas? On a stormy November night in 1846, Providence Dare flees Boston and boards the luxury steamship Atlantic one step ahead of the law….or so she believes. But when a catastrophic accident leaves the ship at the mercy of a mighty gale, Providence finds herself trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse with the one man who knows her real identity—the detective investigating the suspicious death of her employer, the painter Henry Irving. As the Atlantic fights for her life and the rocky shore of Winthrop Island edges closer, a desperate Providence searches for her chance to escape…before the sea swallows her without a trace. In Under the Stars, the destinies of three women converge across centuries, as a harrowing true disaster at the dawn of the steamship era evokes a complex legacy of family secrets in modern day New England.   Find out more about Beatriz Williams and her books at beatrizwilliams.com. For details on Deborah Goodrich Royce and the Ocean House Author Series, visit deborahgoodrichroyce.com  

This week, Jane explores how acknowledging our feelings can shed light on a sensitive subject.

This week on Jazz After Dinner, Joe features Guitarist Barney Kessel from a 1989 Heritage Records recording compilation titled “Autumn Leaves.”

This week, The Arctic Playhouse in West Warwick is the subject of the program, featuring Jim Belanger, President, and Lloyd Felix, Vice President. We talk about the Cabaret Club season and the upcoming show “Keep On Laughing” running from October 30th to November 16th. For more information, you can call 401.573.3443 or go to www.thearcticplayhouse.com

This month, WCRI's Kids Hour host Jamie plays interviews with and music from Classical Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan and his New Lullaby Project. For more information about the New Lullaby Project, go to alcguitar.com/newlullaby, and to register for the upcoming Newport Classical performance on Oct. 12th, visit newportclassical.org

This month, The 95.9 Company Break welcomes Lisa Toth, Marketing Director of The Seasons, and Briana Cahill Aucoin, Marketing & Outreach Specialist for St. Elizabeth Community. The Seasons in East Greenwich - A special not-for-profit assisted living residence offering traditional assisted living and memory care neighborhoods. Founded in 2002, The Seasons has continued the legacy of excellence established by its founders, Steere House Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and Scandinavian Home. As a not-for-profit organization, they are focused on the quality of care and services they provide to their residents, rather than the daily pressures to increase “the bottom line” imposed by owners or investors. All resources are invested into their community and used to increase staffing, improve facilities, and enhance services or activities. For more information, visit theseasons.org.  St. Elizabeth Community - For 143 years, Rhode Island families have trusted the care of their loved ones to Saint Elizabeth Community, a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to providing excellent care and services to those it serves. They provide exceptional, compassionate care in an array of settings. They embrace the needs of each individual in an environment where those they care for and work with are treated just like family. For more information, visit stelizabethcommunity.org

This week, Jane shares a story from her past to illustrate how we are not the same as we used to be.

This week, Joe is featuring Pianist/Composer/Arranger Clare Fischer from his 2015 Clavo Records recording titled “Out Of The Blue.” 

The Connecticut Gilbert and Sullivan Society is the subject of this week's program with Dr. John Dreslin, Music Director. We discuss the upcoming event to be held at Valley Regional High School in Deep River, Connecticut, and listen to some of the music from “Iolanthe”, which will be performed on October 25th and 26th. For more information, you can call 860 554-1256 or go to www.CTGandS.org

This week, Jane explores the world just below the surface of the water and the world just above it.

This week, Joe is featuring Pianist/Composer Michael Johnson from his 2007 Self-Published recording titled “Driven.”

The URI Guitar Festival is the subject of this week's program with Adam Levin, Artistic Director. We discuss the concerts that will be presented from October 19th to 26th at various locations. The event will feature over a dozen performers. For more information, you can go to https://web.uriguitarfestival.org  

This week, Jane discusses how nature can help us understand purpose.

This week on Jazz After Dinner, Joe features The Mambo Kings, from a 1993 Verve Records recording of recordings from 1948 to 1952, titled The Original Mambo Kings.