---
title: "Why Radio Stations Play Alice's Restaurant on Thanksgiving | Radio Explained"
description: "Why radio plays Arlo Guthrie's 18-minute Alice's Restaurant every Thanksgiving: the story, how WBAI started it, typical play times and how to hear it in 20…"
image: "https://nareshradio.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/nrseo-og-placeholder.png"
---

# Why Radio Stations Play Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving

[Listening](https://nareshradio.com/category/listening/)

Radio stations play Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” on Thanksgiving because the song’s story happens on Thanksgiving, and because, as one public radio host put it, there are no other Thanksgiving songs to compete with it. The tradition started in New York, where the song was first heard on listener-supported WBAI, and spread as listeners asked other stations for it. Many stations now play the full track, which runs about 18 and a half minutes, at noon on Thanksgiving Day. In 2026, that is Thursday, November 26.

Here is the story behind the song, how one station’s habit became a national ritual, and how to find a station playing it this year.

## What the song is about

“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” was released in 1967. It is less a song than a long, deadpan monologue over a looping finger-picked guitar, with a short sung chorus. Public radio station KUNC’s [account of the song’s history](https://www.kunc.org/show/kuncs-colorado-edition/2019-11-27/how-arlo-guthries-alices-restaurant-became-a-thanksgiving-classic) summarises the plot:

- Guthrie and his friend Rick Robbins spend Thanksgiving with Alice, whose home is a converted church where like-minded people gather.
- The next morning they load Guthrie’s VW bus with the rubbish from the dinner and drive it to the town dump.
- The dump is closed for the holiday, so they leave the rubbish on top of an existing pile.
- The local police chief charges them with littering. Guthrie is found guilty.
- Because of that criminal record, he ends up ineligible for the Vietnam draft.

Guthrie described the piece as “a series of absurd events”, according to KUNC. RadioSurvivor notes that the events behind it took place at Thanksgiving in 1965. The anti-war satire is real, but the song is mostly a shaggy-dog story about bureaucracy. In a 2005 NPR interview quoted by KUNC, Guthrie called it “a Thanksgiving ballad more than an anti-war this or a pro- that or whatever it was”.

## How it became a radio tradition

The song’s radio life began at WBAI, a listener-supported station in New York. According to [RadioSurvivor](https://www.radiosurvivor.com/2020/11/thanksgiving-radio-tradition-withstands-the-pandemic-as-alices-restaurant-hits-the-2020-airwaves/), it debuted on Bob Fass’s late-night show “Radio Unnameable”. KUNC tells the next part. Guthrie performed it live on WBAI, listeners loved it and kept requesting it, and the station used it as a pledge drive reward, playing it in exchange for donations.

From there it travelled with people. Listeners who moved away from New York asked their new local stations to play it on Thanksgiving. Stations obliged, and many of them never stopped.

Some have been at it a long time. RadioSurvivor’s 2020 round-up reports that KPCW in Park City, Utah had aired it at noon every Thanksgiving since the station began in 1980. Portland’s KINK described it as a Thanksgiving tradition of more than 30 years.

## Why it works so well on the radio

An 18-minute track breaks almost every rule of music radio. Stations normally avoid anything over five or six minutes. On Thanksgiving, that length becomes the point. Playing the whole thing is an event that listeners plan around, and the station signals that it is not running a normal day.

There are other reasons it fits:

- **There is no competition.** Christmas has hundreds of songs. Thanksgiving has almost none, which is why KUNC’s host made the point about the lack of rivals.
- **It suits the day.** Thanksgiving is a day of cooking and waiting. A long spoken story fits the kitchen better than a stream of three-minute hits.
- **It rewards repeat listening.** The jokes land differently once you know them, much as old radio comedy did. The song came out of the same era that produced a wave of story-driven comic performers, a period ComedyArena traces in its guide to [comedians from the 1960s](https://comedyarena.com/guides/comedians-from-the-1960s/).

It also belongs to a much older strand of music. Talking blues and story songs have deep roots in American folk, which our guide to [folk and acoustic radio](https://nareshradio.com/folk-acoustic-and-traditional-music-radio-roots-stories-and-unplugged-sound/) explores.

## What time stations play it

Noon is the most common slot. Of the 30-plus stations RadioSurvivor listed for Thanksgiving 2020, most included a noon play, and many added repeats. A few examples from that year:

| Station | Location | 2020 play times |
|---|---|---|
| WXPN 88.5 FM | Philadelphia | Noon |
| WXRT 93.1 FM | Chicago | Noon and 8pm |
| KINK 101.9 FM | Portland, Oregon | Noon and 5pm |
| WFUV 90.7 FM | Bronx, New York | Noon |
| KBCO 97.3 FM | Denver | Noon |
| WUMB 91.9 FM | Boston area | 9am, noon and 3pm |

These are 2020 times, shown to illustrate the pattern. Schedules change from year to year, so check each station’s own announcements for 2026.

## Big stations, tiny stations and everything between

The 2020 list is a good snapshot of how wide the tradition runs. It included major-market commercial stations such as Chicago’s WDRV, which scheduled three plays, and university and public stations such as WERS in Boston and WDVX in Knoxville. It also included Frosty 105.7 in Ventura, California, a Part 15 micro-broadcaster (our guide to [unlicensed and low-power FM](https://nareshradio.com/unlicensed-and-low-power-fm-what-you-need-to-know/) explains what that means). Some stations went further than a single track. MVY Radio, serving Martha’s Vineyard and Newport, played the song at noon and then the full album at 9pm. WGXC in upstate New York slotted it into its morning show.

That range is part of the appeal. On Thanksgiving, a station with a handful of listeners and a big-city station are doing the same thing at roughly the same time.

## How to hear it on Thanksgiving 2026

1. **Check your local stations a few days ahead.** Classic rock, adult album alternative and public music stations are the likeliest to carry it. Look at their websites and social media in the week before November 26.
2. **Plan for noon.** If you cannot find a schedule, noon local time is the safest bet.
3. **Stream a station elsewhere.** If no local station plays it, listen online to one that does. Our guide to [listening to radio from anywhere in the world](https://nareshradio.com/how-to-listen-to-radio-from-anywhere-in-the-world-a-practical-guide/) covers the apps and directories that make this easy.
4. **Remember time zones.** A noon play on the East Coast is 9am on the West Coast, so you may get several chances by switching between stations in different zones.

## Making it part of your own Thanksgiving

Plenty of households treat the noon play as a kitchen ritual: the radio goes on, the oven timer runs, and everyone stops to sing the chorus. If you are roasting the bird outdoors this year, grill50.com’s guide to [grilling a whole turkey with indirect heat](https://grill50.com/whole-turkey-on-the-grill-indirect-heat/) leaves plenty of time to stand by the radio and listen to all 18 minutes.

Public and listener-supported stations kept the tradition going from the beginning. If you enjoy it, that is one more reason to support them.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How long is “Alice’s Restaurant”?

The full recording runs about 18 and a half minutes, which is why stations treat each play as an event.

### What year did “Alice’s Restaurant” come out?

It was released in 1967. The events it describes happened at Thanksgiving in 1965.

### Which radio station started the Thanksgiving tradition?

The song was first popularised on WBAI in New York, where it debuted on Bob Fass’s late-night show and later became a pledge drive favourite. Listeners who moved away carried the habit to other stations.

### What time do radio stations play “Alice’s Restaurant” on Thanksgiving?

Noon local time is the most common slot, and many stations add repeats in the morning or evening. Check your local station’s 2026 schedule.

### Is “Alice’s Restaurant” an anti-war song?

It contains a satire of the draft, but Guthrie himself described it in a 2005 NPR interview as more of a Thanksgiving ballad than an anti-war song.

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