Dear Listener,

There was a time when folks used to sit around their living rooms and listen to their floor console radio sets. Nowadays there's over-the-air, online streaming and social media, and all of it's called radio. And in 2015, video is also radio, since it all wants to live on your smart phone. Half of our followers use a mobile device to access WWOZ! Half! And the number is growing.

And at WWOZ we embrace this change. David Stafford and our Digital Krewe are busy working to adapt WWOZ to the mitotic world of mobile.

One of the biggest challenges is changing the website so that the same material on your desktop, five columns wide, automatically resizes to three, two or even one column, depending on whether you’re using an iPad or your cell phone sideways or up-and-down.

Next week, on December 22, we’re launching the beta version of our new web site and it’ll look completely different, a lot easier to use, but just as chock full of all the information and features (like the Livewire music calendar and Takin' It to the Streets) that you’ve come to expect from WWOZ. And it’ll fit perfectly on whatever size screen on whatever device you’re using.

One more stocking stuffer—WWOZ’s Two-Week Archive is now completed. So ‘OZilians who want more of Brazilian frevo or Cajun chank-a-chank, or any of the other great weekend programs we air, can now go back and enjoy their favorite shows any day of the week.

Yours in buttermilk drops and kumquats,

David Freedman
General Manager

One of the pleasures of the year is looking back at the work of our most awesome volunteer photographers and selecting one hundred (or so) terrific photos from 2015's in-studio performances, festivals, parades, membership drives, and other events. Special thanks to Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee, Kichea S. Burt, Black Mold, Leon Morris, and the other volunteer photographers whose work is represented in this Flickr set.

» Check out our favorite photos of the year

Before you say goodbye to 2015, please consider making a year-end charitable gift to help us keep guarding the groove. With so many great organizations worthy of your support, we hope you'll remember WWOZ. Your tax-deductible gift means a lot to us and makes our syncopated hearts beat just a little bit faster.

» Give for the Groove

Our show hosts, collectively one of the world's great repositories of musical knowledge and passion, have made lists of their favorite records of 2015. Let those in the know help you choose gifts for your favorite music lovers, or just fine-tune your own collection of great tunes.

» Notable Recordings of 2015

This month on WWOZ's weekly syndicated program New Orleans Calling, host George Ingmire pays a visit to drummer Johnny Vidacovich -- a drummer who stands out in a city of great drummers. Johnny explains how he learned that being a musician was more important than being a drummer -- and a lot more as well. With special cameo appearances by Stanton Moore, and the late Smokey Johnson. Plus, a special performance by Johnny Vidacovich, Tony Dagradi, and Chris Severin, recorded live at Basin St Station. Listen to New Orleans Calling on Saturday mornings at 7, or stream episodes online anytime.

 » Portrait of a Drummer on New Orleans Calling

The 2015 carnival season kicks off on Twelfth Night, Wednesday, January 6. In addition to the Phunny Phorty Phellows streetcar ride, the occasion is marked by the Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc's annual procession through the French Quarter, a blend of family-friendly whimsy and idealism, in which the sacred and the secular combine, in equal parts light-hearted Mardi Gras parade and genuine saint procession. We can almost taste the king cake.

 » Krewe de Jeanne d'Arc parade

Two events from the French Market Corporation happen this Saturday December 19. From 10a-2p, Slow Food Saturday will feature cooking demos by New Orleans Slow Food Chair Dr. Gary Granata, Brazilian music by Blake Amos, and the pop-up art show "Lexicon of Sustainability." Meanwhile, on the North Shore, a new Saturday outdoor market called the Crescent Park Bazaar, featuring local artisans, food trucks, and more, happens on the Mandeville Wharf from 10a-4p.

 » Slow Food Saturday at the French Market

 » Crescent Park Bazaar

This recipe is John Boutte's contribution to WWOZ's cookbook, That Sounds Good!. The combination of carrot, ginger, and coconut milk is delicious and comforting. Fennel adds another light-sweet note, and the result, exotic yet familiar, perfectly complements the shrimp. Once the shrimp prep is done, this soup comes together very quickly and easily; it's filling and substantial, great for wintertime.

 » Recipe: "Down in the Treme" Carrot Ginger Coconut Shrimp Soup