Frank Sinatra and Jane Powell look on tenderly and admiringly, as Irving Berlin performs on the "Songs by Sinatra" radio show on CBS radio, 1947.
Holiday season programming alert! Back by popular demand...it's the 2025 edition of KSDS's "12 Days of Sinatra."
Beginning MONDAY, Dec. 1, and continuing EVERY WEEKDAY from NOON to 2 p.m. through Tues., Dec. 16, KSDS will bring you a new expertly — and exhaustively — curated Sinatra show each day.
Few know Sinatra's oeuvre better than "Sing! Sing! Sing!" host Will Friedwald and "Sinatra Standard Time" host Chuck Granata. These guys literally wrote the book(s) on Sinatra — Friedwald with Sinatra! The Song is You and Granata with Sessions with Sinatra: Frank Sinatra and the Art of Recording.
Chuck Granata is a globally respected Frank Sinatra historian, author, and producer, who, much to our eternal delight, hosts “Sinatra Standard Time” right here on KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM San Diego.
Our big guns may be scholarly, but this year's "12 Days of Sinatra" will be anything but by the book — unless the book in question is Great American Songbook (GAS), in which case it will be entirely by the book!
There’s no business like show business, and there’s no one who knows (and loves) American showbiz history quite like the prolific writer, author, and commentator Will Friedwald, who just so happens to host “Sing! Sing! Sing!” on KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM San Diego. We’re so proud to shout it from the rooftops: It’s true! It’s true! It’s ALL true!
This year's theme? Sinatra and the legendary songsmiths of the GAS. Don't let the acronym fool you; what's in store will be much more substantial than just a lot of hot air.
Behold, the programming schedule (all shows air from noon to 2 p.m. PT):
- Monday, Dec. 1: Sinatra Sings Burke and Van Heusen, hosted by Will Friedwald
- Tuesday, Dec. 2: Sinatra Sings Harold Arlen, hosted by Chuck Granata
- Wednesday, Dec. 3: Sinatra Sings Irving Berlin, hosted by Will Friedwald
- Thursday, Dec. 4: Sinatra Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein AND Kern & Hammerstein, hosted by Chuck Granata
- Friday, Dec. 5: Sinatra Sings Cole Porter, hosted by Will Friedwald
- Monday, Dec. 8: Sinatra Sings Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne, hosted by Will Friedwald
- Tuesday, Dec. 9: My Kind of Broadway — Sinatra and the American Musical Theater Canon
- Wednesday, Dec. 10: Sinatra Sings the Gershwins, hosted by Chuck Granata
- Thursday, Dec. 11: Sinatra Sings Rodgers & Hart, hosted by Will Friedwald
- Friday, Dec. 12: Sinatra Sings Cahn and Van Heusen, hosted by Chuck Granata
- Monday, Dec. 15: Sinatra Sings Johnny Mercer — A Sinatra Birthday Celebration, hosted by Will Friedwald
- Tuesday, Dec. 16: A Very Sinatra Christmas Spectacular, hosted by Chuck Granata
And that's not all. Of course, you can expect Frank as you know and love him...but you'll also get Frank as you've never heard him before, complete with previously unreleased audio and outtakes, insider anecdotes, first-hand accounts, and inner circle commentary. This series will give you insider's access to Sinatra's most cherished professional relationships, those he maintained with his cadre of preferred tunesmiths and lyricists, the musicians he respected most.
KSDS’s “12 Days of Sinatra” is your ticket backstage, past the velvet rope, and into the most private quarters of Sinatra’s relationships with his most cherished professional colleagues, his songwriters.
In other words: Come for the music; stay for literally any story Friedwald is willing to share about Sinatra and Jimmy Van Heusen. Those guys could sure craft a tune...and boy did they know their way around a happenin' time.
Van Heusen, a prolific tunesmith just as adept at knowing his way into and around a good time, was, per Friedwald, Sinatra’s role model and best friend.
We here at KSDS have always found that the egg-nog goes down much easier when paired with the enduring music and mythology of the American mid-century. So, while the holidays are a time for friends and family, they're also the perfect time for Frank. Especially since we know you'll (eventually) need a reprieve from the first two. So tune in to "12 Days of Sinatra" this holiday season. Because Frank's the only holiday guest who never overstays his welcome!
It all begins MONDAY, DEC. 1 at NOON PT and continues every December weekday through Tues., Dec. 16. on KSDS Jazz 88.3 FM in San Diego and all around the world at jazz88.org.
