Pittsburgh Radio: Tom Hanks To Program WYEP On Hanksgiving Day

Tom Hanks is making it another beautiful day by programming the music played on Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corporation AAA 91.3 WYEP Pittsburgh PA on Thanksgiving Day!

Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks is taking over 91.3 WYEP on November 24th for a special “Hanks Giving” day of music. All of the music on Thanksgiving Day from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. will be songs hand-picked by Tom Hanks exclusively for WYEP’s listeners.

Hanks is not only a beloved star of cinema, but he’s also a music fan with a far-ranging knowledge and appreciation of early- and mid-1960s rock ‘n’ roll—and the wealth of music that has been informed by those formative sounds of surf rock, R&B, and vocal pop that typified the era. His directorial debut, 1996’s That Thing You Do!, was an exuberant ode to that music and those musicians.

Between Hanks’ latest movie—the forthcoming A Man Called Otto which was filmed and set here in Pittsburgh—and his portrayal of Pittsburgh icon Mr. Rogers in 2019’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, he can by now be called an honorary Pittsburgher. A connection between WYEP and the new film’s production crew led to Hanks providing a song list for us to share exclusively with WYEP listeners for Thanksgiving.

Hanks provided WYEP with an eclectic and very fun list of 100 songs for the station takeover, with a 66-year timespan—ranging between music from 1956 all the way to a duet released a few months ago between Elvis Costello and Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson.

WYEP’s “Hanks-Giving” will air on Thanksgiving Day from 8 a.m. through 7 p.m. Additionally, the 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. hours will feature music curated by WYEP on-air hosts taken from soundtracks of movies featuring Tom Hanks.