Get ready for “Hanks Giving” Pittsburgh.
Thanksgiving Day on Pittsburgh’s radio station 91.3-FM WYEP will be extra special as Academy Award-winning movie star Tom Hanks curates a full day of music.
From 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 24, WYEP will be playing songs chosen by Hanks exclusively for WYEP’s listeners.
Besides building a bond with Pittsburghers after portraying Pittsburgh icon Fred Rogers on film and attending community events honoring the Tree of Life victims, Hanks also has a deep love of music and rock n’ roll.
His 1996 directorial debut was “That Thing You Do!,” a story about an up-and-coming rock band set in nearby Erie.
“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,” WYEP said in a press release.
Most recently, Hanks was in town filming the forthcoming “A Man Called Otto” and WYEP said that a connection between the station and the new film’s production crew led to Hanks providing a song list to share exclusively with WYEP listeners for Thanksgiving.
WYEP called Hanks an “honorary Pittsburgher.” He provided the station with a list of 100 songs for the station takeover, with music from 1956 all the way to a duet released a few months ago between Elvis Costello and Hanks’ wife Rita Wilson.
“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.
WYEP can be heard over the Pittsburgh airwaves at 91.3-FM or online at wyep.org.
