Celebrating a Fab Fourth

“This is a difficult day for us,” British comedian, producer and now radio host Martin Lewis said in an accent as thick as Yorkshire pudding. He was talking, of course, about the Fourth of July--and only half in jest.

So who better than the Beatles to help bridge any emotional gaps between Americans and Britons on Friday’s 221st anniversary of this country’s independence from England?

From the Beatles to a new radio drama about the creation of the Statue of Liberty to some repeats of rare radio shows, a whole roster of programming geared to July 4 is as close as your nearest radio remote button.

The Fab Four, whose music has dominated American airwaves ever since their “invasion” in 1964, have a new weekly radio show in their honor, debuting Saturday at 10 a.m. on all-Beatles KGIL-AM (1260).

There’s nothing stuffy or drearily historic about “UN-BEATLE-ABLE! . . . With Martin Lewis.” Lewis, who lives in Los Angeles, describes the series that he created as “a madcap mixture of Beatles [music] and British humor.” “Irreverent” is the word Lewis uses to define his humor.

Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ founding. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Lewis explains, always attributed the birth of the Beatles to their first meeting on the first Saturday in July 1957, in a parish church hall outside Liverpool. Lennon was 16; McCartney, 15. To celebrate and commemorate the date, Lewis will have a live hookup with special anniversary events taking place in Liverpool. The premiere show lasts until 1 p.m.; the series normally will go until noon.

Lewis made his mark as a film and TV producer working with Monty Python and Peter Cook in the “Secret Policeman’s Ball” series of shows, movies and albums. In 1995, he wrote, hosted and produced “Re-Meet the Beatles!,” an hour special about the Beatles’ “Anthology” album on E! Entertainment Television.

Lewis points out “when the Beatles met, their passion for American music was their common bond: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley . . . and in a sense they were responsible for returning American music to us. It was their roots.”

Meanwhile, on the Fourth itself, KGIL will do a live remote from Universal CityWalk from 3 to 7 p.m. Afternoon announcer Jim Roope will be there; so will Lewis. The Moptops will perform live at 5:30 p.m. and again at 6:45 p.m.

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Holiday Drama: A new hourlong drama by prolific radio historian Norman Corwin, “Our Lady of the Freedoms and Some of Her Friends,” arrives just in time for the Fourth--unlike the statue itself, which was supposed to have been completed in time for the July 4, 1876, Centennial but wasn’t ready to be unveiled until October 1886. And therein lies the drama: What took so long?

Narrated by Charles Kuralt, the characters in “Our Lady”--which will air Friday on KPCC-FM (89.3) at 9 a.m. and on KUSC-FM (91.5) at 1 p.m.--include French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, poet Emma Lazarus (“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . .”), newspaperman Joseph Pulitzer, President Ulysses S. Grant (who, we learn, smoked 20 cigars a day and died of throat cancer) and the star herself, Lady Liberty.

Did you know that “her index finger measures 8 feet, her nose 4 feet” and that she weighs 450,000 pounds?

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Other Holiday Fare: The flagship programming on July 4 belongs to “A Capitol Fourth,” the 18th annual musical concert from Washington celebrating the holiday and America. Again this year, it’s being simulcast by KCET-TV Channel 28 and KUSC-FM (91.5). This year’s program, airing from 9-10:30 p.m., includes a tribute to Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”

Special July 4 offerings on KCRW-FM (89.9) include “The Courage to Stand Alone: Letters From Political Prisoner Wei Jingsheng,” a tribute from 7 to 8 p.m. to China’s most well-known political dissident. Friday afternoon, the station will reprise three two-hour programs from “The Music Makers” series: “Patti La Belle: Gospel Into Soul,” hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, noon-2 p.m.; “Carlos Santana: Music for Life,” hosted by Edward James Olmos, 2-4 p.m.; and “Two Weeks and Several Generations With the Neville Brothers,” hosted by John Goodman, 4-6 p.m.

KPCC will air the Gassman brothers’ old-time radio special 5-8 p.m. Friday, featuring selections from rarely heard broadcasts: “Command Performance,” a variety show starring Bing Crosby; the adventure show “Rocky Jordan”; “Cavalcade of America,” including the music of Irving Berlin; “A Tooth for Paul Revere,” part of the “Escape” series; and “They Burned the Books,” a World War II propaganda show starring Ralph Bellamy.

Not the Fourth: The latest installment of KCRW’s “The United States of Los Angeles,” airing today at 1 p.m. and again at 7 p.m., visits the Mexican American communities of L.A., from the barrios to the suburbs. Listeners will hear about the Californios of yesteryear, and the program will follow the lives of second- and third-generation Mexican Americans. It also features emerging voices in Chicano theater, music and, yes, radio.

In case you missed it Tuesday, KCRW is repeating at 6:30 tonight its political roast, “The Capitol Steps: Politics Takes a Holiday.”

On Saturday, KCRW debuts “Sessions at West 54th,” a new weekly performance and interview series that can also be seen on PBS. Hosted by Chris Douridas, the station’s music director, the series will feature artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Beck, k.d. lang and Albita. KCET-TV Channel 28 will air “Sessions” at 11 p.m., simulcast with KCRW.