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Prairie Home Companion

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: Garrison Keillor and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band on stage at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair before a live performance.

Garrison Keillor and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band on stage at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair before a live performance. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Jonathunder.

Host Garrison Keillor pushed the boundaries of radio in the 1970s to develop A Prairie Home Companion, National Public Radio’s Saturday-night staple. The variety show’s features included Keillor’s Lake Wobegon monologue, fictional sponsors, music, and dramas.

A Prairie Home Companion (APHC) evolved from a live morning radio show hosted by Gary “Garrison” Keillor. When Keillor began hosting for Minnesota Educational Radio (MER) in 1969, he was a freelancer for the New Yorker supporting his family with income from his radio job. The show played classical music, but Keillor introduced rock ’n’ roll and folk. Later, he hosted live musical guests; he introduced a fictional sponsor, Jack’s Auto Repair in Lake Wobegon, in 1971.

Keillor’s hosting gigs were sporadic. He took breaks to focus on writing and temporarily left after a manager suggested that his music alienated supporters. The show’s name wavered, too, changing from The Morning Program to A Prairie Home Companion and The Prairie Home Morning Show. Keillor based the names on Prairie Home Cemetery, a graveyard he noticed after giving a reading at Moorhead State University in 1971.

Keillor recorded three holiday specials in 1973 and The Minnesota Grain Show in 1974 as experimental previews of APHC. Both programs featured songs, poetry, Jack’s fictional sponsorship, and Keillor “just talking.”

As Keillor developed the components of APHC, Bill Kling, president of MER, proposed a “Saturday version of A Prairie Home Companion specializing in live music” in 1973. According to Keillor, however, he did not consider a variety show until he attended the final 1974 Grand Ole Opry performance at the Ryman Auditorium on assignment for the New Yorker. He returned to St. Paul inspired, and APHC debuted on July 6, 1974, from the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College. Twelve people attended.

Nevertheless, the show made the World Theater in St. Paul its home on March 4, 1978. Minnesota Public Radio (MPR, MER’s successor) purchased the World in 1980, renovated it in 1985, and renamed it after F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1994.

In 1980, MPR began to broadcast APHC nationally. Satellites allowed stations to broadcast their own shows, shifting National Public Radio (NPR) away from its educational roots with programs like APHC. NPR, however, did not broadcast APHC, fearing its audience was “too regional.” APHC’s increasing popularity prompted MPR to join four other stations in 1982 to found American Public Radio, an alternative national distributor.

The show began to travel and in 1981 held its first live broadcast outside of the Midwest. As Keillor's audience and celebrity grew (he appeared on a November 1985 Time magazine cover), his schedule became overwhelming. In 1987, he ended APHC to “resume the life of a shy person.” The Walt Disney Company televised APHC’s final shows.

Keillor moved to Denmark in June 1987 but returned to New York in September. Two years later, he formed the American Radio Company of the Air (later American Radio Company, or ARC), a program mirroring the APHC format. ARC broadcast from Brooklyn using actors from the Broadway Local Radio Theater. After three seasons, ARC moved to St. Paul, and the next year, APHC was reborn.

Keillor and voice actors Sue Scott and Tim Russell performed dramas and advertisements for fictional sponsorships, including “Guy Noir, Private Eye,” “The Lives of the Cowboys,” “Beebop-a-reebop Rhubarb Pie,” and “Powdermilk Biscuits." Sound effects artists Tom Keith and Fred Newman added sonic color to Keillor’s stories.

Keillor’s regular Lake Wobegon monologues evolved from Jack’s fictional sponsorship. Lake Wobegon became central to APHC in 1979, and Keillor began referring to it as his hometown in 1983. As Lake Wobegon evolved, the monologue lengthened from three to twenty minutes.

Keillor assembled the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, an eclectic group led by music director Richard Dworsky who joined APHC in 1986. Keillor left the music up to the band, often writing “MUSIC” into a script with little elaboration. APHC hosted music legends, including Doc Watson, Willie Nelson, Renee Fleming, and Randy Newman, but the focus was never on popularity. Instead, APHC showcased “musical roots.”

In July 2015, Keillor announced his retirement, naming mandolin player Chris Thile his successor. Thile became the permanent host in 2016. Though the show continued, MPR changed its name from A Prairie Home Companion to Live From Here in late 2017 after reviewing allegations of sexual misconduct against Keillor.

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Boubion, Gina, and John Camp. “From the Archives: Keillor Announces End of ‘Prairie Home Companion.’” St. Paul Pioneer Press, February 15, 1987.
http://www.twincities.com/1987/02/15/keillor-announces-end-of-prairie-home-companion/

Buckley, Cara. “The Garrison Keillor You Never Knew.” New York Times, June 16, 2016.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/arts/the-garrison-keillor-you-never-knew.html

Graham, David A. “A Prairie Home Replacement: Can Chris Thile—or Anyone Else—Ever Take Garrison Keillor’s Place?” Atlantic, July 21, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/07/garrison-keillor-prairie-home-companion-chris-thile/399077/

Keillor, Garrison. The Keillor Reader. New York City: Viking Penguin, 2014.

Minnesota Public Radio. “Statement from Minnesota Public Radio Regarding Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion.” News release, November 29, 2017.
https://www.mpr.org/stories/2017/11/29/statement-from-minnesota-public-radio-regarding-garrison-keillor-and-a-prairie-home-compa

Pankake, Marcia, ed. A Prairie Home Commonplace Book: 25 Years on the Air with Garrison Keillor. St. Paul: HighBridge Company, 1999.

Rosen, Peter. Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes. Public Broadcasting Service, 2009. DVD.

Sawyer, Bobbie Jean. “The Country Roots of ‘A Prairie Home Companion.’” Wide Open Country, 2016.
http://www.wideopencountry.com/the-country-roots-of-a-prairie-home-companion/

Scholl, Peter A. Garrison Keillor. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1993.

Songer, Marcia. Garrison Keillor: A Critical Companion. Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000.

Storrs, Tim. “Big-City Life Far Cry from Lake Wobegon.” Compass Readings, August 1990.

Yaross Lee, Judith. Garrison Keillor: A Voice of America. Studies in Popular Culture. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.

Related Images

: Garrison Keillor and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band on stage at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair before a live performance.
: Garrison Keillor and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band on stage at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair before a live performance.
Advertisement for A Prairie Home Companion
Advertisement for A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion’s founder and longtime host, Garrison Keillor. Photograph by Prairie Home Productions, 2009.
A Prairie Home Companion’s founder and longtime host, Garrison Keillor. Photograph by Prairie Home Productions, 2009.
Garrison Keillor reviews a Prairie Home Companion script before a live show at Macalester College, 2015.
Garrison Keillor reviews a Prairie Home Companion script before a live show at Macalester College, 2015.
A poster advertising A Prairie Home Companion band members and several fictional sponsors, ca. 1970s.
A poster advertising A Prairie Home Companion band members and several fictional sponsors, ca. 1970s.
Sound engineer and sound effects man Tom Keith and Lynne Cruise mix sound during a performance of A Prairie Home Companion at the Fitzgerald Theater, ca. 1985.
Sound engineer and sound effects man Tom Keith and Lynne Cruise mix sound during a performance of A Prairie Home Companion at the Fitzgerald Theater, ca. 1985.
An advertisement for Powdermilk Biscuits (undated), one of A Prairie Home Companion’s many fictional sponsors.
An advertisement for Powdermilk Biscuits (undated), one of A Prairie Home Companion’s many fictional sponsors.
Longtime house pianist and music director Richard Dworsky plays during a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion at Macalester College in St. Paul, July 2015. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Jonathunder.
Longtime house pianist and music director Richard Dworsky plays during a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion at Macalester College in St. Paul, July 2015. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Jonathunder.
Sound effects artist Tom Keith, voice actors Tim Russell and Sue Scott, and Garrison Keillor perform during a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion from Lanesboro, Minnesota, in June 2007.
Sound effects artist Tom Keith, voice actors Tim Russell and Sue Scott, and Garrison Keillor perform during a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion from Lanesboro, Minnesota, in June 2007.
Sound effects artist Fred Newman creates sound with his mouth and other everyday objects during a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion from Macalester College in St. Paul, July 2015. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Jonathunder.
Sound effects artist Fred Newman creates sound with his mouth and other everyday objects during a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion from Macalester College in St. Paul, July 2015. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Jonathunder.
Prairie Home Companion host Chris Thile reads audience greetings during a broadcast at the Fitzgerald Theater in January 2016. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Jonathunder.
Prairie Home Companion host Chris Thile reads audience greetings during a broadcast at the Fitzgerald Theater in January 2016. Photograph by Wikimedia Commons user Jonathunder.
Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul, May 18, 2009. Posted by Flickr user On Being.
Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul, May 18, 2009. Posted by Flickr user On Being.

Turning Point

Reporting for the New Yorker in 1974, Keillor covers the Grand Ole Opry’s final performance at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, and is inspired to develop a similar variety show for a Midwestern audience.

Chronology

1969

Garrison Keillor begins hosting a live morning show four days a week on Minnesota Educational Radio’s first radio station, KSJR-FM in Collegeville.

1971

Keillor learns about Prairie Home Cemetery, a Norwegian graveyard in Moorhead established in 1875 that inspires him to rename his morning show A Prairie Home Companion. The name sticks.

1974

In March, Keillor attends the final performance of the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. He is inspired to create a similar variety show in St. Paul.

1974

The first performance of A Prairie Home Companion is held in the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College on July 6 for an audience of twelve. Tickets are one dollar for adults and fifty cents for children.

1978

A Prairie Home Companion moves into the World Theater on March 4.

1980

In May, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) begins broadcasting A Prairie Home Companion nationally via public radio satellites. MPR also purchases The World Theater.

1982

MPR joins four other stations to create American Public Radio, which nationally distributes A Prairie Home Companion.

1985

Keillor is featured on the cover of a November issue of Time magazine.

1987

Keillor ends A Prairie Home Companion on June 13 to live a less hectic life “in which there are Saturdays.”

1989

In November, Keillor begins the American Radio Company in New York City.

1992

The American Radio Company moves to St. Paul.

1993

Performances of A Prairie Home Companion begin again.

2006

Robert Altman directs a film centering on the backstage inner workings of A Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keillor writes the film’s screenplay and stars alongside Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, and many of his actual crew.

2015

Keillor announces his retirement in July, naming Chris Thile as his replacement.

2017

MPR changes the show's name from A Prairie Home Companion to Live From Here after reviewing allegations of sexual misconduct against Keillor.