A Prairie Home Companion

A live program on public radio that has a half-hour story monologue, eclectic music and made-up commercials may not seem seem like something you would enjoy on a regular basis, but if you have never heard a weekly broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" you owe it to yourself to give it a listen. Hosted by its creator, award-winning writer Garrison Keillor, the show is full of clever skits, sound effects, story tellers, musical guests and truly eclectic music from all periods juxtiposed with music from all genres.

You never know what you're going to hear music-wise from one moment to the next: blues, bluegrass, polkas, kletzmer, gospel, classical, opera, choral, contemporary, Americana, folk, cajun, country -- any number and variety will appear on any given show, sometimes in humorous settings. The guests may be well-known or little known, individuals or full symphonies, but I've never been disappointed with the quality of their performance.

The skits are witty, often hilarious, professionally written and produced with full sound effects. It's an aural and imagination delite. Sometimes, their programs have themes, centering on holidays, the seasons or may be special music competitions. Some of my favorites are the annual Jokes programs, where they share all the best(?!?!) jokes submitted by listeners during the preceeding year. A feature of every show is the approximately half hour story monologue by Keillor in which he shares the news about the inhabitants of the imaginary town of Lake Wobegon. (This takes place in that later part of the show.)

(A gentle note that Keillor is a self-professing Minnesota liberal with a religious heritage -- a comfort if you are of a similar persuasion and easily tolerable with his use of self-deprecating humor if you are not -- but, it's not a talk show nor is there any strong political agenda that drives the show.)

A Prairie Home Companion comes on at 6pm every Saturday evening for 2 hours, usually live during the regular season. According to their web site: it was "named after the Prairie Home cemetery in Moorhead, Minnesota. It was after Keillor began work on an article for the New Yorker magazine about the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville that he developed an idea for a radio show with musical guests and commercials for imaginary products ... Today, A Prairie Home Companion is heard by over 4 million listeners each week on over 558 public radio stations, and is heard abroad on America One and the Armed Forces Networks In Europe and the Far East."

In South Jersey, you can hear it broadcast live on the radio and via the web from WHYY 91 FM. You can also visit the "A Prairie Home Companion" web site to listen to live and archived broadcasts, see their photos, special articles, online store and more. http://prairiehome.publicradio.org

Click here for Books, CDs and DVDs by Garrison Keillor

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