The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN is home to Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, a live variety show that brings Midwestern culture to light in stereotype and truth. The variety show is a blend of storytelling, skits and music in what is truly the Midwest’s Grand Ole Opry.
The show runs on Saturday nights from 5-7pm CST, but many find themselves tuned into NPR the following morning as it airs all over the world. The show attracts nearly 4 million listeners a week and is broadcasted on close to 800 radio stations throughout the country.
The show brings back a nostalgia of radio entertainment. It is perfect for enjoying during a quiet evening at home or on a Sunday drive. If you miss it on Saturday night you can catch it on Sunday’s throughout the day on any NPR station. We at MWG are always tuned in on Sundays waiting to hear the News from Lake Wobegon, the tales of Guy Noir – Private Eye, Lives of Cowboys and of course… the music. A Prairie Home Companion is what radio is meant to be, fun and entertaining. Between the story telling and musical guests the show just never seems to be long enough.
Of the segments, nothing wraps up the Midwest in such truth as “News from Lake Wobegon.” The segment exposes many of the traditions and stereotypes in Scandinavian and German culture that absorbs much of the northern Midwest. The town is fictional but reflects a bit of truth, a place where “all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.” It’s a quiet town on the edge of the prairie, where you can catch a Whippets game, visit the Chatterbox Cafe or buy a Ford from Bunsen Motors run by the local Lutheran’s Clint and Clarence Bunsen. All though a fictional town the locations, people and stories aren’t far off from the truth in terms of life in the Midwest. Garrison Keillor delivers old time radio story telling that is both nostalgic, entertaining and pure Midwestern.
Garrison Keillor is the mastermind behind A Prarie Home Companion. Born in Anoka, Minnesota Keillor grew up in small town America. He grew up in an area where ethnic and religious traditions ran deep and as he bounced around these worlds he developed a tongue and cheek view on it all, which provides much of the material found on his radio show. As a writer and broadcast talent, Keillor began the Companion journey in 1974 in front an audience consisting of 12 people. Complete with fake sponsors and the melodramas of Midwestern life, the first broadcast has sense grown to become a tradition for many Midwesterners both young and old.
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Cheers…
