Garrison Keillor at Blossom Music Center, 2005.

It must be summer …

WKSU Brings Garrison Keillor Back to Blossom

By Bob Burford, WKSU-FM Public Relations Director

Thirty-four years ago this July, the very first broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” took place in a St. Paul, Minn., college auditorium. Reportedly there were 12 people in attendance.

Things surely have changed since those early days. “A Prairie Home Companion” is now a mini-industry. The show is heard on 580 public radio stations in the United States, and abroad on America One and the Armed Forces Networks — reaching an audience of more than four million listeners. It also has launched an impressive array of merchandise, from books, CDs and DVDs to mugs, jewelry and apparel. And the engine behind it all is writer and humorist Garrison Keillor.

Garrison Keillor was born Gary Edward Keillor on August 7, 1942, in Anoka, Minn. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in English and got his start in radio at the student station, Radio K. When Keillor started “A Prairie Home Companion” in 1974, the format was not unlike today’s: an old-time radio variety show with guest musicians, comedy skits and phony commercials. But Keillor and company toiled for years before hitting it big in the 1980s with national distribution.

Locally, “A Prairie Home Companion” is heard on Kent State’s own WKSU-FM. And this summer, WKSU-FM brings Keillor and “A Prairie Home Companion” to Blossom Music Center for a live national broadcast.

The June 21 show will be Keillor’s fourth visit to Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. “I’ve heard that Blossom is one of his favorite venues, and that’s one of the reasons he visits the area so often,” says Al Bartholet, ’76, WKSU-FM’s general manager. “Like Tanglewood, near Boston, it has a national reputation for wonderful acoustics and beautiful grounds.”

Joining Keillor for the Blossom performance will be his usual troupe of performers and musicians, including voice actors Sue Scott and Tim Russell, sound-effects guy Fred Newman, and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band featuring Rich Dworsky. Sue Scott, who has been a member of the cast since 1992, says, “I have tons of memories from Blossom. I think the first time I was there with the show was right after Marilyn Manson or somebody like that had been there the night before, and the fans had completely torn up the grass. The Blossom folks had worked overnight and around the clock; and by the time we got there, they had resodded the entire lawn for our show. All this fresh grass had just appeared magically.”

Scott says the venue plays a role in the show. “The setting makes a big difference. Some of the outdoor shows can be just lovely. Places like Blossom are charming, where you can see the people out on the lawn. When it’s a lovely night — or even when it’s not such a lovely night — those places are great,” she says.

Scott still marvels at Keillor’s abilities. “He never stops writing,” she says. “I mean, he is constantly writing. He is writing in the van on the way to the airport, in the waiting area at the airport, on the plane, on the jet way leaving the plane. If he can’t set up his laptop, he’s got a yellow pad of paper and a pen.

“A Prairie Home Companion” cast From left: Fred Newman, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Garrison Keillor

“Every once in a while you think that at some point he is going to take a break. And I think really the only time I’ve seen him do anything other than write is maybe reading The New York Times on Sunday. That’s obviously just how he is wired. That always amazes me. I don’t know when he sleeps — I really don’t.”

Keillor maintains an exhausting schedule and shows no indication of slowing down. In addition to writing and performing the weekly radio show, he is a prolific author. He has more than 100 written or recorded works to his name, including 11 books. A new, as-yet-untitled Lake Wobegon book is due this fall from Viking Press. He is a sought-after guest speaker. And when the radio show is on break, he and his troupe do a series of non-broadcast shows, dubbed “The Rhubarb Tour.”

Scott adds, “People say, ‘He’s 65. Is he slowing down?’ and I say, ‘No, he’s gearing up.’ He really is; he’s revving up. He has more projects and more irons in the fire than ever. I feel like a slug in comparison. It never ceases to amaze me that he just keeps putting out all this wonderful stuff.”

For Scott, the enduring appeal of Keillor’s show and his signature “News From Lake Wobegon” monologue is simple. “I think it all boils down to this: Your imagination is still called forth. In this day and age there isn’t a whole lot of that. It’s radio, and we take you with us,” she says.

Tickets for “A Prairie Home Companion” live at Blossom Music Center on June 21 are now available through all Ticketmaster outlets, and online through Ticketmaster.com.

For more information on the event, visit WKSU.org, or call WKSU-FM at 330-672-3114.

For additional stories, including some personal anecdotes about writer and humorist Garrison Keillor, visit www.kent.edu/magazine.