Radio man: Keillor, and Meryl Streep, in the Prairie Home Companion filmFor 30 years Garrison Keillor has hosted an old-style weekly variety show on American radio. As a movie of the show, A Prairie Home Companion, is released in the UK, he tells why the spoken word can still win through in today's multimedia maelstrom.
Radio man: Keillor, and Meryl Streep, in the Prairie Home Companion filmFor 30 years Garrison Keillor has hosted an old-style weekly variety show on American radio. As a movie of the show, A Prairie Home Companion, is released in the UK, he tells why the spoken word can still win through in today's multimedia maelstrom.
The death of former US president Gerald Ford last week catapulted those of a certain age, back to a seemingly distant era in American life, characterised by the painful memories of Watergate.
The death of former US president Gerald Ford last week catapulted those of a certain age, back to a seemingly distant era in American life, characterised by the painful memories of Watergate.
The world has changed immeasurably since a disgraced Richard Nixon handed the keys to the Oval Office to his deputy, yet one small marker of American cultural life has endured across those decades - a weekly radio show presented by the author and humorist Garrison Keillor.
The world has changed immeasurably since a disgraced Richard Nixon handed the keys to the Oval Office to his deputy, yet one small marker of American cultural life has endured across those decades - a weekly radio show presented by the author and humorist Garrison Keillor.
Lindsay Lohan, among the all-star cast of the filmThe show, A Prairie Home Companion, first hit the airwaves in July 1974, just as Nixon's White House was in meltdown. Barring a couple of years off-air in the late 1980s, it has been a mainstay of American public radio ever since.
Lindsay Lohan, among the all-star cast of the filmThe show, A Prairie Home Companion, first hit the airwaves in July 1974, just as Nixon's White House was in meltdown. Barring a couple of years off-air in the late 1980s, it has been a mainstay of American public radio ever since.
A homely mix of story-telling and rootsy music, which centres on the mythical Midwest settlement of Lake Wobegon, it pulls in about four million listeners a week across 600 or so radio stations.
A homely mix of story-telling and rootsy music, which centres on the mythical Midwest settlement of Lake Wobegon, it pulls in about four million listeners a week across 600 or so radio stations.
While it is the scourge of many right-wingers, who contend its cosiness is starkly at odds with the harsh realties of modern rural America, and point out its fan base is largely urban liberals, there's no denying the success of A Prairie Home Companion (PHC).
While it is the scourge of many right-wingers, who contend its cosiness is starkly at odds with the harsh realties of modern rural America, and point out its fan base is largely urban liberals, there's no denying the success of A Prairie Home Companion (PHC).
Among its admirers was the maverick Hollywood director Robert Altman, whose last movie before he died in November was a fictionalised portrayal of the radio show, which hits British cinemas this week. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson and Meryl Streep, alongside Keillor himself.
Among its admirers was the maverick Hollywood director Robert Altman, whose last movie before he died in November was a fictionalised portrayal of the radio show, which hits British cinemas this week. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson and Meryl Streep, alongside Keillor himself.
So how does an old-style variety radio show survive in a culture obsessed with fast-moving, visually lush entertainment? Here, in an e-mail interview with the Magazine, Garrison Keillor explains his enduring belief in radio.
So how does an old-style variety radio show survive in a culture obsessed with fast-moving, visually lush entertainment? Here, in an e-mail interview with the Magazine, Garrison Keillor explains his enduring belief in radio.
The Magazine: What does radio give that TV can't?
The Magazine: What does radio give that TV can't?
Alistair Cooke did his weekly letters and personified a graceful Englishness and a kind of civility that is deeply admired here still Garrison Keillor: "Radio gives you your language. It's a perfect medium for it: poetry, comedy, narrative, or just everyday yammering and gnashing of teeth. You tend to remember what you hear whereas TV distracts you by flashing pictures at you and doing camera acrobatics. People sometimes tell me stories I told them on the radio years ago. Quite astonishing. TV has attention deficit disorder built into it, unfortunately."
Alistair Cooke did his weekly letters and personified a graceful Englishness and a kind of civility that is deeply admired here still Garrison Keillor: "Radio gives you your language. It's a perfect medium for it: poetry, comedy, narrative, or just everyday yammering and gnashing of teeth. You tend to remember what you hear whereas TV distracts you by flashing pictures at you and doing camera acrobatics. People sometimes tell me stories I told them on the radio years ago. Quite astonishing. TV has attention deficit disorder built into it, unfortunately."
How does Prairie Home Companion fit into that?
How does Prairie Home Companion fit into that?
"Comfortably, I hope. And with profound gratitude."
"Comfortably, I hope. And with profound gratitude."
Has there ever been an attempt to televise Prairie Home Companion?
Has there ever been an attempt to televise Prairie Home Companion?
"We do it from time to time on public TV. We did a live New Year's Eve telecast from Nashville and a Fourth of July telecast from Tanglewood in western Massachusetts. It's entertaining, trying to fight TV's insistence on cutting to a different camera shot every 2.5 seconds. I guess they think the audience is made up of 8-year-old boys. "
"We do it from time to time on public TV. We did a live New Year's Eve telecast from Nashville and a Fourth of July telecast from Tanglewood in western Massachusetts. It's entertaining, trying to fight TV's insistence on cutting to a different camera shot every 2.5 seconds. I guess they think the audience is made up of 8-year-old boys. "
If Prairie Home Companion launched on radio today, would it be a success?
If Prairie Home Companion launched on radio today, would it be a success?
Mic magic: Woody Harrelson in Prairie Home Companion, the movie"Of course. What you need is patience and a point of view. Our sponsoring body, Minnesota Public Radio in St Paul, gave us four years to figure out how to do it before they tried for national distribution. And we have the great advantage of originating from the Midwest which sets us apart from almost everything else on national radio and TV. "
Mic magic: Woody Harrelson in Prairie Home Companion, the movie"Of course. What you need is patience and a point of view. Our sponsoring body, Minnesota Public Radio in St Paul, gave us four years to figure out how to do it before they tried for national distribution. And we have the great advantage of originating from the Midwest which sets us apart from almost everything else on national radio and TV. "
Could such a show survive outside National Public Radio in the US, as a purely commercial concern?
Could such a show survive outside National Public Radio in the US, as a purely commercial concern?
"Probably, but commercial radio is another planet entirely, much hotter than ours."
"Probably, but commercial radio is another planet entirely, much hotter than ours."
The Lake Wobegon style is about slow, mellow delivery, in contrast to the frenetic style of much music, chat and rolling news radio. In radio, is less more?
The Lake Wobegon style is about slow, mellow delivery, in contrast to the frenetic style of much music, chat and rolling news radio. In radio, is less more?
"Oftentimes less is less, but there's much to be said for economy and elegance. Alastair Cooke did his weekly letters [for the BBC] and in them he summoned up whole worlds and personified a graceful Englishness and a kind of civility that is deeply admired here still. He did it all in a couple thousand words. I don't feel that the News from Lake Wobegon monologue [a central part of each Prairie Home Companion show] is slow or even mellow necessarily.
"Oftentimes less is less, but there's much to be said for economy and elegance. Alastair Cooke did his weekly letters [for the BBC] and in them he summoned up whole worlds and personified a graceful Englishness and a kind of civility that is deeply admired here still. He did it all in a couple thousand words. I don't feel that the News from Lake Wobegon monologue [a central part of each Prairie Home Companion show] is slow or even mellow necessarily.
The movie came and went, raised some dust, gave us some entertaining moments, but the show goes on. "People face crises here. There's drama, an enormous snake lives under a house, an old woman is lost, a man tries to escape from his deer-hunting buddies, a herd of turtles moves through town on their annual migration, Christmas must be faced. But it does deal with real things, unlike politics these days and most entertainment shows, which seem to involve fantasies of violence."
The movie came and went, raised some dust, gave us some entertaining moments, but the show goes on. "People face crises here. There's drama, an enormous snake lives under a house, an old woman is lost, a man tries to escape from his deer-hunting buddies, a herd of turtles moves through town on their annual migration, Christmas must be faced. But it does deal with real things, unlike politics these days and most entertainment shows, which seem to involve fantasies of violence."
Radio requires of the listener a degree of imagination - so how has "seeing the show" (though Altman's movie) changed listeners' appreciation of it?
Radio requires of the listener a degree of imagination - so how has "seeing the show" (though Altman's movie) changed listeners' appreciation of it?
"The movie came and went, raised some dust, gave us some entertaining moments on the red carpet with cameras flashing and the famous and near-famous hob-nobbing, but the show goes on. I'm writing the show for next Saturday and then I'll write the next one and the next. I think the listeners enjoyed the movie as a sort of inside joke (they knew that the show in the movie is not the show they hear on the radio) but it doesn't bear a great deal of analysis."
"The movie came and went, raised some dust, gave us some entertaining moments on the red carpet with cameras flashing and the famous and near-famous hob-nobbing, but the show goes on. I'm writing the show for next Saturday and then I'll write the next one and the next. I think the listeners enjoyed the movie as a sort of inside joke (they knew that the show in the movie is not the show they hear on the radio) but it doesn't bear a great deal of analysis."
What about the internet - PHC is streamed on it, but why is it not available as a podcast; something that could bring it a far wider audience?
What about the internet - PHC is streamed on it, but why is it not available as a podcast; something that could bring it a far wider audience?
"The clearance of music rights is a headache, one we plan to solve. Soon, I hope."
"The clearance of music rights is a headache, one we plan to solve. Soon, I hope."
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A Prairie Home Companion is broadcast on BBC Radio 7, as Garrison Keillor's Radio Show, on Saturdays at 1200 GMT.Add your comments on this story, using the form below.
