By Kaki Flynn
The NPR-Famous radio announcer steps outside of the land of Lake Wobegon to tell us about how he really feels about Rush Limbaugh, Linsay Lohan, the War in Iraq, Jesse Ventura, the deterioration of American political debates, the existence of the Jacksonville Redneck, his new movie, and why MTV did not actually kill the radio star.
If you listen to Garrison Keillor on Prairie Home Companion on NPR and hear his tales of Lake Wobegon, what your vision of him probably looks like is a man with the soft, monotone voice, Midwestern manners and dry wit of Terry Gross and other voices NPR has become famous for. He has an “NPR vocabulary,” using words like “churlish” and “pusillanimous” in some of his writings.
“You either know who Garrison is, or you don’t," said his cameraman and member of the Prairie Home Companion entourage, one of Garrison’s childhood friends that is joining him on this tour. He travels with an eclectic group, including Fred Newman, the sound effects guy, who can convincingly imitate everything from an espresso machine to the doors of the Star Ship Enterprise opening and closing, using mostly his mouth.
Garrison’s show has 4 million listeners each week on over 500 radio stations worldwide.
Keillor wears suits on stage, with a red tie, red sneakers and his signature, bookish glasses. He’s much taller than you would imagine, especially since the most famous photo of him is a headshot in those glasses, so until you meet him, you wouldn’t know that he is NBA-player tall.
He adds a local flare to his traveling show, adding jokes about the towns that he visits from local lore. On this night in Jacksonville, his show covers dinosaurs attacking Jacksonville, Guy Noir- his private detective character, boob jokes and the time Elvis stopped to play here.
Off the radio, he has been accused of being too vocal and opinionated about world issues.
The thing you need to know about Garrison Keillor is that he wants to talk about you, and focusing the conversation on him took some verbal wrestling. Insatiably curious, he knew within two minutes where my parents where from (Queens), what school they went to (Fordham and St. Catherine’s), where my dad worked (IBM), the places I had worked, what I sports I played (crew team), every place that I had lived before (too many places and countries to list here), and how I liked my coffee (I tried to drink it black like he did, but we both decided that was dangerous, and I dropped in a few packets of sugar).
We talked to him the day his movie, Prairie Home Companion, started filming. The movie is about the fictional end to his variety show, which has been on the air for 30 years. He wrote the script himself, and has assembled an A-list of cast members that may pull the Prarie Home Companion Show out of the NPR shadow and introduce it to an even broader audience. A-Listers such as Woody Harrelson, Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan, and Kevin Kline will be in the movie.
What interesting things did you find out about Jacksonville?
“ I haven’t had time to learn much about all, but I think it’s interesting how much it has changed hands between the English, the American, and the Spanish. (We then debated whether the Jacksonville Redneck was real, or just a figment of the imagination and the North. He decided that there probably were very few genuine rednecks in Jacksonville.)
Public radio is where elected officials go to be able to have a public forum where your congressman can go on the air, and answer people’s questions for an hour. This doesn’t happen in commercial radio. This doesn’t happen in commercial television. A congressman is lucky to have 15 seconds in commercial television, maybe, talking about some stupid scandal that happens, to grab the interest of tabloid journalism.
So when congress cuts public radio, they think they are hurting big city liberals, but they are not, they are not at all. What they are hurting is themselves. They are destroying a valuable public forum.
Jesse Ventura was very dismissive of public radio, but public radio was very fair to Governor Ventura. It was the place where he could go, and say what he wanted to say, and take phone calls, from people, and talk at length, and not be interrupted, and this is important in a democracy.
Congress sometimes goes after things with a sledgehammer, when they would be better off using a Philips screwdriver.
They think they are sending a message to Cambridge, Berkley, Madison, Wis., you know, all of these places they despise. They are not. They are hurting Nebraska.
What do you think the best source of news is?
I believe public radio is the only existing radio news operation. There is a place for radio news in the world. As the newspaper business declines, because young people do not read newspapers, radio becomes evermore more important.
Commercial radio news has virtually abandoned the field. In place of news, you have very ideological call in shows. What they do for public debate, the illumination of issues. I can’t tell you – not much, in my mind – but there they are.
We are in a state of political war in this country. Everybody knows that. Everyone claims to regret it, but everyone seems to joyously join in these political wars. We are kind of a non-stop political war, that never seems to diminish between elections.
It’s all kind of poll driven, focus group driven, there is very little between Congress and the White House that is constructive and amiable.
How big of a part do you play in the movie, A Prarie Home Companion?
I wrote the script, but I wrote my part small. I’m just a part of the furniture, really.
I would put NPR in one category, and Lindsay Lohan in another category, kind of a Paris Hilton, rock-candy pop star. How do you feel about her being in the movie?
I haven’t met Lindsay, but I understand she is a very bright, person. I hear that she is a pretty good singer – she will sing in this picture. She is an actress, and that requires discipline. This is very different from the world of Paris Hilton. She has been working since she was a little kid. You don’t get that far by staying up all night and partying. Some of People Magazine is okay – she deserves the recognition. She wanted to work with other professionals, and have the chance to work with Meryl Streep, which is why she is in this movie.
MTV’s first video was, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” There is an assumption that the introduction of a new medium, means the trump of the mediums before. For example, television was supposed to replace the newspaper, and the internet is supposed to replace newspapers and magazines. Where do you see radio in the world of all this new technology?
As long as you have a car, as long as you have the internal combustible engine, you can carry it around. It’s portable, it’s a good medium. You don’t walk down the street carrying a newspaper. If you measure things by glitz or buzz, then the internet is going to be fabulous, and mysterious, and interesting, as MTV was, but if you measure it by audience, it is extremely high.
And it’s a great medium if you are interested in communication. TV is kind of a nightlight- it’s off the air, it’s on. People watch it, and form impressions from it. But as far as really communicating, and touching people, it doesn’t work as well as radio does.
If you look at Rush Limbaugh, who is the preeminent radio star – he is a huge force in this country, and has been for 12, 15 years –this can’t be said of anybody in television. Nobody in television has had the effect Rush Limbaugh has had in this country.
Politically, Rush Limbaugh is a power. Those talking heads doing the news may be famous, they may be recognizable, but they haven’t had anywhere near the effect he has. And, of course, writers, newspaper columnists, editorial writers, haven’t had a fraction of the effect he has. He is a radio star.
MTV is watched by a small section of this country, but they have no power because they don’t vote. What MTV does, I have no idea, but it doesn’t have much of an effect on politics.
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| Garrison Keillor by Velenchenko |
If you listen to Garrison Keillor on Prairie Home Companion on NPR and hear his tales of Lake Wobegon, what your vision of him probably looks like is a man with the soft, monotone voice, Midwestern manners and dry wit of Terry Gross and other voices NPR has become famous for. He has an “NPR vocabulary,” using words like “churlish” and “pusillanimous” in some of his writings.
“You either know who Garrison is, or you don’t," said his cameraman and member of the Prairie Home Companion entourage, one of Garrison’s childhood friends that is joining him on this tour. He travels with an eclectic group, including Fred Newman, the sound effects guy, who can convincingly imitate everything from an espresso machine to the doors of the Star Ship Enterprise opening and closing, using mostly his mouth.
Garrison’s show has 4 million listeners each week on over 500 radio stations worldwide.
 |
| FROM LEFT: Fred Newman, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Garrison Keillor. Photo: Dana Nye |
The show itself is a variety show, starting always with the Star Spangled Banner, and ending, always, with America the Beautiful. What goes on in between that, however, is a wide ranging, roaming mix of stories and sound effects, all loosely tied to the lives of the fictional town of Lake Wobegon in Minnesota.
He adds a local flare to his traveling show, adding jokes about the towns that he visits from local lore. On this night in Jacksonville, his show covers dinosaurs attacking Jacksonville, Guy Noir- his private detective character, boob jokes and the time Elvis stopped to play here.
Off the radio, he has been accused of being too vocal and opinionated about world issues.
The thing you need to know about Garrison Keillor is that he wants to talk about you, and focusing the conversation on him took some verbal wrestling. Insatiably curious, he knew within two minutes where my parents where from (Queens), what school they went to (Fordham and St. Catherine’s), where my dad worked (IBM), the places I had worked, what I sports I played (crew team), every place that I had lived before (too many places and countries to list here), and how I liked my coffee (I tried to drink it black like he did, but we both decided that was dangerous, and I dropped in a few packets of sugar).
We talked to him the day his movie, Prairie Home Companion, started filming. The movie is about the fictional end to his variety show, which has been on the air for 30 years. He wrote the script himself, and has assembled an A-list of cast members that may pull the Prarie Home Companion Show out of the NPR shadow and introduce it to an even broader audience. A-Listers such as Woody Harrelson, Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan, and Kevin Kline will be in the movie.
What interesting things did you find out about Jacksonville?
“ I haven’t had time to learn much about all, but I think it’s interesting how much it has changed hands between the English, the American, and the Spanish. (We then debated whether the Jacksonville Redneck was real, or just a figment of the imagination and the North. He decided that there probably were very few genuine rednecks in Jacksonville.)
NPR is in the national news right now because of major budget cuts.
NPR could stand on its own, but the stations that are hurt by government cuts are rural stations. Public radio is an important asset in rural areas that don’t have a news service. NPR is much less important in Washington, New York, and L.A. than it is in Nebraska, S.D, and Minnesota, where it is a crucial source of news.Public radio is where elected officials go to be able to have a public forum where your congressman can go on the air, and answer people’s questions for an hour. This doesn’t happen in commercial radio. This doesn’t happen in commercial television. A congressman is lucky to have 15 seconds in commercial television, maybe, talking about some stupid scandal that happens, to grab the interest of tabloid journalism.
So when congress cuts public radio, they think they are hurting big city liberals, but they are not, they are not at all. What they are hurting is themselves. They are destroying a valuable public forum.
Jesse Ventura was very dismissive of public radio, but public radio was very fair to Governor Ventura. It was the place where he could go, and say what he wanted to say, and take phone calls, from people, and talk at length, and not be interrupted, and this is important in a democracy.
Congress sometimes goes after things with a sledgehammer, when they would be better off using a Philips screwdriver.
They think they are sending a message to Cambridge, Berkley, Madison, Wis., you know, all of these places they despise. They are not. They are hurting Nebraska.
What do you think the best source of news is?
I believe public radio is the only existing radio news operation. There is a place for radio news in the world. As the newspaper business declines, because young people do not read newspapers, radio becomes evermore more important.
Commercial radio news has virtually abandoned the field. In place of news, you have very ideological call in shows. What they do for public debate, the illumination of issues. I can’t tell you – not much, in my mind – but there they are.
We are in a state of political war in this country. Everybody knows that. Everyone claims to regret it, but everyone seems to joyously join in these political wars. We are kind of a non-stop political war, that never seems to diminish between elections.
It’s all kind of poll driven, focus group driven, there is very little between Congress and the White House that is constructive and amiable.
How big of a part do you play in the movie, A Prarie Home Companion?
I wrote the script, but I wrote my part small. I’m just a part of the furniture, really.
I would put NPR in one category, and Lindsay Lohan in another category, kind of a Paris Hilton, rock-candy pop star. How do you feel about her being in the movie?
I haven’t met Lindsay, but I understand she is a very bright, person. I hear that she is a pretty good singer – she will sing in this picture. She is an actress, and that requires discipline. This is very different from the world of Paris Hilton. She has been working since she was a little kid. You don’t get that far by staying up all night and partying. Some of People Magazine is okay – she deserves the recognition. She wanted to work with other professionals, and have the chance to work with Meryl Streep, which is why she is in this movie.
MTV’s first video was, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” There is an assumption that the introduction of a new medium, means the trump of the mediums before. For example, television was supposed to replace the newspaper, and the internet is supposed to replace newspapers and magazines. Where do you see radio in the world of all this new technology?
As long as you have a car, as long as you have the internal combustible engine, you can carry it around. It’s portable, it’s a good medium. You don’t walk down the street carrying a newspaper. If you measure things by glitz or buzz, then the internet is going to be fabulous, and mysterious, and interesting, as MTV was, but if you measure it by audience, it is extremely high.
And it’s a great medium if you are interested in communication. TV is kind of a nightlight- it’s off the air, it’s on. People watch it, and form impressions from it. But as far as really communicating, and touching people, it doesn’t work as well as radio does.
If you look at Rush Limbaugh, who is the preeminent radio star – he is a huge force in this country, and has been for 12, 15 years –this can’t be said of anybody in television. Nobody in television has had the effect Rush Limbaugh has had in this country.
Politically, Rush Limbaugh is a power. Those talking heads doing the news may be famous, they may be recognizable, but they haven’t had anywhere near the effect he has. And, of course, writers, newspaper columnists, editorial writers, haven’t had a fraction of the effect he has. He is a radio star.
MTV is watched by a small section of this country, but they have no power because they don’t vote. What MTV does, I have no idea, but it doesn’t have much of an effect on politics.
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