'A Prairie Home Companion' to Return to Ohio University Public Radio

Contact: Olivea Oldham, Public Information Coodinator (Contact for Photos and Logos as well), (740) 593-4944 or Olivea_Oldham@woub.pbs.org; Doug Partusch, Director of Marketing and Communications, (740) 593-4944; or Rusty Smith, FM Radio Program Manager, (740) 593-4920

ATHENS, Ohio (March 27, 2001) -- Ohio University Public Radio announces plans for the return of A Prairie Home Companion, a two-hour, live, weekly variety program from Minnesota Public Radio and Public Radio International, hosted by best-selling author and National Humanities Award-winner Garrison Keillor. A Prairie Home Companion will begin airing Saturday, Mar. 31 at 6 p.m. A Prairie Home Companion will then air every Saturday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. Mountain Stage will then begin airing at 8 p.m.

"We are really pleased to begin airing A Prairie Home Companion," says Doug Partusch, Associate Director for Development and Communications. "It is a thrill to join the program. It has been our most requested program to add to the FM schedule in years. It is absolutely one of public radio's most popular programs, and I am confident that it will become a staple in our schedule."

"Garrison Keillor is extraordinary," Partusch adds. "The Los Angeles Times recently wrote an extensive feature on him, saying that 'Keillor is a Minnesota icon.'"

A Prairie Home Companion's (APHC) 2000-2001 season consists of 32 live shows, with almost half of them originating from The Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, and the rest from tour locations across the United States. The APHC talent scouts will be searching the backroads and byways for yet another crop of talent for the ever-popular Talent from Towns Under 2,000 Contest, and plenty of other surprises are planned.

Each week's broadcast showcases actors Tim Russell and Sue Scott, and the sound effects of Tom Keith, who since 1976 has entertained listeners with his horses galloping, his helicopters landing, and his tires spinning on ice. The program's house band is The Guys' All-Star Shoe Band, an ensemble that Keillor describes as "a handpicked bunch, diverse, like the old bomber crew in an old war movie: an Upper West Side New York violinist, a St. Paul Jewish pianist, a New York Irish-Italian drummer, a St. Paul Irish guitarist, and a German bass player .... They play so great, they make the old dead heroes stand up and walk."

The high point of the show for many listeners is Keillor's signature monologue, The News from Lake Wobegon, an update from the little town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

A Prairie Home Companion is currently carried coast-to-coast on over 496 public radio stations, with a nationwide audience of nearly 2.8 million listeners. Overseas, the program can be heard on the Armed Forces Network Europe, the Far East Network, World Radio Network, and on NPR Worldwide and the Astra Satellite Network, both of which transmit U.S. public radio overseas through cable and FM radio to many European cities.

The program is produced by Minnesota Public Radio, distributed by Public Radio International, and sponsored nationally by Lands' End Direct Merchants. Audio clips, scripts, and more information on A Prairie Home Companion can be found online at http://prairiehome.org/

The Ohio University Telecommunications Center, a unit of the College of Communication, operates two television stations -- WOUB-TV/Channel 20 in Athens and WOUC-TV/Channel 44 in Cambridge -- and six radio stations -- WOUB-1340 AM, WOUB-91.3 FM, WOUC-89.1 FM, WOUH-91.9 FM, WOUL-89.1 FM and WOUZ-90.1 FM. The Center, a trusted community resource, uses the power of noncommercial television, radio and other media, such as the World Wide Web, to enrich the lives of children and adults in Southeastern Ohio and Western West Virginia through quality programs and educational services that inform, enlighten, inspire and entertain.