Prairie Home Hostage

We have two public radio channels in Minnesota. One for talk and news, one for classical music.

At 5pm on Saturday, they both play the same show: Prairie Home Companion.

In Duluth, we can also get both Wisconsin Public Radio channels – Ideas and Music.

At 5pm on Saturday, they both play the same show: Prairie Home Companion.

I was an ardent fan of the Prairie Home Morning show in the early 1970s; I attended some of the first Prairie Home Companion shows when 20 people or so could fit in a studio in St Paul and later at the Science Museum.

Some will consider it blasphemy for me to say this, bit I think the spark has gone out of the show. There are more replays and it is sometimes a little crude – like the opening monologue about a young boy peeing uphill. There are still many excellent musicians and some good monologues.

But really: four radio channels, one choice? Continue the show, but give listeners a choice. We shouldn’t be held hostage to the luster of the show’s past. Why not let the classical music stations play music? I’m ready.

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