[Archive 2016-07-02] '42-year detour' ends: Garrison Keillor homeward bound

Historical archive — originally published 2016-07-02. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Garrison Keillor, the humorist and longtime host of A Prairie Home Companion on US public radio network NPR, hung up his microphone this week. The final episode of Companion to be hosted by Keillor was recorded yesterday at the Hollywood Bowl with 18,000 people in attendance. It was broadcast today.

Musician Chris Thile takes over as host in October. Thile is expected to keep the program's basic format intact while updating its content.

Companion highlighted the sensibilities of the Midwest of Keillor's youth. His on-air persona was a throwback; a "radio bard" telling amusing stories spun from the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. Now, he says, that version of the Midwest "is receding in the rear-view mirror at high speed."

Garrison Keillor was one of six children raised in a fundamentalist family in Anoka, Minnesota. Television was forbidden in the home, but their large Zenith radio allowed him to listen to rhythm and blues music and serials like Lassie.

42 years later, Keillor says he plans to resume writing. A memoir and a screenplay are in the works.

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