Keillor's plans will make radio waves

Thirty-five years into his role as host of "Prairie Home Companion" Garrison Keillor is a national emblem of Minnesota humor. He is also an extreme self-doubter.

"It's really dissatisfaction with my own work that keeps me going," he said in a recent interview, "and this profound sense of failure that I feel after almost every show I do."

As "Prairie Home" launches a new season, Keillor's associates in a sprawling radio empire might feel even more trepidation than the man himself.

Keillor, 67, suffered a minor stroke on Labor Day and told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he is "not counting on (hosting the show) more than a couple more years."

The ripple effects of Keillor retiring or scaling back would be enormous.

"Prairie Home" might have debuted before an audience of 12 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., in 1974, but it now is a linchpin of the American Public Media Group (APMG). The Group, with an annual budget of $104 million, has holdings that include American Public Media, which distributes the show to almost 600 public radio stations nationwide.

Longtime fans will recall the six-year period when Keillor gave up "Prairie Home" after moving to New York in 1987. Desperate to find a fill-in, Minnesota Public Radio started another live variety show, "Good Evening," with Noah Adams as host. It lasted less than a year.

Since returning to the air in 1993, "Prairie Home" has established itself as a "defining program" for MPR, said Howard Liszt, a senior fellow at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism.

"The impact (of losing the show) would be substantial. For many people who listen to MPR, it's a magnet," Liszt said. "It's kind of the equivalent of if NBC no longer had the 'Tonight Show,' or CBS losing '60 Minutes,' one of those shows that's indelibly associated with a network."

Leaders at APMG and MPR would not comment for this story.

Beyond the intangibles, there's a lot of money involved, especially in an era in which public radio gets most of its revenue from, well, the public — via events and membership drives — rather than the government: Minnesota Public Radio's tax returns for 2007 listed $54,815,216 in "direct public support," plus almost $7 million in government grants.