{"id":17390,"date":"2016-07-02T09:11:16","date_gmt":"2016-07-02T13:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=17390"},"modified":"2016-07-02T09:17:45","modified_gmt":"2016-07-02T13:17:45","slug":"an-above-average-pretty-good-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2016\/07\/02\/an-above-average-pretty-good-run\/","title":{"rendered":"An above average, pretty good run"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first tuned in to NCPR as a young married twenty-something in the late 1970s. It was just called WSLU back then and had only the one transmitter in Canton, NY. I began listening to a new invention, a radio newsmagazine called All Things Considered<\/em> while I stir-fried tofu and veggies for the communal dinner. And then Saturdays at 6 pm it was feet up, warming by the woodstove, listening to this weird guy from Minnesota, Garrison Keillor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Garrison<\/a>

Garrison Keillor in the 1970s. Photo: Prairie Home Productions\/American Public Media<\/p><\/div>\n

So much has changed over the decades since; NCPR has grown to dozens of transmitters across the region, and hundreds of programs and hosts have come and gone. I’ve voluntarily lost the pony tail and involuntarily changed hair color altogether. But one thing has stayed pretty much the same–on Saturday, Garrison Keillor would be talking about his mythical hometown, cracking corny jokes, and unashamedly warbling duets with much stronger voices than his.<\/p>\n

A Prairie Home Companion<\/em><\/strong> will continue on, but the last new episode with Keillor as host airs tonight at 6 pm<\/strong>. Here’s the rundown:<\/p>\n

This week: we\u2019re at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California for our final broadcast of the season. It\u2019s a duet singing show, with Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O\u2019Donovan, Heather Masse, and Christine DiGiallonardo all along to join the host on time-honored American ballads, British Invasion romps, country-western weepers, and Broadway classics, guaranteed to send him off to radio retirement in style. Plus: our Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, with L.A. tales and sound effects straight from rush hour on the 101; pianist and music director Richard Dworsky guides the band (Bernie Dresel on drums, bassist Larry Kohut, Richard Kriehn on mandolin and fiddle, and guitarist Chris Siebold) through surf melodies and sun-drenched rock\u2019n\u2019roll instrumentals; and one last update on the News from Lake Wobegon, the little town that time forgot, and the decades cannot improve.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sigh.<\/p>\n

We have some special programs coming up on Monday, the Fourth of July.<\/p>\n

The Capitol Steps <\/strong>will step up to a year in politics so weird it seems to satirize itself. At 3 pm<\/strong>, it’s Politics Takes a Holiday<\/em><\/strong>, their annual summer sendup of American politics and culture in skit and song.<\/p>\n

At 4 pm <\/strong>it’s Hamilton: A Story of US<\/em><\/strong>, a one-hour special featuring the voices of students, the cast of the musical Hamilton,<\/em> biographer Ron Chernow, and Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, who says that Hamilton<\/em> is \u201ca story about America then, told by America now.\u201d NPR\u2019s Audie Cornish hosts.<\/p>\n

And in case you missed it last week, NCPR rolled out program schedule changes<\/strong> starting yesterday. You can find the details here<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Have a great holiday weekend: grill a little, grin a little, lean back and ooo at some fireworks<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first tuned in to NCPR as a young married twenty-something in the late 1970s. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17390"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17394,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17390\/revisions\/17394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}