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'Prairie Home Companion' Celebrates 35 Years

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Jul 4, 2009 12:52 pm US/Central

'Prairie Home Companion' Celebrates 35 Years

AVON, Minn. (AP) ― "A Prairie Home Companion" is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a Saturday Independence Day broadcast from Avon -- part of the central Minnesota region that inspired the fictional town of Lake Wobegon.

Garrison Keillor says he plans a grass-roots show, with longtime special effects man Tom Keith, the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, the Lake Wobegon Brass Band, the St. John's Boys' Choir and singer Andra Suchy.

Keillor's public radio variety show debuted on July 6, 1974. That show, broadcast live at Macalester College in St. Paul, was watched by about a dozen people. Now, "A Prairie Home Companion" is heard on nearly 600 public radio stations nationwide, attracting more than 4.3 million listeners a week.

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According to the show's website, "A Prairie Home Companion" began in July 6, 1974 at Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College in Saint Paul.  It cost $1 to attend.

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