When the new season of A Prairie Home Companion starts on Oct. 15 it will have a new host. The beloved host, Garrison Keillor, retired after the last season and asked award-winning musician Chris Thile to take over in his place.


Thile said he has been a fan of the show as long as he can remember since he grew up in a family that loved public radio. He made his first appearance on the program when he was 15 years old.


Though he intends to keep the format of the show intact, he said he does plan to introduce a few exciting new changes. One change includes accepting live requests on the air through social media. “We have the idea of opening up Twitter and Facebook and asking, ‘What would you like to hear the house band play right now?’” Thile explained. “The rules are at least two people have to have heard the song, but no one can have ever performed it before.”


Most of all, Thile said, he desires to ensure Keillor’s legacy is passed on and he relishes the opportunity to introduce people his age and younger to the program that he loves so much.

 

Interview Highlights

On receiving the call from Keillor asking him to take over as host.

"As odd and completely out of the blue as it was for me, there was this part of me that was just solemnly nodding, ‘Yes, this is as it should be.'”

"The show, in a way, feels like a consolidation of my various pursuits."


On implementing changes in the show.

"The show really can’t be what it’s been or it will only be second best. We have to change certain aspects of it. We think it will be some fun, interactive live radio."


On balancing the show and his music career.

"It’s a bad day if a mandolin isn’t in my hands for over two hours as far as I’m concerned, so there will still be a great deal of mandolin. If you studied Garrison Keillor’s activity over the last 30-40 years, he squeezed in quite a bit of extracurricular activities, and I plan on doing the same."


Listen to the full interview from HearSay with Cathy Lewis.

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