Chris Thile Announces New Name of Show: Live From Here
Dec 16, 2017
NEW YORK, Dec. 16, 2017 – Chris Thile announced to audiences on Saturday evening that the new name for his weekly variety show will be Live from Here. The host shared the news during the show’s live opening at The Town Hall. Produced by American Public Media (APM), Live from Here is the new name for A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile. Thile has hosted the program for the past year.
“My hope is that this name captures the energy and enthusiasm that is really at the core of this show,” Thile said. “Live from Here is about people making beautiful things and sharing them with our audience in real time. The fact that the show is live – where anything is possible – is part of what makes it so special.
“We want ‘here’ to be that sense of place that’s created by a community of people that comes together for 120 minutes each week – no matter where or how they’re listening,” Thile said.
Bringing audiences near and far together on Saturday evenings has been a tradition in public radio since A Prairie Home Companion launched in 1974. An acclaimed musician and songwriter, Thile took the helm of A Prairie Home Companion in fall 2016 after a lifetime of listening. At the time he was named Garrison Keillor’s successor, Thile said, “I grew up with the show. I take this opportunity, this job, immensely seriously and with great awe.”
The show, now known as Live from Here, continues that tradition – in person, online at livefromhere.org, on the radio – with 2.6 million weekly listeners on 586 stations. Each week, Thile welcomes a wide range of well-known and up-and-coming talent to share the stage and create a unique listening experience on his variety show.
“Over the past year, the show has felt more and more like Chris as he’s incorporated new elements and continues to experiment and play with new ideas to shape the program for a new generation of listeners,” said Dave Kansas, executive vice president and chief content officer for American Public Media Group.
Upon ending its contractual relationships with Garrison Keillor, MPR no longer had the legal rights to use the A Prairie Home Companion name or archived content created by Keillor. Since its relaunch last fall, the show hosted by Chris Thile has been owned solely by American Public Media, the national production and distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio.
“Chris Thile brings a fresh and exciting energy to public radio. It’s evident when you see him on stage and hear him on the radio that he loves to perform and to engage and entertain audiences,” said Arvid Hokanson, director of audience, KUOW in Seattle. “We’re looking forward to more of the new elements he has brought to public radio, including making stand-up comedy a regular part of the show, as well as more of his musical performances that harness the power of live radio.”
Live from Here can be heard each Saturday evening at 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET, and after the holiday break, returns on Jan. 6 with a live show from San Francisco, followed by broadcasts from Portland, Ore., New Orleans and Austin, Texas. Show schedules and information on guests and tickets are available on livefromhere.org.
About Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media
Minnesota Public Radio® operates a 46-station radio network serving nearly all of Minnesota and parts of surrounding states. Reaching more than 1 million listeners each week, MPR and its three regional services—MPR News, Classical MPR and The Current®—produce programming for radio, digital and live audiences. Programs produced by MPR’s national programming division, American Public Media®, reach more than 20 million listeners via 1,000 radio stations nationwide each week. APM is one of the largest producers and distributors of public radio programming in the world, with a portfolio that includes BBC World Service, Marketplace®, and the leading classical music programming in the nation. APM also offers a diverse array of podcasts featuring the best in food, culture, entertainment, business and investigative journalism. For more information on MPR, visit minnesotapublicradio.org. For more information on APM, visit americanpublicmedia.org.
Source: Data are copyright Nielsen Audio. Data are estimates only.