The Downtown Writers Network is a resource for independent writers in central Ohio.

Located in Columbus, we provide services to freelancers, businesses that use freelance talent, and all creative writers in the dynamic mid-Ohio market.

Radio, Theater of the Mind

A Prairie Home Companion
(Saturdays, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., and Sundays, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon)

"A Prairie Home Companion" began in 1974 as a satire of old-fashioned, down-home radio programs, and has evolved into a Saturday night institution for millions of listeners. Every week, humorist and novelist Garrison Keillor oversees two hours of comedy and music in a format that somehow perennially fresh in its traditional format of singers, musicians, sound effects, skits and the Keillor's "News from Lake Woebegon" monologue.

When it's not somewhere on the road, the program is broadcast live from studios in St. Paul and New York. According to reports, Keillor is the show's sole writer, responsible for the scripts of its regular features, such "Guy Noir, Private Eye" and "The Lives of the Cowboys," as well as ersatz commercials for the Ketchup Advisory Board, Powdermilk Biscuits and the American Duct Tape Council.

"The News from Lake Woebegon," which Keillor pens only a few hours before the broadcast, concerns his mythical hometown of Lake Woebegon, Minnesota. Each 20- to 30-minute-long monologue forms another chapter in a rambling, open-ended novel about this small town of eccentric Lutherans in the Midwest. No other author since William Faulkner has mined such a wealth of material from a particular spot in the American landscape.

Keillor also writes, produces and narrates his daily Writers Almanac (10:30 a.m., weekdays on WCBE), and is a columnist for Salon and Time magazine. His third Lake Wobegon novel is due this winter.

Beyond 2000
(Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.)

WCBE has hosted several drama anthologies over the past few years. "Beyond 2000," hosted by science fiction guru Harlan Ellison, recently replaced rebroadcasts of "Radio Mystery Theater."

"Beyond 2000" turns stories by Mark Twain, Ray Bradbury, Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, Ursula Le Guin and a host of other writers into radio dramas. The common element is that all of the stories are set after the year 2000. The series is new, but so far the quality of the scripts and the production standards are high.

Ellison notes that radio is "the theater of the mind," making it a perfect medium for the imaginative audience participation that science fiction requires. It's a point well-taken. The serialized radio version of Star Wars from several years ago, for example, told a far more exciting and interesting story than the movie did, mostly because it called on the listeners' imaginations to supply the special effects. All the pyrotechnics of Hollywood could not match the power of well-written words.

You'd Miss It if It Weren't Around

WCBE listeners who regularly travel outside of the city often complain about how much they miss the station when they're away from Columbus. Very few public stations anywhere in the nation can match the diversity and quality of WCBE's program schedule. It's truly one of the city's cultural treasures.

All the programs mentioned here are supplied by the National Public Radio and Public Radio International networks, and a large portion of the station's budget goes to buying the broadcast rights to them.

WCBE has proved its commitment to the Columbus writing community through the programming, information and services it offers with local writers in mind.

How can you show your gratitude? Tune in, listen, learn, enjoy. And when the next pledge drive comes around, join!

Because once you get used to listening to WCBE, you'd miss it if it weren't around.

Douglas Gray
Director, Downtown Writers Network

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