Prarie Fire Companion

First broadcast Winter 2005 and co-hosted by Donnie Forti and Erik DeLapp, A Prairie Fire Companion is one of the longest running variety shows on WVKC 90.7 FM Galesburg. After Forti graduated in '06, Jeremy Doebert '10 took his place to continue the tradition of "a better variety of song after song." The show was one of the first on WVKC to be featured in an article in TKS; it attracted attention for its unique format, featuring campus and national news, weekly weather, special segments (incluidng an "administrator of the week," often poking fun at President Bush), and, most central to the show, weekly monologues featuring "the news from Knox College." The monologues, and in fact the entire format (as well as the title), are a spin-off of Garrison Keilor's "A Prairie Home Companion," produced by American Public Media and broadcast nationally on NPR. Erik DeLapp's weekly monologues began "It's been a quiet week on the Knox College campus, out here on the edge of the prairie," borrowing from "the news from lake wobegon." Both Forti and DeLapp's monologues often poked fun of Knox students, depicting them as videogame-loving, partying, live-action-role-playing fools.

Donnie Forti has gone on to graduate school in broadcast journalism where he obtained a pretigious internship with ABC News in New York. Erik DeLapp graduated in June 2007, leaving Jeremy Doebert to continue the show with the fourth co-host in the history of the show, Timothy Lovett '11. A Minnesotan himself from St. Paul, the home of A Prairie Home Companion, Lovett brings intimate knowledge of Garrison Keilor's variety show to the mic at WVKC.

Now in its third year on the air, A Prairie Fire Companion continues to bring "a better variety" of music and entertainment to the Galesburg and surrounding areas, even after both its original co-hosts left the show. Most traditions have continued, including intro and outro folk music recorded by The Flint Hill Singers in the 1960's -- music exclusive to APFC.

Look for "A Prairie Fire Companion" to continue for many years.

APFC is currently broadcast Mondays, from 10-11 PM (c) on 90.7 FM Galesburg or www.wvkc.org