WLT

A Radio Romance

By: Garrison Keillor

Narrated by: Garrison Keillor

Length: 6 hrs

Publisher's summary

In the spring of 1926, the Soderbjerg brothers, Ray and Roy, plunge into radio by founding Station WLT (With Lettuce and Tomato) in order to rescue their failing restaurant and become the Sandwich Kings of South Minneapolis. For the next 25 years, the "Friendly Neighbor" station produces a dazzling array of shows and stars: Dad Benson, Wingo Beals, Slim Graves and his Blue Movers, chain-smoking child star Little Becky, and household-tips maven Lucille Larson (who repeatedly broadcasts in her underwear).

Brilliantly weaving together the real lives and radio lives of his characters, Garrison Keillor has given us a comic, poignant, and slightly steamy novel, full of romance, intrigue, tough business, and loose living.

©1991 Garrison Keillor (P)1991 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"The comedy is as broad as it comes, but it also has a depth that includes poignancy, particularly as it records the station's downhill slide. Humor and insight into the heart of raunchy America don't get any better than this." (Kirkus Reviews)

I love Garrison and this did not disappoint

I could almost listen to him read the telephone book. This is a little different then his other books but I enjoyed it all the way through. his observations and commentary on people and are relationships is timeless. It is fiction and is meant to entertain and I was.

Great story

Have enjoyed this story dozens of times. Each time as good as the first. Love the epilogue where presumably everything turns out perfectly for Frank and Maria. Why not create a character and bless them with a great adventure?

Not Lake Woebegone!

WLT is Keillor's best work. It's got great story structure, fantastic characters and character development, hilarious language, and quirky atmosphere.

Again and again

Ok
I admit it
This is probably my third or fourth time listening to this audiobook. To me, it is an absolute classic. To those who have tried to read Garrison Keillor, it can sometimes be hard to approach. Nonetheless, when the author reads it himself, the story absolutely leaps to life.

Very few, if anybooks I have read ( or have listened to) have both moved me to tears and caused me to laugh out loud. This is a gym that absolutely has to be listened to in order to be fully appreciated

Funny!

Not one of the Lake Woebegone books, this book is irreverently funny and different than anything he has done before; his masterpiece, in my opinin.

Fun, I loved it!

A nostalgic, touching, sophmorically bawdy look at early radio without the rose colored glasses. You won't go wrong with this choice.

One of Keillor’s Best

There is some strange noises in the background throughout the story but overall a well written and read story!

PURE ENTERTAINMENT!

Just finished this last week and decided to listen again - wonderful stories told by a master story teller. I really felt like I was a firsthand observer of this old-time radio station and its unforgettable characters.

This is his best book, but... ABRIDGED!

This is my favorite GK book. An astounding allegory to the great radio man's life. It is funny and sad and everything a great novel can be, BUT... It is a crime that such a work could be abridged, especially in so clumsy a fashion. Great blocks have been taken from the development. :(

I'd turn back if I were you

What a HUGE disappointment. I don’t like a lot of the new things Keillor is doing on the radio, the sketch comedy just does not do it for me on any level. Guy Noir couldn't carry Nick Danger's third eye. But I like every Keillor book I've read/listened to so far. I liked Lake Wobegon Boy, and especially liked Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, and love almost every one of the “Tales” from Lake Wobegon I’ve ever heard. I listened to this nearly straight through on a recent road trip and I can’t say enough to warn you away from it. Started extremely slow, had a very few laughs in the middle and could not seem to decide how to end. Don’t even let someone give it to you.