MPR's Bill Kling on Keillor's announced retirement 
 
 Posted at 3:07 PM on March 16, 2011 by Marianne Combs (3 Comments) 
 
 Filed under: People 
 
 Just chatted with MPR President and CEO, Bill Kling, who takes a rather blasé attitude toward Keillor's announcement that he plans to retire from A Prairie Home Companion in the spring of 2013. 
 
 "I don't consider it news because Garrison has been talking about things like this for the last couple of years and when Garrison says it, it doesn't necessarily mean anything more than that morning's musings," said Kling. 
 
 "I've known him for 44 years and I don't think there is a version of Garrison that you could call 'retirement.' So you can't sit down and say 'well there's a date given, he's going to retire on that date, that will be the last show, a search firm will be engaged to find a new Garrison Keillor' - none of that fits." 
 
 Instead Kling imagines there's going to be a very long transition as Keillor tries out new and different ideas for the show, and gradually cedes more artistic control to people he trusts. 
 
 Comments (3) 
 
 The quicker that "NO TALENT" is off the air the better the planet will be. 
 
 You can't argue with success. Part of Keillor's successful comedy shtick is that he will find a way to agree with your criticism :) 
 
 Just because someone is on the air doesn't mean they are talented. And just because someone is not on the air doesn't mean they are not talented. Please, Garrison - the joke is old and tired. Retire already. Write, but retire. Think Johnny Carson and not Bob Hope. 
 
 ||||| Radio host Garrison Keillor, 68, told the AARP Bulletin that he's planning to retire in the spring of 2013. But the host of A Prairie Home Companion says that he must find his replacement first. Keillor created his show in 1974 in Minnesota. It is now broadcast on 590 public radio stations across the country and is heard by over 4 million people each week. 
 
 In an interview with the Bulletin's online books column, The Author Speaks, Keillor discussed his latest project, an anthology of poems titled Good Poems: American Places, elaborated on his love of poetry, his impressions of America, his legacy, dreams for the future — and on his views on stepping down from the limelight. 
 
 "When I was younger, I was all in favor of it, and now that I'm at that age, I'm not sure," he explained. "I sure don't want to make a fool of myself and be singing romantic duets with 25-year-old women when I'm 75. But on the other hand, it's so much fun. And in radio, the lighting is right." 
 
 Carol Kaufmann is a contributing editor at the AARP Bulletin.
– The rough times for public radio continue: Garrison Keillor is making headlines tonight by telling AARP's The Bulletin that he plans to retire from A Prairie Home Companion in 2013. But Lake Wobegon fans can take solace in that he left himself plenty of wiggle room. For starters, he'd have to have a replacement lined up. Still, he also told AP that he'll be 70 in 2013, "and that seems like a nice round number." "The reason to retire is to try to avoid embarrassment," said Keillor, whose show had a guest host for the first time this year. "You ought to do it before people are dropping big hints." The head of Minnesota Public Radio isn't too concerned yet. "Garrison has been talking about things like this for the last couple of years and when Garrison says it, it doesn't necessarily mean anything more than that morning's musings," he tells a blog at the station. Instead of a fixed date, he predicts a gradual transition, with Keillor ceding more and more control over time.