Sad news around Minnesota Public Radio today, as we learned that our dear friend Tom Keith (perhaps better known as Jim Ed Poole) has passed away.
He was a mainstay as the co-host of The Morning Show, which aired on Classical MPR for many years, and on The Current for 4 more until his retirement in December of 2008.
Beyond our state's borders, he was widely known for his incredible abilities as the Sound Effects man for A Prairie Home Companion (here's a great interview from this summer).
MPR News has the story:
Before becoming a sound-effects man on A Prairie Home Companion, Keith was a former radio personality who co-hosted The Morning Show on MPR until 2008. He hosted that show as his alter ego, Jim Ed Poole, a character Keillor created for an older early morning radio show.
Bob Collins has a terrific remembrance mixed with the news:
There are a fair number of phonies in the media, possibly because there's a certain amount of acting involved. But Tom Keith was not one of them. Tom collapsed at home and died last night and could not be revived, according to a spokesman for Prairie Home Companion. The cause is still being determined.
The Morning Show archive goes quite deep, but here's an hour's selection of prime cuts:
A good dose of history can be found on The Morning Show's interactive timeline.
For those who want to share their feelings about Tom, please submit them below.
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