10/10/2019
A statement from Great Northern Radio Show host and producer Aaron Brown:
As we announced earlier, the Great Northern Radio Show will broadcast another show from the Hibbing High School auditorium on Saturday, Nov. 9. Our feature acts will be Jillian Rae, Sugar on the Roof, our own house band The Occasionals, and a full assortment of actors and guests. I really hope you can come to the show, or listen on Northern Community Radio. Tickets are available at https://hibbing.epaytrak.com/Purchase-Tickets-Click-Here-C304.aspx
But I have some other related news. This will be the last Great Northern for a while. Maybe a long while.
As some of you know, I’ve been working on a book about Victor Power and early Hibbing history for the past couple years, more intensely this fall. I’m on leave from my job and working very hard on the manuscript now. Related to this book project I’ll be working on a podcast serial for Northern Community Radio, co-hosting and co-producing with my collaborator, the filmmaker Karl Jacob. He and I started researching the material at the same time — me for the book, him for a film project. Our serial will be a sort of historical buddy cop mystery, two fellas ramblin’ through time. Just as I have high hopes that my book will gain a following beyond the Iron Range, we have high hopes that this podcast will draw in listeners from around the country.
All of this means time. Lots of it. That is the chief reason that I decided this summer to put the Great Northern Radio Show on a creative hiatus.
But it’s not the only reason. I have also concluded that if we do bring the show back in 2021 or beyond we’ll need a different approach. I’m so very proud of the development of this show over the past eight years. A lot of hard work by a lot of people made that possible. The program is tighter, faster-moving, better-sounding than it’s ever been.
Still, the goal when we began was for the show to become cash positive for the radio station. Instead, it’s a black hole of costs, made possible only by the generosity of the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and organizations like the Hibbing Foundation, which is underwriting the Nov. 9 show. That money is critical, but I don’t want to put the station in the position of having to cancel us when the funding invariably changes or is needed elsewhere. I also wanted this program to gain a following on other public radio stations. As an occasional show, a major effort that nevertheless produces just four shows a year, that goal is not transpiring, nor do I expect it to. Stations need consistent production to fill timeslots. We aren’t funded to do that, nor can the station spare the staff time.
I also don’t want the show to stagnate. And, to be honest, I feel like we’ve reached a natural conclusion. Though the decision was made in partnership with my friends at Northern Community Radio, I ultimately made this call myself. It’s voluntary. The Nov. 9 show will be a “finale for now.”
Change is good. I’ve cried over this. I’ve laughed. I’ve been very excited about my new project, too. The Great Northern Radio Show isn’t just some radio playground for me, but a very real expression of my feelings about Northern Minnesota. It was also a literal lifesaver as I struggled to get sober more than eight years ago. The responsibility and human interaction of this show kept me sane. It made me a better writer, a better producer and a better person — at least, most of the time.
So I hope you will come see our show on Nov. 9, or listen to us on the radio or online. It will be a celebration of the stories, music and humor of Northern Minnesota. Because that’s what the show has always been about.
I turn 40 this December. So it’s halftime, not the fourth quarter. Of course I might revive the show someday. I love the show. If there’s any real demand for it, I will. But I’m called to new endeavors. And I accept.
