Back in 1984, Garrison Keillor visited Spokane and came by the KPBX studios on 2319 N Monroe Street. Photographer and SPR supporter Don Hamilton remembers it well; he documented the event with his camera.
During the Fall 2014 Pledge Drive, Don came by with a large print of the A Prairie Home Companion host standing in the performance studio.
Before showing staff the image, he crawled around the grand piano to get a photo of the same area of the same room, to show how much things have changed. And how much the room has stayed the same.
The same set of light fixtures sits on the wall. The ceiling still has the unusual angles that helps keep the room from echoing too much. The acoustic baffling on the walls has changed a little, but the history is still there.
"For most of my life, I've brought myself to this microphone, into this room, to speak on the air. I am a dedicated fan of SPR, and a big fan of A Prairie Home Companion," Don confessed on the air.
Don photographed Garrison Keillor during the author and radio host's subsequent visits and was an on-air guest the first time A Prairie Home Companion performed live in Spokane, in 1998.
