If you’ve wondered why posting has sluffed off some here at the Iron Range’s fastest-growing news and culture blog there is good reason. I’ve been writing the latest edition of the Great Northern Radio Show while balancing my usual mix of writing, teaching and cloak-and-dagger projects. I’m happy to announce that the script is done and now we get to the fun part: putting on the show.

The Great Northern Radio Show will broadcast live from the Armory Square stage in downtown Park Rapids, Minnesota on Saturday, Sept. 27 on Northern Community Radio. Our featured acts are the Minneapolis-based bands Tree Party and The Sterling Roots, both of which have roots in the Park Rapids area.

You can reserve tickets by calling 800-662-5799 or use our new online reservation system. Tickets are FREE. We expect to fill the house, so don’t wait to reserve tickets if you plan to be there.

You can listen to podcasts of our old shows at the Great Northern page on KAXE.org. Meantime, here’s our press release:

Great Northern Radio Show in Park Rapids

Variety show to broadcast live on new Armory Square stage Sept. 27

PARK RAPIDS, Minnesota (Sept. 18, 2014) — The Great Northern Radio Show will bring its entertaining mix of music, stories, and comedy to Park Rapids on Saturday, Sept. 27.

“We celebrate modern life off the beaten path,” said Aaron Brown, executive producer and host of the traveling variety program. “Our show tells the story of the places we visit, uncovering the culture and history of each place and telling truths the way only locals can. We do this with some of Minnesota’s best musicians and truly hilarious performers from the area and around the state.”

An original production of Northern Community Radio, the Great Northern Radio Show airs from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Armory Square theater stage in downtown Park Rapids, Minnesota. Free tickets are available for those attending the live broadcast. You must be seated by 4:30 p.m. and reservations are recommended by calling KAXE at 800-662-5799.

The Sept. 27 show features two Minneapolis-based bands with Park Rapids-area roots.

Minneapolis-based alternative country band Tree Party will perform at the Sept. 27 Great Northern Radio Show in Park Rapids, MN.

Tree Party, composed of Joey Ford, Jenna Wyse, Travis Bolton and Andy Carroll, is an alternative folk country band featuring a western sound and contemporary lyrics.

The Sterling Roots of Minneapolis take their Americana sound to their hometown of Park Rapids, MN, in the Sept. 27, 2014 Great Northern Radio Show.

The Sterling Roots is a three-piece all-female Americana band on the rise. Band members Rosie, Elizabeth and Whitney say their band “has been known to play anywhere from porches, caves, and most especially under bridges.” Together, Tree Party and The Sterling Roots will blend old tradition and new sound to create a unique musical mix for the Great Northern Radio Show.

The show broadcasts seasonally from communities around Northern Minnesota and, starting next year, throughout the state. A rotating cast anchors the Great Northern Radio Players, who perform the sketches written by Brown, an award-winning Minnesota author and blogger, and co-writer Matt Nelson, a Hibbing native who now works for the Washington Post. The cast for this show includes C.J. Anderson of Pequot Lakes, Sara Breeze of Bemidji, Britt Aamodt of Elk River, Brandon Chase of Park Rapids, sound artist Lauren Nickisch of Pequot Lakes and Brown, an Iron Range native who now lives in rural Itasca County.

The Sept. 27 program will air live on 91.7 FM KAXE in Grand Rapids, Aitkin and the Iron Range, 90.5 KBXE Bagley and Bemidji, 89.9 FM Brainerd and 103.9 FM in Ely. The show is also rebroadcast on independent public radio stations throughout Minnesota and distributed as a podcast at www.kaxe.org.

“You can listen at home, in your car, online or right here in the live studio audience,” said Brown. “We like to think of our show as a blend of an old time format, local setting, and cutting-edge comedy and music.”

The Great Northern Radio Show is a production of Northern Community Radio, which operates several radio frequencies serving the rural communities of Northern and Central Minnesota. The Great Northern Radio Show is made possible in part by the Iron Mining Association of Minnesota and a grant from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.