Dale Connelly (born 4 October 1955) was co-host (with

Tom Keith Thomas Alan Keith (December 21, 1946 – October 30, 2011) was a radio personality who worked for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the engineer for Garrison Keillor when the latter began his early morning radio show from the ...

, aka Jim Ed Poole) of ''The Morning Show'' on

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...

. The program was first carried on KSJN at frequency 91.1 (now

KNOW-FM KNOW-FM (91.1 FM) is the flagship radio station of Minnesota Public Radio's news and information network, primarily broadcasting a talk radio format to the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. The frequency was the original home of KSJN, but the purc ...

, later on

KSJN KSJN (99.5 FM broadcasting, FM, "YourClassical MPR") is the flagship station of Minnesota Public Radio's European classical music, classical music network, serving the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Twin Cities region. KSJN's studios are located at the ...

at 99.5 and finally on

KCMP KCMP (89.3 FM, 89.3 The Current) is a radio station owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) that broadcasts a AAA music format including a significant rotation of songs by local artists. Licensed to Northfield, Minnesota and covering the Minneapo ...

89.3 "The Current"; all in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

and live on MPR's

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

network in outstate Minnesota. Connelly took over for

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

, who was the original host along with

. The show aired for more than 30 years. On October 15, 2008, Keith announced his intention to retire on December 11. '' The Morning Show'' was discontinued after a final live performance at the

Fitzgerald Theater The Fitzgerald Theater is the oldest active theatre in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and the home of American Public Media's ''Live from Here'' (formerly '' A Prairie Home Companion''). It was one of many theaters built by the Shubert Theatre Corporatio ...

in St. Paul that morning. After the demise of the Morning Show, Connelly began hosting, directing, and producing a show in a similar genre on an Internet broadcast and

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

called "Radio Heartland." He also hosted Saturday evening broadcasts of recorded performances on the Minnesota News service of

. Those programs were canceled by MPR on June 4, 2010, and Connelly was laid off as of June 30, 2010. He authored many scripts for "advertisements",

skit Skit may refer to: * * A short segment in a performance, such as: ** Sketch comedy ** Hip hop skit ** Puppet skit ** Promo (professional wrestling) * Skit note, parody of a banknote See also * Skete A skete ( ) is a monastic community ...

s, and

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

s performed on ''The Morning Show''. Among his notable creations were "The

Sherpa Sherpa may refer to: Ethnography * Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal * Sherpa language Organizations and companies * Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility * ...

from Intimida", "A Mighty Big Car", and Genway, "the supermarket for

genetically engineered food Genetically modified foods (GM foods), also known as genetically engineered foods (GE foods), or bioengineered foods are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering. Gene ...

s." Genway produced things like the Bullwinkle Salmon ("part salmon, part moose") and Chameleon Pears. Other Connelly creations included the "Bowserbed" vibrating sleeping mattress for dogs, "Yes, I Am Wireless," Found Snacks ("makers of low-fat neutrinos. There's nothing to them! No fat, no cholesterol, no calories—no substance and no mass!"), and reporters Brick Walters, Bud Buck, and ''The Morning Show's'' "living and loving correspondent," B. Marty Barry. Connelly also created a regular cast of characters, including Nephew Thomas (the radio daredevil), Captain Billy and the crew of the ''Muskellunge'' and Dr. Harley Clumsy (the animal identifier). In 1999 and 2000, Connelly wrote ''Dale Connelly Reporting'', a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

show for Minnesota Public Radio that included features like "

Antiques Road Show ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people (ge ...

," "Shouting Down School," and features on "Police and Courtroom Portrait Artists", "Low-Speed Internet Access," and "

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

". Since leaving MPR, Connelly has been writing a blog
''Trail Baboon''
on which he has continued creating characters and engaging readers with his observations. In June 2011, Connelly became news director for Minneapolis community radio station

KFAI KFAI (90.3 FM Minneapolis) is a community radio station in Minnesota. The station broadcasts a wide variety of music, and also airs programming catering to many of the diverse ethnic groups of the region. KFAI has frequently been honored by lo ...

, where he had been a part-time producer
Press Release

External links

Trail Baboon''The Morning Show''''Dale Connelly Reporting''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connelly, Dale American radio personalities Minnesota Public Radio people Living people 1955 births