The mysterious appeal of Garrison Keillor. By Sam Anderson

Slate's Sam Anderson analyzes at length the resolutely unstylish style of Garrison Keillor and dubs him "the shock jock of wholesomeness."

Van Cliburn opposes sale of Texas music station

Closing pubradio station KTPB will "devalue Kilgore College as an institution of higher learning," pianist Van Cliburn wrote to the college trustees, according to the Longview (Texas) News-Journal. The trustees decided in April to sell the East Texas classical music station to Christian pop purveyor EMF Broadcasting, which has 180 frequencies across the country. Cliburn went to high school in Kilgore.

PBS: pixilate that dirty mouth!

The Boston Globe reports on new PBS guidelines requiring producers to completely bleep compound swear words (such as "mother f*****!") and visually blur the mouths of people who swear on camera.

Dvorkin heads to CCJ

Jeffrey Dvorkin is leaving his post as NPR's ombudsman to serve as executive director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists and the Goldenson Chair of Community Broadcasting at the Missouri School of Journalism. Dvorkin was NPR's first ombud and held the job for six years after serving as its v.p. of news. In his farewell column, he offers advice to his successor: "Know that public radio listeners are overwhelmingly smart, passionate and insistent. You will find that it is important to take their comments seriously, but never personally. You'll live longer if you do." (He also reveals that several colleagues refuse to speak to him due to past criticism of their work.) In 2001, Dvorkin looked back on his first year as ombudsman in an essay for Current.

'Jimmy Jimmy BoBo' Lehrer Makes Birthday Party Newsworthy

The Washington Post reports that a three-year-old Minnesotan boy recently enjoyed a very special birthday party with, of all things, a NewsHour with Jim Lehrer theme. Henry Schally is a major fan of the show and knows its personalities by name. "When correspondent Kwame Holman started delivering his report, Henry yelled out 'Kwame Holman!'," according to WCCO-TV in Minneapolis.