GARRISON KEILLOR LOOKING FOR TALENT

Residents of Advance, Frohna, McClure, Pocahontas, Olive Branch, Marble Hill and other uncrowded municipalities take note. Tonight on "A Prairie Home Companion," host Garrison Keillor will invite you to enter a talent contest.

The contest has one requirement: Entrants must live in a small town.

Keillor's Talent From Towns Under 2,000 (T-TUTT) contest is in its third year. The first winner was Janet Sorenson, a yodeler who lives on a sugar-beet farm in northwestern Minnesota. Last year, 10-year-old Emily Shackleton won singing "Colors of the Wind" from the movie "Pocahontas."

The folksy "A Prairie Home Companion" is broadcast from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturdays on KRCU 90.9 FM.

"Prairie Home Companion" staffers haven't kept track of how many people entered in past years. "We have a big appliance box full of entries," Kate Reckdahl, the show's publicist, said from St. Paul, Minn.

"The first year we had one appliance box and the second year we had one and a half."

In a press release announcing the contest, Keillor says, "It'll be fun to meet these performers and hear them play, sing, yodel, tell jokes, tap dance, whatever they do. I hope their families come and bring their flash cameras."

One memorable entry was the Flag Creek Philharmonic from Flag Creek, N.Y., an ensemble of virtuosos who played toy instruments.

"Because it's radio, I think people are given more credit for talent and less for glamour," Reckdahl said.

Six finalists will be flown to Muncie, Ind., to perform during the live March 15 show before an audience of 3,600 at Emens Auditorium on the campus of Ball State University.

The ballots will be counted during Keillor's monologue, "The News From Lake Wobegon." The champion will receive the Silver Watertower Trophy.

Entrants have until Jan. 31 to submit an audiocassette containing a three-minute sample of their performance. The address is: A Prairie Home Companion, 45 E. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55101-2274. The entry should include photos and a short description of the entrant and what they do.

T-TUTT should be marked on the envelope, and all entries must be received by Jan. 31.

It's also possible to audition by leaving a three-minute performance on the show's answering machine. The phone number is (612) 290-1174.

There is also a T-TUTT information line at (612) 290-1131.

Reckdahl said entrants don't actually have to be residents of a town. No one is disqualified from entering unless they live in a town of 2,000 people or more.

Ironically, most people who listen to "A Prairie Home Companion," live in towns much larger than 2,000. Fifty-five percent of the program's audience lives in the nation's top 50 markets.