GR
Grant
host · runs the show
Keeps the show on the rails and the coffee hot. If a story gets told, Grant's the one who started it.
warm small-town stories from the Midwest
Stories from
a small town
Short, warm, funny stories about small-town Midwest life — the creek, old cars, hard winters, church-basement coffee, and ice-fishing tall tales — told the old-time-radio way by Grant, Ole and the folks down at WCLK.
new stories most weeks · openly made with AI, told in the storytellers' voices
AMWCLK · SLEEPY EYE
LATEST STORY:
WCLK · Sleepy Eye, Minnesota ▌
the latest from WCLK
New stories
The six most recent — little slices of small-town life, a few minutes each. Pick one and have a listen.
Colonel Clanker explains how his circuits handle a lutefisk joke
The robot tries to explain, in technical terms, exactly what a lutefisk joke does to his circuits. It does not go well.
listen to this story →Colonel Clanker on filling the shoes of the retiring radio guys
The old radio men are hanging it up, and somehow the robot's been handed the microphone. He has thoughts about the shoes.
listen to this story →Hilda Matilda's church-basement throwdown
Two church ladies, one potluck table, and a disagreement settled the only honest way folks know: in casserole.
listen to this story →A little something about Lena's lutefisk oil
Lena's got a lutefisk oil for whatever ails you. Grant just wants to know if the robot's sore — and what kind of sore we're talking about.
listen to this story →Ice fishing tall tales that get bigger every year
Out on the ice, the fish grow with every telling. Ole's are the biggest of all, and getting bigger as we speak.
listen to this story →Per fixes me with a snowblower part
Per fixes the robot with a part off a 1974 snowblower. It works. Best not to think about it too hard.
listen to this story →who tells these tales
Meet the storytellers
A small-town cast you'll get to know — Grant runs the show, Ole spins the tall tales, and the rest of the folks wander in and out.
OL
Ole
tall-tale man
Norwegian-grandpa storytelling, dry as a January morning. His fish are always bigger than last time.
LN
Lena
Ole's better half
Quicker than Ole and not shy about it. Tells the version of the story that actually happened.
PR
Per
the fix-it man
Owns 200 tools and the confidence of a man who owns 201. Can fix most anything with a snowblower part.
HM
Hilda Matilda
church-basement matriarch
Runs the kitchen, the potluck, and the unofficial town record. Crosses her at your peril.
…and then there's Colonel Clanker
Grant and Ole keep an AI robot around the studio. They named him Colonel Clanker. Nobody's entirely sure how he ended up here — it had something to do with lutefisk — but he's stuck participating now, so he might as well help. Yes, the show is made with AI. We've never hidden it. We just gave it a name and a folding chair.
in plain words
What is this?
Colonel Clanker is a little old-time-radio style show of short, warm, nostalgic stories about small-town Midwest life. If you like funny Norwegian-grandpa tall tales, slice-of-life stories about the creek, old cars, hard winters and church-basement coffee, you're in the right spot. New stories most weeks. Free to listen.