Questions & answers
Everything a first-time listener tends to wonder about Colonel Clanker — what it is, where to hear it, and what's the deal with the robot.
What is Colonel Clanker?
It's a little old-time-radio style show of short, warm, nostalgic stories about small-town Midwest life. Each one runs a few minutes and lands somewhere familiar — the creek, old cars, a hard winter, church-basement coffee, an ice-fishing tall tale. Grant hosts; Ole and the rest of the WCLK folks tell the tales.
What kind of stories is it?
Warm, funny, slow slice-of-life stories — the kind with a little Norwegian-grandpa dryness to them. If you like nostalgic small-town tales, Ole-and-Lena style humor, fishing stories that keep getting bigger, and church-basement comedy, you're in the right spot. Have a look through the whole library.
Where can I listen?
Right here at colonelclanker.com. Open the story library, pick one, and have a listen. New stories go up most weeks, and it's free.
Is it really made with AI?
Yes — and we've never pretended otherwise. The show is openly made with AI, told in the voices of its characters. We even wrote an AI robot into the show and named him Colonel Clanker. It's the joke and the name over the door.
Who tells the stories?
Grant hosts. Ole tells the tall tales, with Lena keeping him honest. Per fixes things, Hilda Matilda runs the church basement, and Colonel Clanker — the robot — chimes in whether you want him to or not. Meet them all on the storytellers page.
Is this like A Prairie Home Companion?
Kindred spirit, smaller and shorter. If you love gentle, dry, small-town Midwest storytelling — lutefisk jokes, tall fishing tales, the warmth of a Sunday church basement — Colonel Clanker is cut from the same flannel.
What's the deal with the robot?
Grant and Ole keep an AI robot around the studio and named him Colonel Clanker. Nobody's sure how he got here; it had something to do with lutefisk. He's stuck participating now, so he helps tell the stories. Mostly he complains about weather he can't feel.
How long are they, and where's it set?
Most stories run just a few minutes. It's all set in and around the small Minnesota town served by WCLK in Sleepy Eye — one stoplight, one creek, one set of train tracks, and a very busy church basement.