First broadcast in 1994, Tent Show Radio is a one-hour weekly radio program created from the best live recordings from acclaimed musical acts who grace the Big Top Chautauqua stage each summer in beautiful Bayfield, WI.  During intermission, host Michael Perry spins a story “from the backstage dressing room, with the one lonely little light bulb burning."  Topics range from Mike’s battles with trees, to the behavior of rogue chickens, to the search for hope while stoking a wood stove in the darkness. ​ Running 52 weeks a year, Tent Show Radio is broadcast on 31 listener supported radio stations across six states and on podcast streaming platforms.

Tent Show Radio is independently produced by Big Top Chautauqua and is available at no cost to public radio stations and worldwide to listeners on a variety of streaming platforms. 

Tent Show Radio is generously sponsored by:  
Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce, Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau, Bayfield County Tourism, The Bayfield Inn,
Cable Area Chamber of Commerce, Washburn Area Chamber of Commerce, Wisconsin Public Radio

Meet Michael Perry, the host of Tent Show Radio!

Each week Wisconsin’s own award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, humorist Michael Perry, takes listeners Backstage at the Big Top. Michael Perry is the author of a dozen or so books including his bestselling memoirs Population: 485 (subsequently adapted for the stage), Truck: A Love Story, Coop, Visiting Tom, and Montaigne in Barn Boots. 

Perry writes/has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Backpacker, Orion, and Salon.com. His essays have been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered and Michael Perry is also a contributing editor to Men’s Health.

​Learn more about Michael Perry here.