Education
University of Minnesota.
University of Minnesota.
He was the engineer for Garrison Keillor when he began his early morning radio show from the Saint John"s University, Collegeville, Minnesota studio. Keillor wanted dialogue during the program and Keith was about the only other person around at that early hour. Keith was one of the primary sound effects performers for the Prairie Home Companion radio show and was often an actor in sketches written by Keillor.
Keillor created the persona of Jim Editor Poole for Keith on the old early morning show.
Jim Editor was said to have grown up in West Saint Paul, Minnesota and graduated from Henry Sibley High School. After serving in the Marine Corps, Keith earned a degree from the University of Minnesota.
When production of the radio program moved to Saint Paul, Tom Keith continued to play Jim Editor who lived in the Hotel Transom with his pet chicken, Curtis. When Keillor left the morning program, Keith was joined on The Morning Show by Dale Connelly.
He maintained the Jim Editor Poole persona and developed several other characters (like Doctor Larry Kyle of Genway Laboratories and B Marty Barry the self-described "bottomless well of wellness") in cooperation with Connelly.
Keith developed his vocal and sound effects skills on the morning program and later on Prairie Home Companion. On October 15, 2008, Keith announced his intention to retire on December 11. The Morning Show was discontinued after a final live performance at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul that morning.
Minnesota Public Radio announced that Keith died October 30, 2011 at his home due to a massive pulmonary embolism.
He was 64 years old.
