Meet Karl Gehrke

Karl Gehrke is a producer and arts reporter for Minnesota Public Radio where he is highly regarded for his impeccable table manners and exquisite penmanship. He joined MPR in December 2004 after working as an arts reporter and music host for WCAL-FM at St. Olaf College and South Dakota Public Radio. He got his start in radio as a child actor playing Tommy on the long-running serial, "Ma Perkins." When his voice changed and he was no longer able to find work as a radio actor, Karl was forced to eke out a living by singing bawdy sea shanties on street corners for spare change. After a restless decade working in such varied occupations as coxswain, pelican wrangler and megalomaniac, Karl was able to return to a career in radio through a combination of hard work, determination, blackmail and threats. When he's not busy taunting pigeons, Karl lives on a mat of straw in the darkened corner of a friend's basement with an invisible salamander named Aunt Martha and a bucket of last year's Halloween candy.