Minnesota Public Radio

Minnesota Public Radio began on January 22, 1967, when KSJR signed on from the campus of Saint John's University in Collegeville, just outside St. Cloud. Colman Barry, then president of Saint John's, saw promise in the then-relatively new technology of FM radio, and believed radio was an appropriate extension of Saint John's culture and arts to the broader community.[4] He hired a 23-year-old graduate of St. John's, William H. Kling, as director of broadcasting.[5]

It soon became apparent that St. Cloud and surrounding Stearns County didn't have enough listeners for the station to be viable, so Kling more than tripled KSJR's power in hopes of reaching the Twin Cities. However, it only provided grade B coverage to Minneapolis and the western portion of the metro, and completely missed St. Paul and the east. Realizing that the station needed to cover the Twin Cities to have a realistic chance of survival, St. John's signed on KSJN, a low-powered repeater station for the Twin Cities, in 1968. However, the operation was still awash in debt. By 1969, St. John's realized it was in over its head operating a full-fledged noncommercial radio station. With Barry's support, Saint John's transferred KSJR/KSJN's assets to a community corporation, St. John's University Broadcasting. This corporation later changed its name to Minnesota Educational Radio, and finally Minnesota Public Radio.[6] Kling led MPR as president and CEO for 44 years, before retiring in 2011.[5][7]

MPR was a charter member of National Public Radio in 1971, and had helped lay the groundwork for forming that organization during 1969 and 1970. In 1971, the network moved its operations from Collegeville to St. Paul, funded in part with a news programming "demonstration" grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. New studios were built and KSJN became the flagship station. During the 1970s, additional stations were added and the network expanded across Minnesota. It was during this period KSJN's news department won numerous regional and national awards and became one of the region's most highly regarded news operations.

In 1974, MPR began live broadcasting of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, one of the best-known programs on public radio, from the Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul. In the early days of the program, production staff were said to have to work hard to fill the theatre seats, sometimes bringing in radio station staff and urging people to come into the theatre from the street outside. In 1980, MPR originated the Peabody Award-winning show, Saint Paul Sunday, which went national via syndication in 1981.

MPR assisted in the formation of American Public Radio (now known as Public Radio International) in 1983.

Originally, MPR played a mix of classical music and NPR news/talk programming. However, as NPR expanded its offerings, Kling made plans to split MPR into separate classical and news/talk networks. MPR sought to buy a second FM frequency in the Twin Cities from the late 1970s onward. As a fallback, in 1980 it bought WLOL (AM 1330), one of the oldest stations in Minnesota, and changed its calls to KSJN (AM), a simulcast of KSJN-FM. In 1989, AM 1330 changed its calls to KNOW and began airing an expanded lineup of NPR programming. In 1991, MPR bought WLOL-FM, AM 1330's former FM sister, allowing it to finally split its services into two networks. The KNOW call letters and intellectual unit, including the NPR news and talk format, moved to KSJN's old frequency of 91.1. The KSJN calls moved to WLOL-FM's former frequency of 99.5, which began playing classical music full-time.

MPR acquired Marketplace Productions, which produces Marketplace, "Marketplace Morning Report" and "Marketplace Money" from studios in Los Angeles, in association with the University of Southern California, in 2000. That same year, MPR founded Southern California Public Radio, which entered into a public service operating agreement with Pasadena City College for the operation of KPCC in Pasadena, California. In 2004, MPR began distributing its own shows through American Public Media.[8]

In 2004, MPR announced it would buy WCAL (89.3 FM), the classical music station operated by St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. WCAL (and a repeater station, KMSE in Rochester), were sold in a deal valued at $10.5 million, which was approved by the Federal Communications Commission in 2004. The next year, following the acquisition by MPR, WCAL changed its call letters to KCMP and was transformed into MPR's third service, "The Current".

In 2008, a WCAL advocate group took St. Olaf College to court for breach of trust for selling the radio station. (A June 2008 judge's opinion described the station as a charitable trust and not the college's property to freely dispose with. )) MPR's General Counsel and three attorneys took part in the proceedings.)

Today, MPR serves a regional audience of one million listeners through 43 stations presenting three broadcast network services.

Original materials from Minnesota Public Radio have been contributed to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.[9]

With the addition of later stations, MPR originally offered a mix of classical music and NPR news/talk programming on a single service. Beginning in 1991, MPR's programming split in two, forming separate news and classical music services (although one station in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan still carries a combination of those two services). The 2005 acquisition of WCAL in Northfield, Minnesota, which covers the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Rochester areas, provided the opportunity to launch another music service, "The Current". This third service has gradually expanded to most of southern eastern Minnesota. About The Current

Minnesota Public Radio is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization and relies on contributions from listeners, foundations, educational partners and corporations for its general operations. It also receives support through underwriting on the air and on the Web.

Listener contributions, corporations, foundations and educational partners account for approximately 60 percent of MPR's total budget. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The State of Minnesota provides modest capital grants to upgrade infrastructure and equipment in greater Minnesota, but does not provide operating funding to the organization. MPR also receives operating funding through the sale of on-air and online underwriting.

The for-profit Rivertown Trading Company, once a subsidiary of MPR's parent company, was sold in 1998 for $124 million. Profits went toward creating MPR's endowment, a percentage of which contributes to MPR's overall annual budget.

Minnesota Public Radio broadcasts on 44 stations that serve Minnesota and its neighboring communities and 42 translators providing additional local coverage. Stations are located in Minnesota, Wisconsin (La Crosse), South Dakota (Sioux Falls), Michigan (Houghton), Iowa (Decorah), and Idaho (Sun Valley).[13] MPR also operates KPCC in Pasadena, California.

Most areas are served by both a classical music station and a news and information station. One location is covered by a single station that combines both services. Two locations are served by a classical music station, a news and information station, and The Current.

MPR's newest service, The Current, is available in Austin, Hinckley, Mankato, the Twin Cities, New Ulm, Rochester, St. Cloud (Collegeville) and St. Peter.

Minnesota Public Radio also broadcasts all three of its services – News, Classical and The Current – on HD Radio in several communities throughout the state of Minnesota. In the Twin Cities, MPR multicasts "Classical 24", BBC News and Local Current, and "Wonderground Radio", a service specifically geared towards children.

• American Public Media
• Saint Paul Sunday
• Public Insight Journalism (a newsgathering and networking initiative founded by MPR)
• Independent Public Radio (another public radio network in Minnesota, also known as AMPERS)

• Minnesota Public Radio Web site, including history and list of stations
• American Public Media website
• Terry Fiedler and Deborah Caulfield Rybak (October 24, 2004). MPR chief 'sings his own song' in creating a national powerhouse. Star Tribune. Retrieved November 18, 2004.
• MPRNewsQ – Online news service launched in 2009.
• Further information as to ALL the stations that Minnesota Public Radio owns can be found by going to this FCC web page, scrolling down to the "Applicant Name" field, entering "Minnesota Public Radio", press the "Submit Application Search" button, and continue past the "Application Search Warning".
• Further information as to a SPECIFIC station can be found by going to this FCC Database Query web page.