Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR has won more than 875 journalism awards, including the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

, both the RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting award of the same name, and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Gold Baton Award. As of September 2011, MPR was equal with

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

for most listener support for a public radio network, and had the highest level of recurring monthly donors of any public radio network in the United States. MPR also produces and distributes national public radio programming via its subsidiary

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and oper ...

, which is the second-largest producer of public radio programming in the United States, and largest producer and distributor of classical music programming.

History

Minnesota Public Radio began on January 22, 1967, when

KSJR-FM KSJR-FM (90.1 FM) is a radio station licensed to Collegeville, Minnesota, and serving the St. Cloud area. The station is owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), and airs MPR's " Classical Music Network," originating from the Twin Cities. The sta ...

first signed on from the campus of

Saint John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) ** St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus * College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and C ...

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 cultural and artistic functions to the broader community. He hired a 23-year-old graduate of St. John's, William H. Kling, as director of broadcasting. It soon became apparent that St. Cloud and surrounding Stearns County did not 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 started

KSJN KSJN (99.5 FM, "YourClassical MPR") is the flagship station of Minnesota Public Radio's classical music network, serving the Twin Cities region. KSJN's studios are located at the MPR Broadcast Center on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul, while ...

, a low-powered repeater station for the Twin Cities, in 1968. The operation was awash in debt, and by 1969, St. John's realized it did not have the adequate financial or personnel resources to operate 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. Kling led MPR as president and CEO for 44 years, before retiring in 2011. MPR was a charter member of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

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 The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

. 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 Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

's ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

'', one of the best-known programs on public radio, from the Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul. In the early days of the program, members of the production staff were said to have to work hard to fill the theatre seats, sometimes bringing in radio station staff and urging passersby to come into the theatre from the street outside. In 1980, MPR originated the

-winning show, ''

Saint Paul Sunday ''Saint Paul Sunday'' is a Peabody Award-winning weekly classical music radio program that aired from 1980 to 2007, with encore broadcasts airing through 2012. It was hosted by Bill McGlaughlin for its entire run. At its height, it was America's ...

'', which went national via syndication in 1981. MPR assisted in the formation of American Public Radio (now known as Public Radio International which later merged with Public Radio Exchange in 2019) 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 Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...

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 A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

'', "Marketplace Morning Report" and "Marketplace Money" from studios in Los Angeles, in association with the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, in 2000. That same year, MPR founded Southern California Public Radio, which entered into a public service operating agreement with

Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a Public college, public community college in Pasadena, California. History Pasadena, California, Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. From 1928 to 1953, it operated as a four- ...

to run KPCC in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. In 2004, MPR began distributing its own shows through

, leaving PRI; APM was the third radio network in the U.S. to have received founding support from MPR, probably an unmatched record for an American radio station or network. In 2004, MPR announced it would buy WCAL (89.3 FM), the classical music station operated by St. Olaf College in

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W. N ...

. WCAL (and a repeater station, KMSE in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

), were sold in a deal valued at $10.5 million, which was approved by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

in 2004. The next year, following the acquisition by MPR, WCAL changed its call letters to

KCMP KCMP (89.3 FM, 89.3 The Current) is a radio station owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) that broadcasts a AAA music format including a significant rotation of songs by local artists. Licensed to Northfield, Minnesota and covering the Minneapo ...

and was transformed into MPR's third service, "The Current". In 2008, a WCAL advocacy group took St. Olaf College to court for breach of trust in selling the radio station. (A June 2008 judge's opinion described the station as a charitable trust and therefore, not the college's property to freely dispose of

MPR's General Counsel and three attorneys took part in the proceeding

However, a 2009 court found in favor of MPR due to its ruling that the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...

on the matter had expired, nullifying the advocacy group's standing.) 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 The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH Educational Foundation, founded through the efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The AAPB is a national effort to digitall ...

Services

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 The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by t ...

still carries a combination of those two services). The 2005 acquisition of

WCAL WCAL 91.9 FM is a student-run college radio station serving PennWest California (formerly known as California University of Pennsylvania) and the surrounding area, including Washington, Fayette, Westmoreland, Greene, and Allegheny counties.It a ...

, which covers the Minneapolis-St. Paul and

areas, provided the opportunity to launch another music service, "The Current." This third service has gradually expanded to most of southern eastern Minnesota.

MPR News

MPR's news and information service includes a mix of locally produced programs and national/international shows. The flagship station is

KNOW-FM KNOW-FM (91.1 FM) is the flagship radio station of Minnesota Public Radio's news and information network, primarily broadcasting a talk radio format to the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. The frequency was the original home of KSJN, but the purc ...

(91.1 FM) in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...

. The MPR newsroom has garnered international acclaim, most recently earning the inaugural Knight News Innovation EPpy Award in 2008. MPR's newsroom is known for its Public Insight Network, a database of citizen sources who contribute their expertise on a wide array of topics. The Public Insight Network grew to 140,000 sources in 2011 and partners with other news media, journalism schools, foundations and community groups. As of 2022, 24 full power stations carry MPR's News and Information service and various translator signals around the state offer additional coverage. MPRNews.org is a non-profit news website maintained by MPR. This online news source covers issues that affect the state including politics, business, education, health,

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

and the economy. MPR News offers headline news, video, blogs, audio and multiple ways for readers to become involved in the news-making process.

YourClassical MPR

MPR's

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

network is carried on 18 full power stations and various translators offer additional coverage. The flagship station is

(99.5 FM) in the Twin Cities. In April 2021, the station rebranded as ''YourClassical MPR'', aligning it with the umbrella branding used for American Public Media's digital classical music platforms and nationally-distributed programming. Most of the network's schedule is a simulcast of APM's

Classical 24 Classical 24 is a syndicated, satellite-delivered public radio service providing classical music to its carrying stations. It generally airs overnights on many non-commercial and a handful of commercial classical music stations. However, the se ...

network, although a statewide morning show airs Monday-Friday, an afternoon drive request show airs Friday and the network airs various specials and live broadcasts. The HD 2 signal of KSJN-FM offers a 24 hour feed of the Classical 24 network. On September 10, 2020, Garrett McQueen, the host of Classical 24's Music Through the Night, and MPR's only African-American classical music host, was terminated by American Public Media for "not following programming guidelines." According to McQueen, he was "given two warnings — one of which was about his need to improve communication and the other warning was for switching out scheduled music to play pieces he felt were more appropriate to the moment and more diverse."

The Current

MPR's third service, The Current, debuted on January 24, 2005, and airs an

Adult album alternative Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...

format. Several people on The Current's initial staff are well known in the area for previous work at stations that highlight music from Minnesota and the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...

. Many of the staffers and on-air personalities came from other similar stations, such as the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

KUOM KUOM (770 AM) – branded ''Radio K'' – is a daytime-only non-commercial educational college/alternative rock radio station licensed to serve Minneapolis, Minnesota. KUOM covers the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, and extends its ...

, community-oriented

KFAI KFAI (90.3 FM Minneapolis) is a community radio station in Minnesota. The station broadcasts a wide variety of music, and also airs programming catering to many of the diverse ethnic groups of the region. KFAI has frequently been honored by lo ...

, and commercial alternative rock outlets

REV 105 WGVX, WLUP and WWWM-FM are three separate radio stations that make up a trimulcast serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul media market, radio market. The three stations are owned by Cumulus Media, along with sister stations KQRS-FM and KXXR. The ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio's

WOXY.com WOXY.com was a modern rock internet radio station based in Oxford, Ohio, and later Austin, Texas. WOXY.com relied mainly on its own website to reach its listeners. WOXY.com programming at one time was also available at lala.com and WVXU HD Ra ...

. Programming on The Current is mostly locally produced. The flagship station is

(89.3 FM), licensed to

Northfield Northfield may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland * Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland * Northfield, Birmingham, England * Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England United States * Northfield, Connec ...

on the southeastern periphery of the Twin Cities, though the signal covers most of the metro area. A lower-power station,

KMSE KMSE (88.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to Rochester, Minnesota. The station is owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), and airs MPR's "The Current" network, consisting of an Adult Album Alternative music format originating from KCMP in Northf ...

(88.7 FM), serves

and southeastern Minnesota,

KZIO KZIO (104.3 / 94.1 FM) is a radio station located in Duluth, Minnesota that serves as a satellite station to Minnesota Public Radio's AAA station KCMP, with inserts for local weather, underwriting messages, and a local music program that airs o ...

(104.3 FM) serves the Duluth area, and translators offer additional coverage in other parts of the state. The service is also carried as an HD service on several of MPR's full power stations. KPCC, the NPR affiliate in Los Angeles operated by MPR's parent company, APM, carries The Current on its HD 2 signal. The Current also streams online in a variety of formats.

Additional services

Minnesota Public Radio also programs several other music services, all available online, with a few offered on HD Radio in the Twin Cities area. Carbon Sound is the newest MPR service, focused on R&B music and Black artists. In addition to streaming online, it is available on the HD 2 subchannel of KCMP in the Twin Cities. Local Current is a service programmed by the staff of The Current, and features music from Minnesota artists. The service streams online. Purple Current is an R&B and Hip-Hop service inspired by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

. Rock The Cradle is also programmed by personnel at The Current, and airs a variation of their AAA format, with music geared toward children and parents. It is available via a separate webstream. Radio Heartland features an eclectic mix of acoustic,

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

and roots music. The service can be found on the HD2 subchannel of KNOW-FM and also via a separate webcast. KNOW-FM also features an HD3 subchannel consisting of programming from NPR and the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. The signal carries additional hours of Morning Edition and All Things Considered not available on KNOW's main signal. Several other NPR and APM shows air on the service. Subsidiary Communications Authority (SCA's) are used to transmit a Minnesota version of the Radio Talking Book Network to disabled listeners around the state, in cooperation with Minnesota State Services for the Blind. MPR also serves as the radio backbone for the radio portion of the state's

Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite, or broadcast television, and both ...

, and as the backbone for the state's

AMBER Alert An Amber Alert (alternatively styled AMBER alert) or a child abduction emergency alert ( SAME code: CAE) is a message distributed by a child abduction alert system to ask the public for help in finding abducted children. The system originated i ...

System. MPR owns WGGL, the NPR affiliate serving

Houghton, Michigan Houghton (; ) is the largest city and seat of government of Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located on the Keweenaw Peninsula, Houghton is the largest city in the Copper Country region. It is the fifth-largest city in the Uppe ...

. The station airs a combination of NPR News, BBC World Service and Classical 24 programming. While MPR supplies weather updates, local MPR programming and news updates are not aired on the station. KWRV in

Sun Valley, Idaho Sun Valley is a resort city in the western United States, in Blaine County, Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum in the Wood River valley. The population was 1406 at the 2010 census, down from 1427 in 2000.Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, ...

. 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.

Broadcast coverage

Minnesota Public Radio broadcasts on several dozen stations that serve Minnesota and its neighboring communities and various

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

s providing additional local coverage. Stations are located in

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

(Brookings and Sioux Falls),

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

(Houghton),

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

(Decorah), and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

(Sun Valley). MPR also operates KPCC in

. Most areas are served by both a classical music station and a news and information station. Duluth and Rochester 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 Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Minnesota, and the 5th-largest outside of the Minnea ...

, the

, New Ulm,

, St. Cloud (Collegeville) and St. Peter. Minnesota Public Radio also broadcasts all three of its services – News, Classical and The Current – on

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

in several communities throughout the state of Minnesota. In the Twin Cities, MPR multicasts Classical 24, an additional news service and Purple Current.

References

External links

Minnesota Public Radio Web site
includin
history
an
list of stationsAmerican Public Media website
* Terry Fiedler and Deborah Caulfield Rybak (October 24, 2004)

''

Star Tribune The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

''. Retrieved November 18, 2004.
MPRNewsQ
– Online news service launched in 2009. * Further information on the stations owned by Minnesota Public Radio can be found by going t

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 about a specific station can be found by going t

web page. {{Coord, 44, 56, 56, N, 93, 05, 43, W, region:US-MN, display=title HD Radio stations American Public Media Group American Public Media Radio in Minnesota Non-profit organizations based in Minnesota Radio stations in Minnesota American radio networks NPR member networks Peabody Award winners Radio broadcasting companies of the United States 1967 establishments in Minnesota Classical music radio stations in the United States