# Minnesota Public Radio *Public radio network serving Minnesota and the upper Midwest* Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) public radio network based in [[Minnesota]].[^1] It runs three services, MPR News, YourClassical MPR and The Current, over a regional network of 46 stations in the upper Midwest. It also produces and distributes national programming through American Public Media.[^1] MPR traces its start to KSJR-FM, which went on the air from Saint John's University in Collegeville on January 22, 1967.[^1] William H. Kling was its first director of broadcasting and headed the organization for 44 years, until 2011. Wikipedia's summary of MPR's federal tax forms gives total expenses of $112,380,820 for 2021 and $115,780,425 for 2022.[^1] In the Minnesota record, MPR appears as the broadcaster of a state occasion. It carried the January 16, 1978 memorial service for Hubert H. Humphrey live from [[House of Hope]] Presbyterian Church in St. Paul.[^2] On August 24, 2010, MPR News reported the death of retired Minnesota Justice Douglas Amdahl.[^3] ## Who Colman Barry, president of Saint John's University, saw FM radio as a way to extend the university's cultural and artistic work to the wider community.[^1] He hired Kling, then a 23-year-old Saint John's graduate, to direct broadcasting. In 1969, with Barry's support, the university transferred the KSJR/KSJN assets to a community corporation, St. John's University Broadcasting.[^1] That corporation was renamed Minnesota Educational Radio and later Minnesota Public Radio. Kling served as its president and CEO until he retired in 2011.[^1] ## What At first, MPR's stations carried one service that combined classical music with NPR news and talk.[^1] In 1991 that programming was divided into a news service and a classical service. One station in Michigan's Upper Peninsula still carries both. MPR bought WCAL in Northfield in 2005 and used it to start a third service, The Current.[^1] The news service's flagship station is KNOW-FM (91.1 FM) in the Twin Cities, and MPR also maintains the nonprofit site MPRNews.org.[^1] In 2008 the newsroom won the first Knight News Innovation EPpy Award. American Public Media created the Public Insight Network in 2003, a database of citizen sources who shared their expertise with journalists, and MPR's newsroom ran it.[^1] MPR's awards include the Peabody Award, both Edward R. Murrow awards (RTNDA and Corporation for Public Broadcasting), and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Gold Baton Award.[^1] ## When - January 22, 1967: KSJR-FM signs on from Saint John's University in Collegeville, near [[St. Cloud]].[^1] - 1968: Saint John's starts KSJN, a low-powered Twin Cities repeater. KSJR's power had been more than tripled but still gave only grade B coverage to Minneapolis and did not reach St. Paul.[^1] - 1969: The station's assets pass to a community corporation.[^1] - 1971: MPR is a charter member of National Public Radio and moves its operations from Collegeville to St. Paul.[^1] - 1991: Programming divides into separate news and classical services.[^1] - 1998: The for-profit Rivertown Trading Company, formerly a subsidiary of MPR's parent company, is sold for $124 million.[^1] - 2005: MPR acquires WCAL and launches The Current.[^1] - 2011: Kling retires.[^1] - 2024: Boise State Public Radio buys KWRV in Sun Valley, Idaho, which MPR had operated.[^1] ## Where MPR's stations are in Minnesota, in South Dakota (Brookings and Sioux Falls), in Michigan (Houghton) and in Iowa (Decorah).[^1] MPR also operates KPCC in Pasadena, California. Duluth and Rochester receive all three services. The Current is available in Austin, Hinckley, [[Mankato]], the Twin Cities, New Ulm, Rochester, St. Cloud (Collegeville) and St. Peter.[^1] All three services are also broadcast on HD Radio in several Minnesota communities.[^1] ## How MPR is funded by:[^1] - membership dues from listeners - foundations - corporate and private gifts - government grants - advertising - education partners - publicly traded securities The proceeds of the 1998 Rivertown Trading sale were used to create an endowment, and part of that endowment goes into the annual budget.[^1] ## How much MPR's Board of Trustees audit for fiscal year 2023 (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023) put total expenses at $117.1 million.[^1] That figure includes $17.7 million for fundraising. The following year's expenses were $119.7 million.[^1] The tax returns show:[^1] - **2021:** $9.2 million in "Fees for services (nonemployees)" under "Other," or 8.2% of total expenses. Because this was below the 10% threshold, no breakdown was required on Schedule O, and none was given. - **2022:** $10.4 million in the same category, or 8.9% of total expenses, again with no Schedule O detail. - **Compensation:** Per the 2021 return, the eight highest-compensated employees averaged $486,805. These figures come from Wikipedia's summary. The underlying filings are not among the sources cited here.[^1] ## How many - 46 stations in the regional network.[^1] - 24 full-power stations carrying the News and Information service, as of 2022.[^1] - 18 full-power stations carrying the classical service (Wikipedia gives no date for this figure).[^1] - More than 875 journalism awards.[^1] - 140,000 sources in the Public Insight Network, as of 2011.[^1] - As of September 2011, MPR was tied with WNYC for the most listener support of any public radio network. It also had the most recurring monthly donors of any public radio network in the country.[^1] ## In the at-issue record At-issue item AI-Humphrey-092, dated January 16, 1978, states that Humphrey's memorial service at House of Hope in St. Paul "held roughly a thousand people and about four hundred dignitaries, and was broadcast live by Minnesota Public Radio."[^2] The item names the contemporaneous broadcast record as its primary source. It is anchored to a White House Government Transparency Task Force fact sheet and lists one archive source, from archive.mpr.org. That archive record is not among the sources cited here. The record's validated Humphrey dossier, citing a same-day MPR Archive report, gives the same date and venue, about 400 dignitaries, and the live MPR broadcast. The dossier gives no figure for total attendance. According to the dossier, Humphrey died at his Lake Waverly home in [[Waverly]], [[Wright County, Minnesota]], on January 13, 1978, at age 66. He was buried at [[Lakewood Cemetery]] in [[Minneapolis]] on January 16, the day of the service. The dossier also cites an MPR Archive report of December 6, 1996 for the opening of the [[Hubert H. Humphrey Museum]] in Waverly on that date. ## In the Minnesota record ### When - January 16, 1978: MPR broadcasts Hubert H. Humphrey's memorial service live from House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul.[^2] - August 24, 2010: MPR News reports the death of retired Minnesota Justice Douglas Amdahl.[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Minnesota Public Radio* (revision 1371009297, retrieved 2026-10-27) — history, services, funding sources, audit and tax-form expense figures, station counts and broadcast coverage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Public_Radio [^2]: The White House, *The White House Government Transparency Task Force Fact Sheet* (July 2026) — anchor document for at-issue item AI-Humphrey-092, which describes MPR's live broadcast of the January 16, 1978 Humphrey memorial service. https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/07/the-white-house-government-transparency-task-force-fact-sheet/ [^3]: MPR News, *Retired Minnesota Justice Douglas Amdahl dies* (August 24, 2010) — MPR's report of the death of retired Justice Douglas Amdahl. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/08/24/amdahl-obit