William “Bill” Kling is the founder and president emeritus of Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media. He was also a founding member of the board of directors of National Public Radio, the founding chairman/president of Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles, and the founding chairman and president of Public Radio International. He served as president and CEO of American Public Media Group (APMG) until June 2011.

Notable timeline markers in Kling’s career:

·       In 1967, KSJR-FM went on the air, and was later spun off into a separate nonprofit community corporation known as MPR

·       In 1969, Kling established The Radio Talking Book, the nation’s first closed-circuit reading network for the blind and vision-impaired

·       In 1970, Kling helped found National Public Radio and served on its first Board of Directors.

·       In 1982, Kling launched American Public Radio (now Public Radio International)

·       In 2004, Kling started American Public Media, the national program production and distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio.

Kling has won numerous honors over his career including 2009 CPB Resolution Award in Appreciation of Service in Public Broadcasting, 1981 CPB Edward R. Murrow Award, 1995 Bemidji State University Distinguished Minnesotan Award, and Saint John's University's Honorary Doctorate Citation for Doctor of Humane Letters, amongst others. He was a 2004 inductee to the Pavek Museum/Minnesota Broadcast Hall of Fame Award. In 1999, both Minneapolis Star Tribune and The St. Paul Pioneer Press list Kling as one of 100 most significant Minnesotans of the century. In 2017, Minnesota Public Radio named its headquarters "The Kling Media Center"