Forum was a 1970s MPR radio program that broadcast various local discussions, as well as NPR distributed speeches, panel discussions, interviews, and documentaries.
January 28, 1973 - On this Forum program, the subject is ‘The State of English.’ Participants in the 1972 meeting of the National Council of English Teachers talk about the quality of education in the United States. Report also includes recorded remarks by Margaret Mead, Jonathan Kozol, Murray Kepton, Malcolm X and others.
March 4, 1973 - On this Forum program, Paul Scofield reads Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn acceptance speech for Nobel Prize in Literature.
April 1, 1973 - Connie Goldman examines Minnesota's parole system by looking in detail at one of its recent decisions. The release of Bill Rankin, convicted of three felonies, aroused a storm of public protest that eventually reached the Governor's office. We hear both Rankin and the critics of his release in this program.
April 8, 1973 - MER’s Greg Barron rides along with Saint Paul Police Officers Joe Pelton and Keith Martenson as they patrol the streets of the city during the night watch. Barron captures events of the evening in dramatic fashion through sounds and actions that take place as they intervene in a domestic dispute.
May 6, 1973 - Part one of the MER documentary series “A Sense of Place.” This program, titled Anishinaabe Means Original People, focuses on conversations with Indian people about their feelings about the place where they live.
May 13, 1973 - Part two of the MER documentary series “A Sense of Place.” This program, titled Prairie People, River Folk, and Denizens of the Big Lake Region, focuses on how geography influenced the settlement of various regions in the state.
May 20, 1973 - Part three of the MER documentary series “A Sense of Place.” This program, titled A Region Within Walls, focuses on motherhood with young children.
May 27, 1973 - Part four of the MER documentary series “A Sense of Place.” This program, titled How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?, focuses on life on the farm and of the farmer.
June 3, 1973 - Part five of the MER documentary series “A Sense of Place.” This program, titled Mining, Music, and Much Ado about Sports, explores the relationship between a miner and the giant corporation he works for.
June 10, 1973 - Part six of the MER documentary series “A Sense of Place.” This program, titled All the News that's Fit, is a study of how journalism influenced regional feeling as the state grew.