Midday, the longest running MPR news program, began as an extension of a daily half hour noon newscast called “Midday Report.” In September 1971 it expanded into various longer iterations, running weekdays, as well as encompassing some weekend programming. During this period, it was described as: “A program of news and information, a calendar of the day’s cultural events and the environmental report.” In January 1972 the name changed to Midday, and a month later it was described as: “A program of news, consumer and environmental information, discussion of public issues, and reports by the MPR and NPR news staffs."
Separate MPR public affairs programming were featured, such as Spectrum, Sportfolio, MPR Special, Insight, Weekend, Forum, and MPR’s Mainstreet Radio, among others. Local programming was also featured, including Westminster Town Hall Forum, Carlson Lecture Series, Minnesota Meeting, Minnesota Press Club, and Mondale Policy Forum. National outside programming included Options, Horizons, Communique, National Press Club, Chappaqua Lecture, Ford Hall Forum, Commonwealth Club, among others; and interview shows from the likes of Studs Terkel, William F. Buckley and Nancy Fushan.
As the years progressed, the “Interview” and “Call-in” would become a regular format for Midday. Beginning in the mid-1970’s until 1992, Midday was hosted by Bob Potter, after which, Gary Eichten became the permanent host. Many guest hosts also participated over the years. During the Eichten era, Midday became a daily two-hour program staple, running from 11AM-1PM. Midday ended its run in January 2012, when long-time host Eichten retired.
November 5, 1986 - Election recap program, highlighting the results of the Minnesota legislative races. The big news of election was the DFL taking control of the State House of Representatives.
November 10, 1986 - Minnesota poet and storyteller, Robert Bly, answers listener questions about his writing and his relatively new interest in men's groups. Bly also reads some of his poetry.
November 14, 1986 - Jane Kretzmann, state director of Refugee Services and former Southeast Asian refugee Rene Pon answer listener questions about their recent trip to Thai refugee camps and implications for refugee services in Minnesota. Includes Tom Meersman report from Kampuchea and Khao-I-Dang Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand.
November 18, 1986 - Paul Loeb, author of "Hope in Hard Times: America's peace movement and the Reagan era" answers listener questions about anti-nuclear activism during a general period of defense build-ups.
November 21, 1986 - Dr. Gerold Yonas, former chief scientist at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, speaking at Minnesota Meeting. Yona’s address was on the topic "SDI: Prospects and Challenges." Minnesota Meeting is a non-profit corporation which hosts a wide range of public speakers. It is managed by the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
November 26, 1986 - Oliver Kelley came to Minnesota in the mid 1800s and founded a national farm organization called the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as The Grange. His farmstead is still operated today the way it was when he worked it.
December 2, 1986 - Richard Lawrence Garwin, the American physicist who authored the actual design used in the first hydrogen bomb (code-named Mike) in 1952, speaking at Minnesota Meeting. Garwin’s address was titled “Space Defense: The Impossible Dream,” and focuses on the SDI program. Garwin received his bachelor's degree from the Case Institute of Technology in 1947 and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1949, where he worked in the lab of Enrico Fermi. He was assigned the hydrogen bomb job by Edward Teller, with the instructions that he was to make it as conservative a design as possible in order to prove the concept was feasible (as such, the Mike device was not intended to be a usable weapon design, with tons of cryogenic equipment required for its use). Later on, while at IBM, he was the "catalyst" for the discovery and publication of the Cooley–Tukey FFT algorithm, and did research on inkjet printing.
December 8, 1986 - Arvonne Fraser, senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and Karen Fredrickson, development director of the Minnesota Women's Fund, answer listener questions about the economic status of rural women.
December 10, 1986 - On this Midday call-in program, a discussion of life on the farm in Minnesota, featuring a live satellite feed from the Curt & Shirley Pietz hog/grain farm near Lakefield, and from a cafe in town. Program also includes a farm report from MPR’s Mark Steil.
December 19, 1986 - The first part of program presents a rebroadcast of Stephen Smith’s documentary report "Shelter for the Night," which examines the plight of the homeless over a period of 12 hours in the St. Stephen's Emergency Shelter. Following documentary, Nancy Nagler, chair of St. Paul Area Coalition for the Homeless, discusses the homeless problem in Minnesota and what can be done about it. Nagler also answers listener questions.