MPR Journal was a daily half-hour regional news program, hosted by Gary Eichten, airing from 1984 until 1991. The program was initially titled Minnesota Journal, but in early 1985 changed to MPR Journal.
April 4, 1986 - MPR’s Beth Friend profiles Minnesota writer and performer Kevin Kling. Segment includes an interview with Kling about his plays and on pushing stage boundaries.
April 8, 1986 - MPR’s Stephen Smith reports that Minnesota Stata Auditor Arne Carlson is dropping out of gubernatorial race. Issues raising money and a crowded field of possible candidates, including Dave Jennings, played into Carlson’s decision.
April 11, 1986 - MPR Journal’s Gary Eichten catches up with MPR reporter Mike Mulcahy on the status at Austin Hormel plant after a day of brief violence between strikers and police. A demonstration blocking the road to plant devolved into a conflict between strikers, workers, and local police.
April 29, 1986 - Jim Gasperini, the base camp manager for the Steger expedition. Gasperini shares with MPR’s Gary Eichten how they are tracking group and concerns of open water near North Pole.
June 2, 1986 - On this cover story of MPR Journal, a look at possible end of the nine month Hormel strike in Austin, Minnesota. MPR reporter Mike Mulcahy provides details of Federal District Court Judge Edward Devitt’s injunction on United Food and Commercial Workers Union local P-9, effectively ending strike. Even with court decision, some strikers are determined to continue fight against Hormel officials.
June 27, 1986 - MPR’s Beth Friend profiles Ann Miller, a local romance writer. Miller details the varying types of the genre, from category romance writing to mainstream fiction. Miller’s novel, Notorious, is highlighted in Good Housekeeping magazine.
July 30, 1986 - MPR’s Beth Friend reports on staging of John Olive's Short Stories and Tall Tales. The performers, Kevin Kling and James Lawless discuss the work.
August 1, 1986 - Ed Wahlberg, a striking steelworker leader at U.S. Steel taconite plant in the Mesabi Iron Range, talks about the misleading public perception regarding wages at plant.
August 11, 1986 - MPR Journal’s Gary Eichten interviews Dave Bishop, District 33B Minnesota House representative, about his concerns on backlog of Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
August 28, 1986 - MPR Journal’s Gary Eichten interviews Larry Williams, a Twin Cities cab driver, about the danger and difficulty of driving a taxi cab.