A selection of programs and series throughout the decades that were broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio.
Click here for specific content for Midday, and All Things Considered.
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 24, 1986 - MPR’s Jim Bickal reports that interim Minnesota Twins Manager Tom Kelly has been named permanent manager. Announcement also included two new managerial positions in organization.
November 26, 1986 - General John Vessey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shares his views on investigation of the Iran Arms-Contra deal. He also comments on the media and concerns of blowing situation out of proportion.
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 17, 1986 - MPR’s Jim Bickal reports that the Minnesota Twins have decided against signing starter pitcher Jack Morris to a multi-year contract.
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.
December 20, 1986 - On this Sportfolio program, Libby Riddles, professional dogsledder, discusses mushing, racing weather, and dog sledding. Riddles also answers listener questions.