Mainstreet Radio began in 1987, with an introductory member staff of Rachel Reabe, John Biewen and Leif Enger, whose mission was reporting from rural Minnesota to all of Minnesota. It first appeared as part of MPR Journal and Morning Edition broadcasts, providing both long and short form news features. In the years following, Mainstreet Radio expanded both in reporter contributions and programming. Starting in the 1990’s, Mainstreet Radio presented a monthly two-hour special, focusing on rural issues. Important regional topics included the environment, economy, and health matters outside the Twin Cities metro.
Mainstreet Radio has won numerous journalistic awards, including for the programs “Meth in Minnesota” and “The Rural School Challenge.”
The MPR Archive contains some content that may be harmful or difficult to view. These and all items across MPR’s history are preserved and made available to the public as a historical record. As a result, some of the materials presented here may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions due to pervasive systemic intolerance. In addition, some interviews and recordings relate to violent, triggering, or graphic events which are preserved for their historical significance.
If you discover harmful or offensive language in catalog records and metadata on the Archive Portal, please contact us through the form above. The MPR Archive is committed to using inclusive, antiracist, non-derogatory language when creating catalog records and describing our collections. However, we acknowledge that some of our descriptions contain language that is euphemistic, racist, homophobic, sexist, ableist or that demeans the humanity of the people we describe. We are dedicated to correcting those records as we find them, and we ask you to contact us if you have encountered any harmful language in any of our catalog records.
We acknowledge that we are often describing communities of which we are not a part, and many of these communities are historically marginalized and underrepresented in the archives. We recognize our responsibility to describe our collections and their creators respectfully and carefully. We also recognize that we may sometimes fail and are committed to a process of constant learning, reflection, and improvement.
October 19, 1987 - Mainstreet Radio-Brainerd’s John Biewen presents the October Pumpkinland events at Kopischke farm, in Vernon Center. Biewen interviews farm owner Gordie and Dorothy Kopischke.
October 28, 1987 - Mainstreet Radio-Brainerd’s Rachel Reabe profiles Four Winds Lodge Treatment Center, a culturally based Native American chemical dependency treat program. Reabe highlights the annual sobriety pow-wow through various sounds and interviews.
February 8, 1988 - Mainstreet Radio’s John Biewen follows along doctor Alan Fleischmann in Caledonia, a town in southeastern Minnesota. Fleischmann practices small town medicine and makes house calls, something many in community feel are all too important.
April 29, 1988 - A special Mainstreet Radio call-in program from KSJR, in central Minnesota. Program highlights the concern over problems of rural school districts. Rachel Reabe interviews Irvin Bjerga of Motley, Minnesota; Kathy Berger of Mountain Iron-Buhl School District; and Congressman Glen Anderson of Bellingham, Minnesota.
May 10, 1988 - Mainstreet Radio's Rachel Reabe profiles a senior variety act in Brainerd, called “Geritol Frolics.” Reabe speaks with a dancer and group’s theatre director.
May 16, 1988 - Mainstreet Radio-Brainerd’s Leif Enger rides along for the day for group fishing launch onto Mille Lacs Lake with Joe Fellegy, a local historian, musician, writer and fishing expert. Report includes various interviews.
October 17, 1988 - Mainstreet Radio-Brainerd’s Leif Enger reports on increased law enforcement efforts to protect wildlife from over-hunting and poaching.
September 8, 1989 - MPR’s John Biewen presents “Dancing on Beat: Portrait of a Reservation Family,” an inside look at the lives of a Native American family on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. Following documentary, MPR’s Bob Potter interviews Mike Bongo, director of American Indian OIC in Minneapolis, about his thoughts about documentary.
September 8, 1989 - Mainstreet Radio’s John Biewen presents the documentary “Dancing on Beat: Portrait of a Reservation Family,” which follows an Ojibwe family on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.
December 27, 1989 - A Mainstreet Radio special from southwestern Minnesota town of Madison. MPR’s John Biewen presents a documentary entitled, "We're Not Dying," which highlights how the town survived the 1980’s farm crisis. Across the farm belt, the 1980s were the most difficult decade in a half-century. One farm in ten went out of business in the decade. Farming towns suffered as well, losing population, schools, and businesses. Madison was no exception to those challenges. Program includes various interviews of residents, who share their memories on the upheavals of crisis and thoughts on their uncertain future.