Minnesota Public Radio was founded in 1967 by Bill Kling and Colman Barry, president of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. After the first station, KSJR 90.1-FM, went on the air, Kling began building a statewide network. Here's a sampling of some early recordings found in the MPR Archive.
August 25, 1975 - MPR’s Gary Eichten interviews columnist and author Jim Klobuchar, who discusses diversity, immigration, and racism in Minnesota.
August 25, 1975 - MPR’s Gary Eichten talks with columnist and author Jim Klobuchar, who reflects on immigrants to the Iron Range and how they made their living.
August 26, 1975 - Jim Klobuchar comments on Hubert Humphrey's "bleeding heart politics" and how it affected the national picture of American politics.
August 27, 1975 - KCCM’s Bill Siemering reports on Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street" and small town life. Report includes commentary and interviews.
August 27, 1975 - Jim Klobuchar discusses local professional sports teams, specifically the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Twins, as well as the benefits of a new stadium.
September 17, 1975 - MPR’s Bill Siemering interviews Marisha Chamberlain, St. Paul's Poet in Residence, about her experience teaching poetry to mentally handicapped communities.
September 22, 1975 - Over the years, Minneapolis Star columnist Jim Klobuchar has written about virtually every aspect of life in Minnesota. MPR's Gary Eichten asks Klobuchar about some of his impressions of life in the state.
October 31, 1975 - Pro-Equal Rights Amendment attorneys Irene Scott and Mary Sfasciotti speak in Duluth to clear up misconceptions of the Equal Rights Amendment, and to explain the benefits of such a measure.
February 23, 1976 - A news feature with Rena N. Coen, art historian and author, who discusses early "exploratory" art of Minnesota's first white settlers, including a curiosity with the Native Americans.
February 24, 1976 - A news feature with art historian Rena Coen about the early artist visitors to Minnesota, including Eastman Johnson and a connection to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "Song of Hiawatha."