August 23, 1996 - Garrison Keillor hosts his annual “Minnesota Quiz” in MPR booth at the Minnesota State Fair. Audience members try to answer various questions about for prizes. Topics of quiz include state history, sports, weather and arts. Gary Eichten briefly closes out program.
August 26, 1996 - MPR’s John Rabe visits Minnesota autor Pete Hautman at the Minneosta State Fair to talk about pigs and his book, “Mortal Nuts.” Hautman shares how his book owes much to the Fair experience.
August 28, 1996 -
August 30, 1996 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham talks with American singer-songwriter Peter Himmelman. Songs from “Stage Diving” album are discussed, among other topics.
September 2, 1996 - Leif Enger presents Mainstreet Radio report on efforts by filmmaker John Hansen to translate Ole Edvart Rølvaag’s novel Giants in the Earth onto the big screen. It is a task that has been attempted in the past, but never realized.
September 6, 1996 -
September 9, 1996 - Part of the Voices of Minnesota series with Rhoda Gilman, historian. Arne Fogel on Billie Holiday and Odd Jobs - motorcycle patrol officer. Hour 2.
September 9, 1996 - MPR’s John Rabe interviews Irish poet Seamus Heaney, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Heaney speaks about the importance of radio in his life. Heaney also reads numerous poems.
September 11, 1996 - In connection with a local visit of the King and Queen of Sweden, Midday features a program about Sweden and Swedish immigrants to Minnesota. Studio guest is Mariann Tiblin, of the University of Minnesota; and phone guest is professor Byron Nordstrom of Gustavus Adolphus College. Tiblin and Nordstrom talk about Scandinavians and history on settlement in region.
September 12, 1996 - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and Nobel Prize winner, speaks at Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis for the annual Global Voices Lecture series. Heaney reads numerous poems during speech.