July 1, 1996 - Imation, a data corporation, is starting a new life as an independent company in Oakdale. MPR’s Gary Eicthen interviews Dennis Farmer, vice president for Marketing at Imation about the organization and its future.
July 3, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger visits the central Minnesota town of Crosby, which is having a comeback of sorts…from prospering former mining town to bustling “antique” town. Those windows now contain 40 antique stores. Locals are hoping the recovery expands to other businesses for community.
July 11, 1996 - On July 11, 1996, Land O'Lakes celebrated its 75th anniversary with a gala celebration at its corporate headquarters with a VERY special guest. Culinary guru Julia Childs traveled to Arden Hills to celebrate the dairy products company's big day by, among other things, milking a cow. MPR's John Rabe was on hand to record the event…and even gets a cooking tip.
July 16, 1996 - Midday examines workplace changes into the next century with guest Jeremy Rifkin, noted social critic and author of The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era. Rifkin discusses politics, manufacturing, farming, corporations, and also answers listener questions.
August 6, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter visits the last remaining tugboat company in the Duluth Superior harbor. For more than 150 years, big ships have sailed the Great Lakes, from state to state and out to the sea. For nearly as long, little tugboats have helped the great freighters in and out of harbors, broken ice for them in winter, and rescued boats in emergencies.
August 7, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe visits the Great Lakes School of Log Building, where students learn the basics of log construction by doing it. The only full time, year round log building school in the country operates out of the woods near Ely in northeastern Minnesota.
August 19, 1996 - This hour of Midmorning features Voices of Minnesota segments with David Lanegran, an urban geographer; a Minnesota Twins update, including interviews with players Frank Rodriguez, Scott Stahoviak, and Paul Molitor; and an Odd Jobs piece on mussel transport.
September 2, 1996 - On this segment of Voices of Minnesota, MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Mary Foster Rosenthal, a local labor union advocate. Rosenthal is a political organizer for the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council, AFL-CIO.
November 4, 1996 - Hour 2 of Midmorning featuring Voices of Minnesota with Lee Lynch, Minneapolis ad man of Carmichael Lynch. Also, Ambassador Franklin Sonn and Elizabeth Mische on voting.
November 8, 1996 - MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports on the Minnesota Twins and its allies looking to push lawmakers at the Minnesota State Capitol for a news stadium, the team going so far as to give a year’s notice as a warning on future of team in the state.