January 12, 1981 - Roger Ledding, Minnesota state patrol chief, discusses the speed limit, safety on the road, the work of state troopers, and other issues. Ledding also answers listener questions.
January 18, 1981 - An examination of the life of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, in commemoration of his birthday.
March 11, 1981 - The Radio Project presents Vanished Voices: New Yorkers in the Thirties, part 3 (The Union Spirit). Program features workers stories of their union activities: Morse code operators, radiomen on merchant ships…and one tale relates an organized hair bobbing that was sparked by the firing of a junior nurse for showing up at work with bobbed hair.
March 23, 1981 - MPR’s Tom Meersman reports on the housing challenges — practical, cultural, governmental, and social — that refugee families face after arriving in Minneapolis. Substandard housing is among the most problematic of them all.
April 3, 1981 - MPR’s Bob Potter reports on Minnesota State Capital commitee discussion of gay rights bill in effort to add sexual orientation to the list of protected statuses in the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
April 7, 1981 - Humanist Bruce Bomier shares his views on teen sex. Bomier sees something missing in sex education…learning about relationships.
April 11, 1981 - Peter G. Peterson, former United States secretary of commerce speaking at the Women's Economic Roundtable. Peterson’s address is on the Reagan consensus.
April 25, 1981 - MPR’s Bob Potter hosts a listener commentary call-in regarding rebroadcast of NPR documentary "Father Cares: The Last of Jonestown."
May 11, 1981 - Ely’s Jackpine Bob provides commentary on disarmament and his frustration of military nuclear buildups.
May 13, 1981 - All Things Considered’s Gary Eichten talks with MPR reporter Rich Dietman about University of Minnesota hospital proposal to build largest hospital construction project in state.