January 22, 1981 - Dr. Bevan French, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s discipline scientist for planetary materials, discusses the space program. Topics include data from Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft, and the new space shuttle program. French also answers listener questions. Dr. French analyzed rocks brought back from the moon. He also helped train NASA Apollo astronauts in geology.
January 24, 1981 - On this edition of New Letters on the Air, poet-in-residence for the state of Delaware Molly Peacock reads her work.
January 25, 1981 - This portion of "Options" contains profiles of two creative men: the architect, master planner, and holistic builder Paolo Soleri; and the Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda.
January 26, 1981 - Phil Anderson, film critic and writer, speaks with Frank Capra about his career, as Capra visits the Twin Cities to be honored with a retrospective at the Minneapolis Film Festival.
January 31, 1981 - On this edition of New Letters on the Air, the late poet E.L. Mayo is profiled. Mayo is considered a poet's poet.
February 7, 1981 - On this Weekend program, Robert Dunn, of the Minnesota Waste Management Control Board, discusses waste and hazardous waste sites control in Minnesota. Topics include burial of waste and recycling options. Dunn also answer listener questions.
February 12, 1981 - Stanley Kiesel, poet in residence for Minneapolis Schools, talks with MPR’s Dan Olson about education, poetry, and his new book, The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids.
February 15, 1981 - Bill Knight of the International Revenue Service discusses federal income taxes with MPR's Mark Johnson, broadcast live.
February 16, 1981 - This program focuses on artists currently working in new areas and looks at how vanguards have formed, split, and re-formed in the last three decades. Part two of Meaning of Modernism series, this is a continuing of "Ascent of the Vanguard".
February 17, 1981 - Former Vice President Walter Mondale discusses the office of the Vice Presidency and his experience as Vice President in Northrop Auditorium at the University of Minnesota. This is the first of three speeches as part of the Mondale Lectures.