MPR News editor-at-large and retired host Gary Eichten has worn many hats during his 40-plus-year career at Minnesota Public Radio, including news director, special events producer and station manager. He has served as host for Minnesota Public Radio's live, special events news coverage, and has hosted all of the major news programs on Minnesota Public Radio, including Midday, which he hosted for more than 20 years.
A graduate of St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, Eichten began his career at Minnesota Public Radio as a student announcer at KSJR (Minnesota Public Radio's first station). Among the honors Eichten has received during his career is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting award for best local news program. He also assisted in the development of two Peabody award-winning documentaries. In 2007, he was inducted into the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting's Hall of Fame. Eichten has also been awarded the prestigious 2011 Graven Award by the Premack Public Affairs Journalism Awards Board for his contribution to excellence in the journalism profession.
September 4, 2008 -
September 3, 2008 - Delegates gear up for Palin nomination. Broadcast: Midday, 09/03/2008, 7:00 p.m.After working on her speech for the last couple of days in St. Paul, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to addresses the delegates at the Republican National Convention and accept the nomination for Vice President. As part of our special convention coverage, Gary Eichten broadcasts live from the Xcel Energy Center as tonight's convention session is underway. Guests:Todd Rapp: political analyst, a Democrat. Tom Horner: political analyst, a Republican.
September 3, 2008 -
September 2, 2008 - Republican convention turns focus back on politics. Broadcast: Midday, 09/02/2008, 7:00 p.m. St. Paul, Minn. ? President Bush, who was scheduled to appear on stage in St. Paul last night, will address the delegation via satellite from the White House during the Republican National Convention tonight. Much of the convention's opening night schedule was scrubbed last night in anticipation of Hurricane Gustav. Former Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson and former democrat Joe Liberman, I-Conn., will also speaking tonight. Gary Eichten covers the convention live from the Xcel Energy Center, the site of the Republican National Convention. The political jamboree's opening day turned into a Hurricane Gustav fundraising effort as the Republican party scurried to change its convention plans amid fears of being seen to stage a political celebration while a killer storm pummels the Louisiana coast. Guests: Tom Horner: political analyst, a Republican. Todd Rapp: political analyst, a Democrat.
September 2, 2008 - Republican National Convention continues on. Broadcast: Midday, 09/02/2008, 9:00 a.m.After a scaled back first day, the Republican National Convention today will move forward and is likely to include a keynote address by New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. As part of our special convention coverage, Gary Eichten broadcasts live from the Xcel Energy Center, the site of the Republican National Convention. Guest: Steven Smith: Director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis.
September 1, 2008 - Republican Convention suspends eventsBroadcast: Midday, 09/01/2008, 9:00 a.m.It's opening day of the Republican National Convention, and it may be the last. With all eyes on Hurricane Gustav, a storm that could hit the Gulf Coast harder than Hurricane Katrina, Republicans are re-working their convention plans. As part of our special convention coverage, Gary Eichten broadcasts live from the Xcel Energy Center, the site of the Republican National Convention. Guest: Steven Smith: Director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis.
August 19, 2008 - Minnesota native L. Bruce Laingen was charge d'affaires of the American Embassy in Iran when radicals took over the building and held 52 Americans hostage from November 1979 to January 1981. Laingen is back in Minnesota to donate artifacts from that experience to the Minnesota Historical Society, and he joins Midday to talk about his experience during the hostage crisis.
August 8, 2008 - MPR’s Chris Roberts presents Making the Scene: An Oral History of Twin Cities Rock, a report tracing the evolution of the local music scene from the mid-1960s through the '90s…and through the eyes and ears of key figures from each decade.
July 17, 2008 - Midday re-broadcasts a special documentary report on the economic slowdown in Minnesota by MPR reporter Annie Baxter. Following documentary, excerpts from a UBS Forum discussion with some commentary on “economic lookouts,” offering a firsthand perspective of the effects of the slowdown.
June 18, 2008 - In a recent Twin Cities appearance, bestselling author David Sedaris read from his new book, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames." Midday broadcasts part of his reading, as well as his interview with Minnesota Public Radio reporter Nikki Tundel.