July 26, 1988 - Morning Edition’s Loren Omoto interviews Arne Carlson, Minnesota’s state auditor, about his announcement on running for governor two years before the actual election. Carlson says he believes that his centrist views of being fiscally conservative while pushing for better state education will sit well with his fellow republicans.
July 3, 1987 - MPR host Loren Omoto invites fellow staff Jim Bickal and Mike Mulcahy to partake from a can of Spam for the first time. It is an underwhelming experience.
June 1, 1987 - MPR’s Loren Omoto presents profile on The Beatles “Sergeant Pepper’s Club” album, and it’s influence in the Twin Cities. MPR’s Jim Bickal talks with Rod Eaton, drummer of T.C. Atlantic, who shares how that Beatles album affected the “The Minneapolis Sound” in the late sixties.
May 15, 1987 - Minneapolis writer Sheila B. Richter is winner of the 1987 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a prize where writers try to write the worst first sentence. MPR’s Loren Omoto reads the “honored” short composition.
April 10, 1987 - MPR’s Loren Omoto reports on Radio Best Awards event held in St. Paul. Segment includes a recipient speech clip by Garrison Keillor, one of the honorees.
April 7, 1987 - Howard Sinker, sports commentator for the Minneapolis Star & Tribune, provides a promising outlook that a potentially “good” Minnesota Twins team will take the field during 1987 MLB season. Topics include new manager in Tom Kelly and quality of player roster.
December 10, 1986 - On this Midday call-in program, a discussion of life on the farm in Minnesota, featuring a live satellite feed from the Curt & Shirley Pietz hog/grain farm near Lakefield, and from a cafe in town. Program also includes a farm report from MPR’s Mark Steil.
November 17, 1986 - MPR’s Loren Omoto interviews Anne Kaplan, co-author of the The Minnesota Ethnic Food Book. Kaplan details of the cultural importance of varied foods and and history behind ethnic traditional dishes.
November 11, 1986 - MPR’s Loren Omoto talks with William H. Hull, author of All Hell Broke Loose: Experiences of Young People During the Armistice Day 1940 Blizzard. Hull details the time period and recollections of those that lived through the storm.
May 30, 1986 - As Minnesota Press Club prepares to host a publisher and writers conference, MPR’s Loren Omoto interviews local writer Will Shetterly about the conference and discusses the history of The Scribblies, a group of local fantasy and science fiction writers that came together in 1981 to develop their writing talents.