Message from Bill Kling, CEO of Minnesota Public Radio, about the launch of "Connecting Minnesota"

Jan 24, 2011

Our CEO Bill Kling recently marked the 44th anniversary of MPR with a special message to all of our audiences.

From Bill Kling:

Saturday, January 22 is the 44th anniversary of the founding of MPR at St John's University. Most of you can't remember a time without MPR. And today, you have three options on radio in much of the State and dozens of MPR options online and even on your phone.

As the first employee of MPR, my job was to convince our tiny audience that it was important for them to become supporters. Some of you responded and have been supporters for more than four decades. And as more of you joined, the programming improved and became more valuable; and your support allowed us to serve more people in our region.

Saturday, January 22 is also an interesting milestone for me. This is my 44th and last anniversary as CEO. It's a year in which there are the most serious challenges in Congress I have ever seen to continued funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which was chartered the same year as MPR. And it's a time when our mission has never been more demanding or exciting.

* We plan to step up to the challenge of significantly strengthening our news gathering as we see ongoing change in commercial news media;
* We see the end of commercial classical music broadcasting occurring with the sale of stations in New York, Boston, Seattle and San Francisco in recent months. Yet, with the support of our members, we're making the commitment for an even stronger classical music service connecting our listeners with the world's greatest performances even in the tiniest towns in every corner of the State.
* Because of member support, The Current has become one of the most listened to stations of its kind. And, because of member support, we're making the commitment for an even stronger authentic new local music service.

In the midst of this change, one thing remains constant: We must continue to convince you that every listener needs to be a supporter if you expect MPR to continue to work and give us all a public media system with independence and stability. That's why we've launched a project we call Connecting Minnesota -- a goal of having 200,000 of you enrolled as contributors in the next year. That's bold -- even audacious. But it is a goal representing only a little over 20 percent of our listening audience. It's doable.

I'm looking forward to listening and reading MPR content for many years. And as I approach this personal transition, I am asking you to do one thing that some of you have yet to do. Join us and help support this service and keep it safe.

I remember opening those first envelopes with checks from members. If you think those members didn't matter, I can assure you there would be no MPR, had they not taken action. Be inspired by them. Thank you.