Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities

17 Unique Stations from Border to Border

MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds a fun exploration of wide-ranging topics including sports, politics, environment, business, entertainment, pop culture, and more.
MN90 is fun exploration of wide-ranging topics including sports, politics, environment, business, entertainment, pop culture, and more.

MN90: Roy Wilkins, the Civil Rights Act and LBJ

Roy Wilkins earned his professional chops as a Twin Cities journalist. But it was as an activist and director of the NAACP, says producer Britt Aamodt, that Wilkins helped change history with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

MN90: Lincoln in Private

By 2018, Ronald A. White, Minneapolis-born historian, was poring over the 135-odd notes Abraham Lincoln had written to himself. Ideas for speeches. Ruminations. Self-reproach. In 2021, White published his new book on the president using those fragments, Lincoln in Private. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Forever Winsor

When she was 18, Kathleen Winsor, born in Olivia, Minnesota, wrote down her life’s goals. One of them was to write a best-selling novel. That came true in 1944 with her historical romance Forever Amber. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Lou Grant in Spring Grove

Ed Asner played Lou Grant, the director of a fictional Minneapolis TV station, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. So it felt like something of a homecoming when the actor helmed a Spring Grove film fest in 2020. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Freedom Delegates

August 1964 – Two competing delegations from Mississippi arrived at the Democratic National Convention: the official one all-white, the unofficial Freedom Democratic Party predominantly black. Minnesota politicians Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale helped broker the unsatisfactory resolution. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: The St. Paul Hilton

St. Paul had had hotels before, but not a Hilton. September 15, 1966, the city celebrated the opening with three days of festivities. And it was presided over by the most famous hotel man in the world, 78-year-old Conrad Hilton. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: The Brother of John Wilkes Booth

In September 1887, Duluth’s Grand Opera House announced a touring Shakespeare production. One of the actors was Edwin Booth, famous Shakespearean actor—and brother of president killer John Wilkes Booth. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: In the Aftermath of Pearl Harbor

Not every West Coast American of Japanese descent was herded into an internment camp after Pearl Harbor. Some, like Ruth Tanbara and her husband Earl, were compelled to relocate to places like St. Paul, Minnesota. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Breakfast with Spock

February 1969, St. Paul’s Winter Carnival hosted an out-of-this world event: Breakfast with Spock. This cozy nosh at the St. Paul Hilton took place even as actor Leonard Nimoy grappled with the news that the network had cancelled his series Star Trek. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: From Minneapolis to the March

August 1963, 58 Minnesotans boarded a bus in the early dawn for nation’s capital. They were headed to one of the most historic events in American history, the March on Washington. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Seven Days in May

In 1961, Charles W. Bailey II was a Washington correspondent for Cowles Publications in Minneapolis when he and a fellow had an idea for a novel. Their political thriller Seven Days in May (1962) followed a rogue general and his plot to oust the president . Here’s Britt Aamodt.

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McKnight FoundationMN Legacy