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: Harold and Maude at the Westgate

In 1972, Minnesota’s Westgate Theater hit on a novel idea to compete with the large multiplex theaters being built. Play the same film, and only that film: Harold and Maude, a dark comedy that had bombed in its initial theatrical release. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: The Laurel and Hardy Collectors

Minette and David Ponick became entranced with the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy watching their films on a local Twin Cities TV station. Decades later, the couple had collected one of the largest collections of its kind anywhere. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Symphony in the Segregated South

In 1963, the symphony orchestra remained largely a privileged domain of white men. But with an upcoming tour of the American South, the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra had to decide where it stood when it came to segregated audiences. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: The Opera Prodigy and the Lumberman

In 1856, singing prodigy 13-year-old Adelina Patty made a stagecoach stop in Stillwater to perform for the lumbermen, their families and other locals. A recognized hit in St. Paul, she somehow failed to hit the right note with a Stillwater music critic. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Ingrid Bergman and the Minnesota Swedes

In 1943, the United States Office of War Information dispatched Ingrid Bergman, star of Casablanca and a native Swede, to Minnesota with a film crew to create the documentary Swedes in America. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Alonzo J. Whiteman, Professional Scoundrel

Alonzo J. Whiteman, aka, AJ Whiteman, aka the Penman, was a Minnesota legislator from Duluth. By the time he died in 1922, he was wanted in 40 cities with 43 arrests and 11 convictions to his name. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Cherry Blossom Season

In 1912, Japan gifted 3,000 cherry trees to the United States, which were planted in Washington, D.C. One hundred years later, Japan made a second gift of trees—and forty of them came to Minnesota. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Marcia, Marcia…Maureen

By the early 1980s, Maureen McCormick, oldest sister Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch, was coming off a 5-year cocaine addiction, when she met an actor from Minnesota and turned her life around. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: The Death of Medgar Evers

In 1963, Bob Dylan was a folkie with a guitar when he appeared in Greenwood, Mississippi, on the front lines of the fight for Civil Rights. At a voter registration rally, Dylan performed his new song about Mississippi NAACP director Medgar Evers, murdered the previous month. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

MN90: Keeping the Allies Afloat

In World War II, the Japanese occupation of the Pacific region cut off a precious kapok, a product of an Asian tree, used for life vests. So the Coast Guard sought an alternative for their flotation devices. An abundant supply of this material grew in Holt, Minnesota. Here’s Britt Aamodt.

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McKnight FoundationMN Legacy