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Good morning from Collegeville,

Yesterday we had a “thank you luncheon” for Ellen Newkirk. Ellen has been our student intern for three years and she is graduating May 11th. It was Ellen who wrote the submission letter recommending the original telegram dated January 20, 1967 authorizing KSJR to go on the air as one of the “10 objects” to represent the history of the St. Cloud area. The telegram was chosen. Ellen is a cousin of Marty Mahowald who shared the following story at our last RDAC meeting. This is Ellen’s submittal for today’s “Friday Note”. Enjoy.

“The Saint John’s University monks chose Bill Kling to help run their fledgling public radio station (which would later become MPR) because of his “bright mind” – literally. SJU graduate Marty Mahowald shares the story of Bill Kling’s selection as the station’s leader told by his professor at Saint John’s in the 1970s, Fr. Gunther Rolfson. According to Fr. Gunther, in the 1960s, Saint John’s had a mandatory lights-out policy at 10 pm when the faculty residents would flip a switch that turned off all power on each floor of the residence halls. However, one evening Fr. Gunther took a walk around campus after he and several other monks were struggling to come up with someone to run the radio station, when he noticed a light illuminating a single room in Benet Hall.

The next day, Fr. Gunther used a master key to enter the room and found a system rigged by the student to keep the power on after the switch was flipped each night. The room belonged to Bill Kling. Eventually, the monks decided Kling’s innovative and determined spirit was just what they needed for their new endeavor. According to Mahowald, “He (Fr. Gunther) said that they knew that as a fledgling business that it would have struggles, budget challenges and many other issues to deal with and it would take someone with a lot of moxy to lead it through to success.”
It turned out to be a very successful decision; Kling served as president of MPR until 2010 and created one of the greatest public radio stations in the country. “
Ellen Newkirk, CSB, Class of 2013.

The APHC show this week is live from the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia. Special guests include Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, the U.S. Fleet Forces Band, Rob Fisher, Robin and Linda Williams, Joe Newberry and the DiGiallonardo Sisters. The Royal Academy of Radio Actors will join the fun. Enjoy the show, and remember if you miss it, you can listen anytime online at www.prairiehome.org

Tonight is the Grand Opening of the Gallery Saint Germain starting at 6 PM. The new gallery is located across the street from The Paramount Theater. See you there.

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.” G.K. Chesterson