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Today we celebrate the 49th Anniversary of the first broadcast on KSJR 90.1 from here on the third floor of Wimmer Hall. The first words uttered by engineer Dan Rieder were, “Heed my words, Earth People. You have 10 minutes to live.”

This is the story of how Bill Kling was selected to lead the creation of what has become the largest network of public radio stations in the United States. It was written by our first intern, Ellen Newkirk.

“The Saint John’s University monks chose Bill Kling to help start their public radio station, Minnesota Education Radio (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 start 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 another live show from California. This time the gang is in San Diego at the Civic Theatre. The future host of the show, Chris Thile will join Garrison to start learning the ropes. Special guests include folk musician Gillian Welch and Heather Masse. The usual cast of characters will entertain us with a variety of skits, some of which are sure to touch on the 2016 race to the White House. The News from Lake Wobegon will wrap things up. Enjoy the show.

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of blame; a little less than his share of credit.” Arnold H. Glassgow.