The Empire Builder Steps Down

Bill Kling, who founded Minnesota Public Radio and its parent company American Public Media Group, has announced he is leaving those organizations as CEO next summer to concentrate on helping to improve the fortunes of the rest of public radio.

It all began at a small FM station on a college campus just west of St. Cloud in 1967.  From there Kling began his broadcasting empire, which now covers all of Minnesota in three different formats (news, classical and The Current) and stations in such areas as northern Michigan, Miami and Los Angeles.

With APM, shows that began on MPR including Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" and Lynne Rossetto Kasper's "The Splendid Table" are now syndicated to other public radio stations nationwide. 

As for how MPR got their signals, that's another story.  In 1991, they purchased commercial station WLOL-FM and moved their classical outlet KSJN to 99.5 from 91.1, the latter signal becoming news station KNOW.  In 2005, MPR bought WCAL-FM from St. Olaf College in Northfield.  Despite protests from those who wanted MPR to keep the classical format, the station became The Current, with progressive rock programming.

Because MPR had set up so many stations and translators within the state's borders, other public stations in Minnesota were struggling for attention and dollars in the face of such dominance.

Then there's the question of whether MPR really deserves all the money they get from donors during on-air pledge drives.  For a supposedly non-profit organization, they sure made a nice chunk of change that's the envy of any corporation.  According to the 9/11/10 edition of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, APM made $105 million in fiscal year 2008, putting it at number 34 among the newspaper's ranking of the top nonprofits in Minnesota.

Kling, according to the Star Tribune, took home more than $650,000 in fiscal year 2009.  Which is about as much as the average CEO in the state earns.

Bill Kling has had his fans and detractors, but there's no arguing with the results.  That's because, thanks to Kling, MPR is public radio to most Minnesotans.  Whatever he does now can't possibly compare to what he has done here, and whoever succeeds him will be faced with the task of maintaining what he's built on.