Created in 1987, Mainstreet Radio held a mission of reporting specifically from rural Minnesota to all of Minnesota. With an introductory staff of Rachel Reabe, Leif Enger, and John Biewen, the group developed both long and short form news features as part of MPR Journal and Morning Edition broadcasts. As the years progressed, Mainstreet Radio expanded both in reporter contributions and programming, with memorable work from the likes of Mark Steil and Catherine Winter, amongst others. Beginning in the 1990s, Mainstreet Radio presented a monthly two-hour special, focusing on issues outside the Twin Cities metro. The varied Mainstreet Radio programming ran into the mid-2000s.
Mainstreet Radio presented a breadth of topics, providing an avenue for individuals from all walks of life to be heard. These efforts garnered numerous journalistic awards, including 65 national and regional awards in its first 10 years (1987-97).
Award-winning material in “special programs,” “series,” or “documentary” categories include Meth in Minnesota; Against the Grain; Dancing on Beat: Portrait of a Reservation Family; After the Flood; An Education in Diversity; Rekindling the Spirit: The Rebirth of American Indian Spirituality; Wilderness Truce: Ely 10 Years Later; Making the Grade: Rural schools the work; The Rural School Challenge; Broken Trust: Civil Rights in Indian Country; Gold: New Prospects on the Iron Range; and Articles of Faith.
Award-winning material in the category of “reporting” include Frog Music; Pumpkinland; Four Winds Treatment Center; Deer Hunting Weekend; Border Check for Poachers; Mille Lacs Fishing Launch; Loon Habitat; House Call Doctor; Geritol Frolics; Cartwright's Calendar; Ice-Fishing on Mille Lacs; Mercury Fillets; and A Place for the Wolf.
November 10, 1995 - Midday presents a Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Starbuck, Minnesota. Host Mark Steil looks back at the farm crisis of the 1980s. Program includes a chronology of the crisis, commentary from an economist, and various interviews of farmers and officials on the experience.
December 9, 1995 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger profiles mincemeat, and the lack of love for it in contemporay American appetite. Enger looks at the history of this unique pie.
December 26, 1995 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger profiles Erling Nicolai Rolfsrud, and highlights the North Dakota author’s last incomplete book, “Close the Door Gently.” Enger visits his wife, Beverly, who reminisces about their life and work.
January 26, 1996 - On this special Mainstreet Radio version of Midmorning from Bemidji, a collection of segments on Native, historic city, and literary topics in the region.
February 2, 1996 - MPR’s Leif Enger reports on new cold temperature record in Embarrass…and the MANY unofficial records. The extremely low temperatures are about everything from “bragging rights” to business opportunities.
February 5, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe profiles Maud Hart Lovelace and her Betsy-Tacy books, which present nostalgic stories about growing up in turn-of-the-century Mankato. As part of report, Reabe talks with Louise King and Kathy Baxter, of the Twin Cities based Maud Hart Lovelace Society, about the resurgence in interest of ten book series.
February 16, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter profiles Minnesota carpenter John Harren. The Warroad resident makes the long narrow sled for Canadian hunters and trappers in the far north of Canada.
February 16, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on "King of the Hill" toughman contest has sparked an uproar on the White Earth Reservation in northwestern Minnesota. The event is like boxing, except that anyone can enter…and as the ads say, the last one left standing wins $5,000. With that sort of incentive, the fight card filled quickly, but opponents of the contest say there's enough violence on the Reservation, without paying for more.
February 23, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports on new prison in Waseca, Minnesota. The former college campus has been developed into a low security federal correctional institution, but not without concerns from some local residents who see it as detrimental to community and property values.
February 23, 1996 - On this special Mainstreet Radio version of Midmorning from Crosby, a panel discussion on education and public choice in the region. Rachel Reabe interviews educators Bob Bross, superintendent of schools in Brainerd; and Duck Thomas, school board member in Le Sueur, about school choice and its potential impact to public schools.