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 18, 1998 - As part of the Our State, Our Forests series, a Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from MPR studios in Duluth, highlighting the Minnesota Northwoods. Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion/debate on forestry in Minnesota with Jim Sanders, forest supervisor for the Superior National Forest; Betsy Daub, forest program director for the Minnesota office of the National Audubon Society; and Wayne Brandt, executive vice-president for Forest Industries.
November 24, 1998 - MPR’s Kathryn Herzog presents a Mainstreet Radio report on the lack of crop diversity on many modern Minnesota farms. Some farmers and agronomists are looking for ways to bring the diversity back.
November 25, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Gretchen Lehmann profiles the Kensington Runestone…and the debate over the authenticity that has has waged on for one hundred years.
December 3, 1998 - MPR's Brent Wolfe has this Mainstreet report on the study of tundra swans. The Upper Mississippi River between Wabasha and La Crosse is a temporary home to as many as 15,000 tundra swans, as they stop off here each winter enroute from their breeding grounds along Alaska's north slope to their wintering grounds on the Chesapeake Bay.
December 7, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports that archeologists have unearthed what's thought to be a 1,000-year-old sacred site on the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation. The site contains dozens of ancient bear skulls, and predates the arrival of Ojibwe Indians to the region.
December 8, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on how various retailers are adjusting to a warm winter in the region. It’s nightmare weather if you sell snowmobiles or downhill skis for a living…but not bad if you prefer bicycling, or fishing from a boat.
December 14, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Tom Robertson attends an early morning ritual in Bemidji, as locals of Swedish descent keep the Santa Lucia tradition alive with an annual celebration said to be one of the largest of its kind in the U.S.
December 22, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio’s Kathryn Herzog on rural gang activity in Foley, Minnesota. Herzog interviews a school principal, a health consultant, and a group of students about the issue.
December 22, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Tom Robertson reports on the people behind the balsam boughs in Minnesota.
December 24, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Gretchen Lehmann reports on Wings of Mercy, a program based in St. Cloud that assists with the challenges of rural Minnesotans in finding medical care. A group of amateur pilots volunteer their time to fly rural low-income patients to hospitals in larger cities...and they do all their work for free.