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.
October 13, 1999 - Midday presents a Mainstreet Radio special program to discuss shipping on Lake Superior. Hosted at the Canal Park Maritime Museum in Duluth, Rachel Reabe speaks with guest panelists, including executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, a ship captain with the Western Great Lakes Pilots Association , and a ship agent with Guthrie-Hubner. Panelists also answer listener questions.
October 13, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio's Leif Enger shipped aboard a Bulgarian tramp freighter as it departed for Italy with a load of North Dakota wheat. Enger presents an understanding of sailor life aboard.
October 13, 1999 - Midday presents a Mainstreet Radio special program to discuss shipwrecks on Lake Superior. Hosted at the Canal Park Maritime Museum in Duluth, Rachel Reabe speaks with guest panelists, including director of The Maritime Museum, an underwater photographer, a Maritime historian, and founder of the Great Lake Shipwreck Preservation Society. Panelists also answer listener questions.
November 8, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the VA Medical Center in St. Cloud for a pre-Veterans Day show. In this first hour of program, host Rachel Reabe and guests focus on the health care system and the increasing demands on the system as our vets grow older.
November 8, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the VA Medical Center in St. Cloud for a pre-Veterans Day show. In this second hour of program, host Rachel Reabe and guests discuss veterans organizations, such as American Legion or VFW posts. The group talk about the impact of these organizations on the community, and their evolution over time.
December 8, 1999 - Mainstreet Radios Leif Enger reports from Pierz, where more than half the employees of a small nursing home in the central Minnesota community have been on strike for weeks. At issue - How to divide a wage-and-benefit increase granted by the state.
December 10, 1999 - In December 1998, a massive blast resulted in four deaths, about a dozen injuries and the displacement of several downtown St. Cloud businesses. Mainstreet Radio's Marisa Helms reports on the varied potential plans for developing site of the explosion that became an empty square piece of land in the heart of the city's downtown business district.
December 20, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio's Leif Enger shipped aboard a Bulgarian tramp freighter as it departed for Italy with a load of North Dakota wheat. As the last ship of the season departed Duluth early in the morning, the St. Lawrence Seaway's 40th season draws to a close.
December 30, 1999 - David and Johanna Hecker are devout Christians who have been living for 22 years in Northeast Minnesota, on land they call God's wilderness. When they heard about the anticipated problems with Y-2-K, they advertised, offering to sell land to other Christian, home-schooling families, and help build cabins to avoid any millennial disruptions. Visitors arrived from all over the country. But as Mainstreet Radio's Amy Radil reports, things haven't quite worked out as the Heckers hoped.
February 29, 2000 - A Mainstreet Radio special about life and death. Host Rachel Reabe broadcasts from The Waterford, a retirement community in Fargo. In this second hour, Reabe talks with medical and legal experts about quality end-of-life care, logistics of expenses, and addressing personal affairs.