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Classical Minnesota Public Radio wins third consecutive national Award for Creative Excellence for classical music programming

October 3, 2008

Classical Minnesota Public Radio received its third consecutive Award for Creative Excellence at the Public Radio Program Directors (PRPD) annual national conference, which recently took place in Los Angeles, Calif.

The award recognizes Classical Minnesota Public Radio's classical broadcasts based on announcer breaks, short interviews and promotional segments from regional on-air hosts.

With strong regional listenership and audience numbers steadily climbing, Director of Classical Music Programming Gayle Ober says that the station has a winning formula. "We have a strong audience for classical music—people who are well served by passionate, personable hosts who bring this music to life through compelling stories and connections to everyday events."

Judges for the Classical Music Programming category commented that "All of the elements presented here work very well together. You can hear the care and attention that is paid to the content and all of the announcers; there is a great sense of station and sound. The station clearly pays attention to every part of the broadcast day."

Judges further commented on MPR's "intelligent, authoritative hosts who are concerned, first and foremost, not with impressing their listeners, but with communicating with them in a clear and congenial manner."

As part of American Public Media, Classical Minnesota Public Radio is the largest producer and distributor of classical music programming in the United States. It is broadcast on stations throughout Minnesota and the surrounding region and is streamed online at www.mpr.org/classical. It is also the home of five nationally distributed classical music programs, including Performance Today®, SymphonyCast® and Pipedreams®, which reach 4.1 million people each week, plus two Peabody Award-winning series, American Mavericks and The MTT Files.

PRPD is a vital part of the public radio community with a membership that includes almost 200 stations, as well as both national networks and independent producers. More information is available at www.prpd.org.

Minnesota Public Radio® operates a 38-station radio network serving virtually all of Minnesota and parts of surrounding states and produces programming for radio, Internet and face-to-face audiences. Programs produced by Minnesota Public Radio's parent company, American Public Media,™ reach more than 15 million listeners nationwide each week. Of those, nearly 800,000 listen regionally, in Minnesota and surrounding states. A complete list of stations, programs and additional services can be obtained at www.mpr.org.

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Source: Data are copyright Arbitron, Inc., Nationwide and PSA data. Arbitron data are estimates only. Spring 2007/Fall 2007 average

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Press Contacts:
Jennifer Haugh
Minnesota Public Radio
651-290-1369
jhaugh@mpr.org