Previous page: Excellence on the Air 1, 2

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The sound of music and news and ...
Montana Public Radio has served the state for 37 years, longer even than the Public Broadcasting Act has been in existence. The service grew from humble beginnings as the R-TV department’s student training facility into a National Public Radio and Public Radio International affiliate that serves western and central Montana. (Yellowstone Public Radio, based at MSU-Billings, serves eastern Montana.) Montana Public Radio’s signal reaches about half of the state’s population — among whom 10 to 15 percent are regular listeners — via KUFM in Missoula, KGPR in Great Falls, KUHM in Helena, KUKL in Kalispell, KAPC in Butte and KUFN in Hamilton.

“Radio is a huge part of what the Broadcast Media Center does for the state,” Marcus says. “People use radio completely differently from television. It’s much more personal, more immediate.”

Listeners tune in to hear news, including NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” the “BBC World Service” and “National Native News.” They also hear an eclectic mix of music that might not otherwise get airtime in Montana on shows like “AfroPop Worldwide” and “The Thistle and Shamrock.” Other out-of-state productions include “Car Talk,” with auto advice from wacky brothers Click and Clack, and the folksy variety show “A Prairie Home Companion” hosted by Garrison Keillor.

But unlike many public radio stations, half of Montana Public Radio’s programs are produced locally. Montana news is covered in morning and evening editions from an award-winning team led by Sally Mauk and Edward O’Brien. Locally hosted musical programs run the gamut from “Dimensions in Jazz” and “Saturday Music Hall” to “Pazz and Jop” and “Jonkunnu Express,” while shows like “The Food Guys” and “Plant Detective” inform and entertain.

“We have a commitment to presenting the best of national programs and showcasing Montana talent and expertise,” Marcus says. “Some of our local jazz and blues programs rival the best in the country. And ‘The Pea Green Boat’ is the longest-running, regularly scheduled children’s program in public radio.”

Larry Pirnie's artwork was used in this year's Montana Public Radio fund-raising campaign.

Listeners respond enthusiastically to Montana Public Radio’s diverse programming. During Public Radio Week, the network’s annual fund-raiser, people offer homespun premiums ranging from cheesecake to live goats, which other listeners receive in exchange for their donations. A raft of telephone volunteers makes the fund-raiser a weeklong, on-air celebration. In April 2002, Public Radio Week brought in nearly $379,000 in pledges, which will support programming and equipment in the upcoming year.

But wait, there’s more
Montana PBS also offers public outreach through training and assistance to teachers who use PBS programs in the classroom, as well as by providing thousands of books to Montana schoolchildren. Both programs are funded by a Corporation for Public Broadcasting grant.

When he signed the Public Broadcasting Act 35 years ago, LBJ had a vision that has been realized in Montana and across the country — a vision of a public commons on the airwaves that “aims for the best in broadcasting good music, in broadcasting exciting plays, and in broadcasting reports on the whole fascinating range of human activity. It will try to prove that what educates can also be exciting.

“It will get part of its support from our government,” Johnson continued. “But it will be carefully guarded from government or from party control. It will be free, and it will be independent — and it will belong to all of our people.” V

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