MinneCulture Podcast

Series produced by KFAI Minneapolis

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Listen to KFAI's MinneCulture podcast here:
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2rtEuJO
Stitcher: bit.ly/2q9RQXE
Radio Public: radiopublic.com/kfais-minneculture-6rOPbR

The best of KFAI's MinneCulture series.


45 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Tommy Mischke in studio, Credit: KSTP
Echoing through the late-night airwaves and disrupting the status quo of the talk format, Tommy "TD" Mischke was a thorn in the side of executives ...

  • Added: Mar 21, 2024
  • Length: 43:08
Caption: Peter Jesperson's record room, Credit: Todd Melby
Peter Jesperson is a music legend. Born in Minnesota, Jesperson was a seminal figure in the Minneapolis punk and new wave scene of the 1970's and 1...

  • Added: Feb 22, 2024
  • Length: 23:01
Caption: Workers at Concord Meat in South St. Paul, Credit: Matthew Schneeman
We often talk about meat-eating like it’s a part of our DNA. Our ancestors ate meat, and therefore, so do we. But what we have on our dinner plates...

  • Added: Jan 19, 2023
  • Length: 22:45
Caption: Eva Gay
In the late 1880s, a young journalist named Eva Valesh went undercover in Minneapolis to report on the lives of working women for the St. Paul Glo...

  • Added: Feb 16, 2023
  • Length: 18:19
Caption: Reporter Matthew Schneeman poses in front of the runestone at the Kensington Runestone Museum, Credit: Mattew Scheeman
In 1898, a farmer dug up a stone engraved with a Nordic language in a field in Kensington, Minnesota. People have been arguing about it ever since...

  • Added: Feb 02, 2023
  • Length: 25:48
Caption: Rose Cleveland and Evangeline Whipple, Credit: https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fap033
Archives tell an important story. The people in them—and the people left out—say a lot about our politics, culture, and consciousness. Today, resea...

  • Added: Apr 13, 2023
  • Length: 17:12
Caption: Animal Rescue League shelter in Golden Valley, MN. 1926., Credit: Animal Humane Society
The Minneapolis Humane Society formed in the late 1800s to protect animals — and even children — who could not speak for themselves. The early year...

  • Added: Mar 16, 2023
  • Length: 25:16
Caption: Cover of pamphlet for "Reclaiming Our Legacy": The 6th Annual Black Arts Festival presented by The African American Cultural Center. At the Martin Luther King Center, Saint Paul, Minnesota. 1983., Credit: University of Minnesota Libraries, Archie Givens, Sr. Collection of African American Literature.
Ta-Coumba Aiken and Seitu Jones are two Twin Cities-based artists that have international reputations. 40 years ago, the two were part of the vibra...

  • Added: Mar 02, 2023
  • Length: 30:48
Caption: A loon on Elbow Lake, Credit: Pam Hickman, volunteer with Birds Canada
For Minnesotans, the common loon is more than our state bird. It's a symbol of the beauty of our home. For scientists, the loon's health is also an...

  • Added: Jan 19, 2023
  • Length: 20:38
Caption: A wedge of Minnesota-made blue cheese with crackers, Credit: Tony Williams
For a few short years, St. Paul was the Blue Cheese Capital of the World. In this episode of MinneCulture, Tony Williams takes us on a tour through...

  • Added: Jun 23, 2022
  • Length: 18:18
Caption: A portrait of Mother Alfred Moes, Credit: Courtesy of Assisi Heights Archives
You may know that Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota is named after doctor WW Mayo who founded the clinic with his sons. But fewer people know of ...

  • Added: Jun 16, 2022
  • Length: 13:03
Caption: A portrait of Meridel LeSueur, Credit: Courtesy of the archives of Becka B. Tilsen
Meridel LeSueur was a herald for a populist vision of America in the first half of the 20th century, especially in the Twin Cities. Despite being s...

  • Added: Jun 02, 2022
  • Length: 17:01
Caption: With persistence, Katie Mumm found the mother and yearling moose we'd been tracking on Hungry Jack Road, up the Gunflint Trail. She photographed this pair two days later, on April 5, 2022., Credit: Katie Mumm
Minnesota's moose count is the highest it's been since 2011. But behind that encouraging number, there's a long history of decline. And the people ...

  • Added: May 25, 2022
  • Length: 22:43
Caption: An advertisement previewing the summer season of Wonderland, May 1905 , Credit: The Minneapolis Journal
The Twin Cities metro area used to be freckled with Amusement Parks. Minnesotans a hundred years ago flocked, or rode trolleys, to these parks to r...

  • Added: May 25, 2022
  • Length: 23:23
Caption: FUN collage, Credit: Dave Mruz
When Dave Mruz was three, his parents bought him a subscription to Donald Duck comics. Years later, he learned those same comics had been created b...

  • Added: Jul 19, 2021
  • Length: 18:58
Caption: James Garret Jr., Credit: 4RM+ULA
James Garrett Jr. is an architect at 4RM+ULA architects. His family has deep ties to St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood. During his childhood, James fel...

  • Added: Jul 19, 2021
  • Length: 19:20
Caption: Frederick Price, convicted of the murder of Mary Fridley Price in 1916.
The plain, uninteresting Mary Fridley Price. Not the sort of girl anyone would notice—except now she'd gone and leapt over a cliff to save her poor...

  • Added: Jul 15, 2021
  • Length: 18:43
Caption: A.B. Cassius just after he was granted a liquor license for his cafe., Credit: Hennepin County Library and the children of John Glanton
Anthony Brutus Cassius was questioned by the FBI, fought to be the first Black person in Minnesota to get a liquor license, and his famous greasy b...

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  • Added: Jul 09, 2021
  • Length: 56:32
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Artwork depicting George Floyd created by Peyton Scott Russell at 38th and Chicago Ave in South Minneapolis., Credit: Ryan Dawes
When George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day, pain and anger blasted like a shock wave across the Twin Cities and the world. ...

  • Added: Jun 30, 2020
  • Length: 24:45
Caption: Twin Cities hip-hop artist Nur-D., Credit: Ryan Dawes
We’re still social distancing. But we’re still making stuff. Some artists have changed what they make. Others have changed how they make it. KFAI’s...

  • Added: Jun 30, 2020
  • Length: 26:36