Classical radio station receives anonymous $56 million gift
NewsThey were opening he mail one morning at Minnesota Public Radio when they found a $56 million cheque — or something of the sort.
‘It’s really going to allow us to bring classical music to a lot more people,’ said MPR President Duchesne Drew.
MPR’s annual budget is $117 million. It employs some 700 staff.
Any terms and conditions?
Conditional: No more Pachelbel canon.
I was curious as well, but it seems from local news reports that the gift is well-structured so that it addresses the core mission of the station and its longterm stability.
“The donation will go into a separate endowment that will exist in perpetuity, allowing MPR to withdraw 5% of the money each year, or about $2.8 million, Drew said.
The money will help bolster digital tools and skills to expand classical music to new audience members and be used to increase staffing, especially people of color, who have been vastly underrepresented in the classical music field.”
We need William Osborne to chime in.
Sounds like money laundering. They should return it.
Speaking as a layman in both classical music and public radio, I was astonished at MPR’s budget and its number of employees.
What do 700 people do to transmit and promote classical music?
Who do they think they are, the BBC? Though these days I daresay even the Beeb has had to rein in its over-manning.
It is not just classical music. They have news stations, national shows , streaming services and their impact is nation wide.
Well it probably wasn’t Garrison Keillor.
A well-known NPR fact: Garrison Keillor started out as a classical announcer.
Minnesota Public Radio has a bigger impact than the upper Mid West. They program Performance Today, own MarketPlace and , from the article in today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune, the $56 million will be in an endowment with a 5% annual draw and the main focus of the funds will be for classical music .
They’re a terrific organization, producing a lot of great material for U.S. public radio stations nationwide.
MPR produces many great programs for national distribution, including the marvelous organ music program “Pipe Dreams”, hosted by the talented Michael Barone.