Because Public Radio Likes To Rock, Too

When Minnesota Public Radio announced that it was buying independent Twin Cities classical music broadcaster WCAL, music aficonados throughout the North Star State protested the move, viewing it as just more evidence of MPR’s secret plan for global domination. MPR took the criticism in stride, and promised to use the frequency to create a new type of non-classical music station (the network already maintains a round-the-clock classical service on another frequency) aimed at younger listeners. This week, the new format was revealed to be what MPR is calling “the antiformat”: progressive rock with an “adult” lean, drawing on a library of 500,000 albums.