MIKE EDGERLY IS GOING HOME TO KENTUCKY• BOLD LISTENING GAINS FOR MICHIGAN RADIO IN GRAND RAPIDS

Mike Edgerly

Like too many Minnesotans, we took Mike Edgerly for granted.

 Since 1991 we’ve enjoyed Edgerly’s reports, interviews and profiles on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). 

Now Edgerly is headed for Louisville, Kentucky for a great new gig at NPR News/Talk station WFPL.

WFPL is one of three stations that are Louisville Public Media. 

It is a community-based organization that has much in common with MPR. 

Edgerly will start as managing editor for WFPL’s daily news operations on February 3, 2020.

WFPL podcast

Though Edgerly's new title suits him well, expect him to play a unique role at WFPL: Leader. 

During his 27 years at MPR News, Edgerly was a role model, mentor, guide, guru and provocateur.

He influenced dozens of young journalists.

Like many listeners here in the Twin Cities, we assumed that he was a local native. 

But no, Edgerly arrived in St. Paul from Kentucky in 1991. 

His career started at NPR station WKMS while he was a student at Murray State,

Edgerly parlayed his work at NPR station WKMS into covering state government and politics at commercial news station WHAS in 1979. At WKMS he produced a series of investigative reports about Louisville’s growing homeless population. His work won a George Foster Peabody award.”

When he arrived in Minnesota, the MPR Newsroom was much, much smaller than it is now. Edgerly was a jack-of-all-trades. He produced news magazines, edited thousands of news stories and as news director, helped lead the phenomenal growth of MPR News.

MPR News is now the “news of record” for residents of the Twin Cities and the state of Minnesota. Anyone who is active in public life crosses paths with MPR News. Edgerly made important contributions to the progress.

Edgerly retired from MPR as of January 31, 2019.  He worked as a freelance writer and reporter while planning his next move.

One of the things we admire about Edgerly is his solid news judgment. At MPR, they do lots of coverage of state government and other official agencies. This news is important but it can dry as a bone. Edgerly sensed this and he picked stories that gave the facts and didn’t waste your time.

Thanks for doing such as good job here in Minnesota!

WFPL continues to perform well according Nielsen Audio’s December report. 

The December book is marketed as a “fall quarter report” because it draws from data obtained in October, November and December.

We decided to use the Fall 2019 Nielsen estimates in context with Fall 2018 and Fall 2017.

We saluted WFPK with green highlight for their gain compared to previous years. WFPK has incredible resiliency – It was one of the first stations to adopt the format.

Wow, look at this: Two great stations have major gains in AQH.  91.3 WCSG – Cobblestone Church – is where the Contemporary Christian format first caught fire.

Grand Rapids is a very important city for Ann Arbor-based Michigan Radio. Right now Michigan Radio’s repeater is solidly the top NPR station. WGVU-FM continues to gain AQH shares.  Perhaps the biggest thing to watch is whether WMUK in Kalamazoo will upgrade to become a station for all of western Michigan including GR.

NOLA’s fall quarter book shows NPR News/Talk WWOZ staying solid in AQH.  Someone must be doing some voodoo at WWOZ because their mojo is rising.

The most interesting station is WWNO’s Classical music station at 104.7.  The HD2 channel feeds the translator.