Podcasts about Minneapolis, Minnesota

Most of what plays for Minneapolis on this page is local radio talking about the city's own institutions, restaurants and shops. On one of these shows, Malik Rucker of V3 Sports describes a 50-meter pool in North Minneapolis with downtown in view past the starting blocks. Alongside the radio talk runs a history of the 1934 Teamsters strike, followed down to the moment police opened fire on a picket truck.

What Minneapolis is

Minneapolis is Minnesota's largest city. It sits on the Mississippi River beside Saint Paul, and together they make up the Twin Cities. Flour mills at St. Anthony Falls gave it the name Mill City. It is known now for its lakes, parks and long winters.

The strike of 1934

1934: Mill City Revolt stays with one subject, the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike. Its titles keep returning to the strike's clashes and its politics: "The Battle of Deputies' Run", "A Moment of Dual Power", "Olson's Raid".

The Bloody Friday clip rebuilds the event step by step. A scab truck with wire mesh over its windows takes on a few token cartons of groceries, and the episode says why: "This was not a serious delivery. Its purpose was to provoke." When a picket truck rams it, the police fire without warning. The episode then follows strikers into the gunfire as they pull the wounded off the street, and it names them. Other clips cover Local 574's mass rally to make Minneapolis a union town, and a National Guard raid on the local's headquarters that changed the strike's structure overnight.

Guests on KMOJ

KMOJCast, from KMOJ-89.9 FM, is a run of guest conversations with Freddie Bell, sometimes joined by Chantel Sings. Its titles keep coming back to schools, policing, health and voting. In the clips, Rucker talks about how many V3 staff come from the neighborhood. He also describes a second phase with the pool, spectator seating, a field house and courts, and says, "We deserve it." James Burroughs of Children's Minnesota connects his equity work to his teenage daughter's sickle cell disease and her need for donated blood.

Food and shopping on myTalk 107.1

Weekly Dish on MyTalk, with Stephanie March and Stephanie Hansen, keeps coming back to restaurants and local food; one title reads "4/11/26 Hr 1: Michelin in Minneapolis". In the clips, March says one midweek meal or a gift card can materially help a Minnesota restaurant. Bobby Jensen's Restaurant Rally points diners toward deals, and home bakers sell Minnesota bars for the Salt Cure Fund. One stretch of talk is about a chef named Molly who turned a struggling bistro on a bike path into Molly's, a place people now travel to.

Shop Girls on MyTalk 107.1 is Ali Kaplan and her mother Harmony talking about retail in Minnesota. Most of its clips on this page come from its farewell show. One speaker recalls the goodbyes that came after leaving the Lori and Julia show and says they only made sense once the Shop Girls left theirs. In another clip, Grant announces that Glamorama will return to the State Theater.

Room to talk

Who The Folk?! Podcast is a local Jewish conversation show in which Lonnie Goldsmith talks with educators, artists, athletes, planners and musicians. The show is measured and plainspoken, and guests get room to speak at length. In "An Evening with Peter Himmelman (Live at ModernWell)", Himmelman tells how two so-called psychics urged him to play things closer to the bone. That sent him back to a song he had written for his father, which had sat on a cassette tape. Nicole Baron's conversation stays closer to home. At Cabella in Loring Park, a bride's younger brother called himself the Bridekick, and most of her couples choose cash registries over traditional gift lists.

Where to start

• For the city's labor history: 1934: Mill City Revolt, starting with "Massacre in Minneapolis: Bloody Friday".
• For restaurants: Weekly Dish on MyTalk and its Restaurant Rally clips.
• For North Minneapolis and civic life: KMOJCast, with Malik Rucker on the V3 Center.
• For patient conversation: Who The Folk?! Podcast and its evening with Peter Himmelman.

The Minneapolis feed on this page plays clips from these shows.