Public radio receives grant

Minnesota Public Radio says it’s getting a $1.2-million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help launch a new, national weekend program the network has been planning for two years.

The aim of “Public Radio Weekend” will be to hold onto the weekday public-radio audience, which falls off dramatically on Saturdays and Sundays. The show is designed to present news, analysis, features, music and commentaries in breezy, discrete blocks so listeners can tune in and out as their leisure time permits instead of being locked into the hourlong, single-subject programs that now dominate the weekend schedule.

MPR said the injection of money from the CPB will enable the network to hire a full-time staff and start pre-production of the series, which it hopes to debut next summer or fall.