American Public Media Group
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American Public Media Group (APMG), formerly Minnesota Communications Group, is the non-profit organization that is the parent of non-profits Minnesota Public Radio and Southern California Public Radio (KPCC 89.3 FM), along with the for-profit Greenspring Company, as well as MPR's Fitzgerald Theatre. Profits from the Greenspring Company are funneled through the company and used to shore up the public funding of MPR, although SCPR apparently does not receive any funding from APMG. Steven Rothschild is chairman of the organization and Bill Kling is president. American Public Media Group is ultimately a parent organization of—but distinct from—American Public Media, the distribution arm of Minnesota Public Radio that produces shows like Speaking of Faith and Marketplace and distributes A Prairie Home Companion.
APMG directly operates Public Radio MusicSource (PRMS)/Public Radio BookSource, (PRBS), A Prairie Home Companion Catalog, and The Lake Wobegon USA Store at the Mall of America. The latter two license content from MPR/APM, while PRMS/PRBS are described as "a fundraising project for public radio stations," for which PRMS distributes audio recordings made by various radio organizations around the United States, and PRBS distributes books mentioned on public radio programs. Again, money from these operations appears to feed into Minnesota Public Radio, though funds generated by PRMS/PRBS apparently get sent back to the originating organization.
Critics have complained that Minnesota Public Radio promotes content that is available through its affiliated organizations at the expense of others, though the business model has proved to work well and elements of it are being duplicated by other public radio organizations around the country.
In 2004, the combined revenue of APMG, MPR and Greenspring was US$84.9 million, making it the largest non-profit in Minnesota's arts and culture sector. [1]
