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After 39 years of gracing Minnesota Public Radio’s airwaves, Perry Finelli will present his last newscast Wednesday evening. 

The veteran broadcaster is retiring after five decades in the business. Finelli joined Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer for an exit interview. Listen to their conversation spanning Finelli’s start in radio during high school, intense days like the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and what motivated him to stay in news despite its challenges. 

The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

39 years at MPR, but 50 in the business. How did you get started? 

I grew up in Princeton, Minn. A little town north of here. My father was a teacher, but he was the sports director for the local radio station. And I had an in, and he got me a job as a part-time disc jockey, news guy — and I did all that back when I was still in high school until I went off to college. And it was a great way to start because it felt like when I got to St. Cloud State University I was ahead of the game, because I had actually done real-life reporting, and newscasting and disc jockeying. You learn a lot of theory in college, but I felt like I already knew most of it. So I thought, hey, this is great. It’s been just about 50 years of doing this and it’s been wonderful. 

Small-town radio stations were the backbone of a community 

It was. You did everything, you really did. You changed the tape in the old Associated Press wire services. And I feel like it’s kind of real radio, grassroots radio. These days it’s harder to find but it’s a great way to start. 

However, you started in TV, not radio out of college. What made you switch? 

It was a great experience. Wanted to do something different and was looking to get back to Minnesota. And there was a little ad in the St. Cloud Times advertising for an MPR reporter, and I gave them a call, checked it out. 39 years later, here I am. 

Yes. I mean, it was tough. I enjoy them both. They’re different. With TV, you work with a lot of other people to put on a show, whereas in radio a lot of the time you’re individual. But they’re very similar. Broadcasting is broadcasting. Writing is writing. The talent it takes to do that is pretty much the same. I don’t think there was one I preferred over the other. They both just fit. 

There’ve been huge technological changes in broadcasting. 

I think we both know that it’s easier today because of the technology. That splicing you had to do. You took old carts and had to record the AP cuts. It was a lot more labor-intensive. But broadcasting at its core is still the same. It’s about the writing, it’s about the delivering, it’s about the connection. 

Tell me about filling in on Morning Edition on Sept. 11, 2001.

I just remember, at first, everybody else had the TVs and you saw that there was something happening. I think at first we thought there was a fire in a restaurant or something. We had no idea of the magnitude of that day. You didn’t know what was happening. You had to go from scratch. 

We had a colleague here whose daughter was working in New York, and he said, “Well I can get a hold of her.” And we talked to her and got this eyewitness account of the very, very early stages. But it was chaotic. You just kind of go with what you know. It was a day, like for so many people, that you never forget. 

Meet the MPR News newscasters 

People ask me that a lot. I think I’m fortunate that it doesn’t really bother me. You have to plow forward. The audience expects you to be on top of the story. They want the information and they’re going to process it in their own way. So I don’t think you really have time to process it yourself. Sure, I think about things in my downtime, but I never felt like it really bothered me too much. It’s part of your job. 

It’s not all doom and gloom. What was the most fun part of the job for you? 

I did some reporting early on, and of course it was fun to get out and meet people and do the fun stories, do the hard news. I’ve always been most comfortable in the studio being the person that collates all the news. I like to take kind of a big picture on what’s happening. I’m a news junkie, so I like to know a little bit of things about a lot. Fast-breaking news, thinking on your feet, I think people who are working hard news, fast news, it’s part of the game. 

The job gives you a front-row seat to life. 

It’s been very rewarding. It’s hard to think about not doing it. I’ll always be a news junkie. There’s no doubt about that. Following the news has just been something I’ve always done, always wanted to do. A lot of my downtime is just spent on scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, seeing what’s going on around there. I don’t know if you really ever stop doing it. 

Perry Finelli

Cathy Wurzer

Host

Guest

Gracie  Stockton

Author

Perry Finelli joined Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer for an exit interview. Listen to their conversation spanning Finelli’s start in radio during high school, intense days like the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and what motivated him to stay in news despite its challenges. 

Exit interview: Newscaster Perry Finelli retiring after 39 years at MPR

‘A broadcaster’s broadcaster.’ Newscaster Perry Finelli retiring after 39 years at MPR

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