MPR News journalist, storyteller Euan Kerr calls it a career after 40 years on the air
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A friendly voice with a Scottish accent that’s been familiar to Twin Cities radio listeners for decades is departing the airwaves.
Longtime reporter and editor Euan Kerr is retiring after nearly 40 years at MPR News. His last day is Friday.
A gifted storyteller, Kerr’s journalistic career has been driven by a natural curiosity about the world and a knack for connecting with people.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Kerr grew up and attended school in the capital of Edinburgh. He admits to being oblivious to the city’s wonders, even as he waited to transfer school buses in the shadow of the famous Edinburgh Castle.
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“At the time, I thought it was the world’s most boring place, and I couldn’t wait to leave,” he said. “Of course, now I go back and think, ‘I was so lucky and didn’t appreciate it.’”
Kerr attended the University of Stirling in Scotland, where he worked as a DJ at the university’s radio station during the punk era.
“We played lots of songs with bad words in them and all that good stuff, which was a lot of fun,” he said. “But eventually I got bored, and I wanted to tell stories.”
Kerr came to the U.S. to work at a summer camp in northwestern Wisconsin, called Camp Nebagamon. There, he met his future wife, Jane, and ended up staying. They will soon celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
Kerr recalls listening to Minnesota Public Radio early on and hearing a mix of local and national news and programs, and feeling like it was “a magical place doing magical work.”
celebrates editor Euan Kerr’s 40 years at MPR News as he retires“It just seemed like this was the right place for me — telling stories about everyday people, about important issues, quite often not-so-important issues, and just helping the world tick over a little bit,” he said.
In 1985, Kerr got a job at MPR as a research assistant to legal affairs reporter Deborah Fisher. He then became a reporter and covered Minneapolis City Hall for several years, writing about colorful local politicians including Mayor Don Fraser and police chief Tony Bouza.
“It was just fascinating to be hanging out and watching this happening, going to the city council meetings, meeting people who were shaping the way that the city was going, but also hearing people who were very upset about what was going on,” Kerr said. “Everyone was a character.”
In 1990, Kerr returned to Scotland and worked for BBC News. When he came back to Minnesota two years later, he served as news director for KFAI, a community radio station in Minneapolis.
When it looked like the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra might go on strike, Kerr stepped in for MPR’s arts correspondent, who was on leave.
The strike didn’t happen, but Kerr stuck around, eventually becoming an editor for MPR’s regional team. He helped cover major stories, including U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone’s death in a plane crash and two major Red River floods.
He later became MPR’s arts correspondent, covering music, theater, dance, film and visual arts.
“People talk about the art scene in Minnesota as being very good, but it’s more than good,” Kerr said. “The amount of things that are happening here, the institutions that are here, it’s extraordinary. The challenge is there’s so much — how to get to it all.”
Kate Smith, a longtime MPR News editor who worked with Kerr, describes him as one of the most natural-born storytellers she’s ever met, partly due to his Scottish accent.
“The first time I heard his words come out of his mouth, I just thought, ‘Oh, I could listen to you forever,’” Smith recalls.
But it’s also his understanding of the cadence of storytelling, Smith said, and knowing that every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end.
“Working with a reporter who has that DNA is like dying and going to heaven, because he gets it,” she said.
Kerr twice traveled overseas with the Minnesota Orchestra, to South Africa in 2018 and Cuba in 2015, after President Barack Obama loosened travel restrictions to that island nation.
A decade later, Kerr still gets emotional when he recalls the audience’s reaction when the orchestra launched into the Cuban national anthem.
“There was just this moment of confusion in the hall, because apparently they don’t play the national anthem very often,” he said. “Half the audience stood up and then the rest stood up, and people were openly weeping.”
Kerr and longtime colleague and program director, Stephanie Curtis, share a passion for movies. They frequently chatted about movies they’d recently seen over their cubicle walls.
One day, producer Chris Roberts suggested they record their lively banter. The result was “Cube Critics,” a weekly feature where Kerr and Curtis discussed new releases, independent films or old classics.
“We were very lucky in that we could just choose the stuff that we were really interested in,” Kerr said.
Kerr is known for mentoring other journalists. He and Jane are longtime supporters of the Twin Cities-based World Press Institute, which brings international journalists to the U.S. to learn about media, culture, politics and press freedom.
Kerr has served as a host and a guide for the foreign journalists as they traveled throughout the U.S. and toured the Twin Cities, said David McDonald, executive chair of the WPI board of directors.
“He's always there and entertaining people, and explaining Minnesota as we go along,” McDonald said.
Smith said Kerr informally mentored journalists throughout his career, and continues to keep in touch with professional colleagues and friends he’s met all over the world.
“Euan has this way of constantly reminding me that the world's a bigger place than the Upper Midwest or the United States of America, because of his lived experience,” she said. “And, holy cow, I think that's important today.”
While Kerr’s voice is easily recognized, it’s his “unabashed passion for exceptional journalism” that will leave a lasting impact at MPR News, said Jane Helmke, executive editor.
“He mastered the art of writing and producing that puts listeners in the heart of every story,” Helmke said. “More importantly, he shared his skills with everyone and continues to teach and mentor in the newsroom every day.”
Kerr said he’s looking forward to having more time to spend with his family, including a new granddaughter. He also plans to travel and catch up on reading books.
He’ll also have more time for curling, a Scot-invented sport he started playing as a teenager. Kerr calls it “a pointless, silly game,” but also a great escape.
“It just takes you away,” he said. “You can forget about the troubles of your world and spend time with other people, who are equally as obsessed with doing this ridiculous thing.”
Kerr said he won’t miss the stress of deadlines, or trying to keep up with constantly changing news and updating it on multiple platforms. But he said he will miss the people, and the storytelling.
“The microphone is a marvelous instrument, just to make you feel like you can ask people questions. And you’re asking on behalf of a lot of other people who want to know the answers to those questions,” he said. “It’s a great honor to be in that role. I suppose I’m going to miss that.”
Sign a digital card to send well wishes to Euan Kerr as his time at MPR News comes to a close.
