AMPERS

AMPERS (Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations) is a public radio network in Minnesota. It is the second-largest public radio organization in the state, after Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). Known as Independent Public Radio (IPR) between 2004 and 2012, the network helps member stations coordinate fundraising and allows them to share a certain amount of programming. A number of AMPERS' 12 members are college radio stations. The network headquarters is located at 525 Park Street, Suite 310, St. Paul, MN.

AMPERS was founded in 1972. Each station focuses on broadcasting music that is reflective of the local community significantly more than most other stations in the region. For example, KFAI offers far more public access programming than any other broadcaster in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. This is quite different from MPR, which only has two main audio streams, plus a third service on KCMP in the Twin Cities and KMSE in Rochester. KCMP had previously been operated by St. Olaf College until 2004, and was one of the most powerful stations in the AMPERS network.