Over the span of two days Minnesota Public Radio saw news reporter Marianne Combs resign after 23 years with the company because it failed to allow her to publish her report on an “89.3 The Current” KCMP host who eight women said that Eric Malmberg sexually manipulated and psychologically abused them and then turned around and fired Malmberg the next day.
Combs wrote on Monday that the women encountered Malmberg while he worked at other stations including the Cumulus Media combo of Classic Rock 92.5 KQRS and Rock “93X” KXXR. She said the directors of a summer church camp had also banned him from volunteering there because of his inappropriate behavior with teenage girls. She stated that MPR’s legal counsel judged the story “to be compelling and well-sourced, with strong supporting documentation” and but editors countered that while Malmberg’s actions were legal and at most made him a “real creep”.
In an on-air interview on Tuesday morning MPR President Duchesne Drew said that editors had asked Combs to continue to work on the story believing the story was still in progress. Malmberg, who went unidentified throughout Combs and Drew’s statements, was said that none of the allegations had surfaced before the host was hired and that the had gone through a mandatory company background check.
By Tuesday evening after a number of MPR and Current staffers tweeted in support of the women who spoke to Combs, a brief statement on MPR’s website identified Malmberg by name and of his dismissal. The statement claimed that because of his inabiity now to attract an audience “that wants to listen to them and trust them” the allegations of this week eliminated that ability.
MPR has made the decision that the audience of The Current is best served by a programmatic change. As a result, Eric Malmberg will no longer be a DJ on The Current. Our hosts have to be able to attract an audience that wants to listen to them and trusts them and over the last 36 hours those conditions have changed for Malmberg.
Malmberg hosted Monday overnights and fill-in shifts at “The Current“.
