BANGOR – The chief of National Public Radio hopes that his institution can help Americans through what have become uncertain times.

Kevin Klose, chief executive officer for NPR, said that his programming service has two missions in the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedies: “to focus on the mysteries behind the attacks and to focus on the majesty of the response of Americans to the attacks.”

On Tuesday, Klose spoke of NPR’s role and future to an audience of about 50 at the E. Clifton Eames Learning Center in Bangor. He was in town between stops in Portland and Rockland the same day.

Klose expects NPR to take advantage of radio’s special qualities: “Radio is the most intimate of mass media. It’s ubiquitous in our lives, and can go anywhere with you. Also radio is the only mass media of the imagination.”

NPR has made great strides since its humble beginnings in the early 1970s. At the time, it was fully federally funded. Today only one percent of its budget comes from the federal government, with 45 percent from its 650 member stations, 25 percent from foundation grants and between 25 and 33 percent from corporate underwriting.

Klose said the two biggest misconceptions about NPR come on the funding front, leaving the service in a no-win position.

“Some people think it’s 100 percent supported, and we ought to get off the federal dole,” he said in a later interview. “Others think that we get too much corporate underwriting, that we’re being bought by big business. But we wouldn’t be as powerful, as strong as we’ve become without corporate support. They just want to ally themselves with a set of values which public radio represents: reliability, credibility, independence.”

Klose brings impressive credentials to his position. He worked as a reporter and an editor at The Washington Post for 25 years, working both domestically and internationally. He then served as director of Radio Liberty from 1992 to 1994, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from 1994 to 1997, and director of U.S. international broadcasting, from Voice of America to Radio-TV Marti, during 1997 and 1998.

Watching the emerging democracies in central Europe helped bring home the value of public radio to Klose, who took over NPR in 1998.

“Self-governing people need to have access to high-quality information in order to make informed decisions,” he said.

NPR has grown into a $100 million-a-year operation. Its “Morning Edition” is the fourth most listened to among all national radio programs in the country, with “All Things Considered” in fifth.

Still, NPR faces the same problem that all mass media do in this increasingly splintered age: how to keep its audiences growing.

In an attempt to attract younger listeners, Klose explained, NPR is planning a satellite radio morning-drive show “formatted with more bounce, more jump to it.” Also in the works is a new midday show, meant to be broadcast between “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” that deals with contemporary issues, with what’s hot in America. It will be topical rather than news driven.

“Our demographic is consistently getting older, something we’ve very aware of,” he said. “But it takes time to build contact.”

The difference between public and commercial radio goes beyond the 18 minutes of ads, on average, that commercial radio airs per hour, compared to three minutes for public radio.

“We’re deeply dedicated to high-quality presentation of ideas,” Klose said. “We’re not an entertainment or a sales medium, and that makes us different from everybody else.”

There’s also the special connection that NPR has with its listeners, who help to keep public radio on the air through pledges.

“It’s a counterintuitive relationship,” Klose said. “We offer a free service, and listeners in turn help us in a special way.”