('''TPT''') is the organization that operates the '''KTCA''' and '''KTCI'''
Television Station s in
Minneapolis-St. Paul ,
Minnesota . KTCA broadcasts on channel 2 and 34 (digital), and KTCI broadcasts on 17 and 16 (digital). The two stations were usually referred to individually, but the TPT name came around as the Twin Cities stations transitioned toward the use of
Digital Television , which blurs the line on what a
Television Channel actually is. KTCA began broadcasting on
September 3 ,
1957 , and its sister station came online on
May 3 ,
1965 . In
1967 , KTCA became the first educational station in the
United States to broadcast in color. Channel 17 was also earlier assigned to the Tedesco Brothers in the early
1950s to be a commercial station, WCOW-TV (see
KDWB ) affiliated with the
DuMont network, but this station never made it on the air.
The organization has not been as prolific as some public television stations in the amount of material produced, but some very high quality productions have been made. The station produced ''
Newton's Apple '' from
1983 to
1998 as well as the acclaimed
1994 Movie ''
Hoop Dreams ''.
The Friday night
Public-affairs program ''
Almanac '', which is distributed to other channels around the state via
Minnesota Public Television , has been aired
Week ly for more than 20 years. Longtime hosts
Eric Eskola and
Cathy Wurzer are married—considered the most visible couple in Minnesota
Journalism , they have also spent time at other area stations. Eskola currently contributes political reports to
WCCO radio and Wurzer now hosts the regional portion of ''
Morning Edition '' at
Minnesota Public Radio . Eskola is noted for his fondness for
Scarves , wearing a different one each week on ''Almanac''. A special extra political report hosted by
Mary Lahammer (daughter of longtime
Associated Press political writer
Gene Lahammer , now retired) has been airing for a few years during the time when the
Minnesota State Legislature is in session.
KTCI channel 17 usually broadcasts
Weather information during daylight hours, providing a simple service similar to
The Weather Channel . However, programming on 17 is preempted when the Legislature is convened, and the station carries
C-SPAN -like coverage. In the evening around
Prime Time , 17 often rebroadcasts programs that had been shown on channel 2 a few days before.
KTCA experimented with an evening newscast named ''NewsNight Minnesota'' from the mid-1990s until
2001 . Also broadcast throughout the state, it aired Monday through Thursday and took a slower approach to the news where stories were covered in greater depth.
TPT provided some resources for the program ''
Mental Engineering '', which analyzes advertisements aired on commercial television. Originally a
Public-access TV program from St. Paul, it is reportedly the first such show to air nationally in
Prime Time . In that episode, host
John Forde and guests including
Aisha Tyler ,
Lizz Winstead , and two others analyzed the ads aired during
Super Bowl XXXVI in
2002 . It aired on PBS stations covering 85% of the United States. The program went off the air for a couple of years, but returned in
2005 as part of TPT's "Minnesota Channel" (described below).
More recently, the station produced
Chris Farrell 's series ''
Right On The Money! '', which was a companion series to his radio program ''
Sound Money '', produced by
American Public Media . TPT has also worked on numerous individual
Documentaries and documentary series.
In
2004 , TPT began setting aside time on 17 for the "Minnesota Channel" or "TPT-MN" on Saturday and Sunday evenings, a timeslot dedicated to Minnesota-related programming that often includes shows produced by other PBS stations in the state.
A number of the programs broadcast in the TPT-MN time frame include ethnic programming targeting some of the different communities that now call Minnesota and the Twin Cities home. Some of these shows are also broadcast on
Public Access Cable Television channels in the region:
Originally, the TPT-MN programming block was essentially a reorganization of pre-existing shows, but TPT began to work with various
Non-profit Organization s within the state to create new documentaries and other material. In this arrangement, the collaborating organization contributes money to TPT, while TPT provides production support and guarantees at least three broadcasts. Strict editorial guidelines were created to help prevent the programs from simply turning into
Infomercial s.
At the end of
2005 , TPT dropped the standard-definition broadcast of (analog) KTCI from the KTCI-DT signal, replacing it with a 24-hour version of the Minnesota Channel.
Channel 17 usually stops broadcasting at midnight. On KTCI's digital broadcast, one subchannel (called TPT-WX) is always broadcasting with weather information. Four other subchannels are typically carried on KTCI-DT:
The entire bandwidth of KTCA-DT is used for high-definition broadcasts, so it is called TPT-HD.
KTCA and KTCI are broadcast from the
KMSP Tower in
Shoreview, Minnesota . There are four
Broadcast Translator s for KTCA:
Some of the more notable documentaries produced by the organization include:
