Twin Cities PBS

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Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) is a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two PBS member stations, KTCA-TV (channel 2) and KTCI-TV (channel 17). It produces programs for regional and national television broadcast, operates numerous Web sites, and produces rich media content for Web distribution.

The organization's mission is to "harness the power of television and other media for the public good."

History

Twin Cities Public Television was incorporated in 1955 as Twin City Area Educational Television.

KTCA (channel 2) began broadcasting on September 16, 1957 as the first noncommercial station in the state. A second station, KTCI (channel 17), was launched on May 3, 1965. Channel 17 was originally 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. In 1967, KTCA became the first educational station in the United States to broadcast in color.

In 1974, the organization joined PBS. In 1977, it changed its corporate name to the current Twin Cities Public Television.

On September 16, 1999, the stations began their first digital television broadcasts. In 2000, KTCA and KTCI were rebranded tpt2 and tpt17', paving the way for the larger family of digital broadcast services to come. In August, 2003, TPT became the first broadcaster in Minnesota to launch a channel, tptHD, fully devoted to high-definition programming, and on September 16, 2005 the organization launched a full time digital channel, tptMN, devoted entirely to local and regional programs.

In December 2005, the organization began distributing many of its productions online, making programs available through iTunes, Google Video, and Yahoo! Podcasts among others. Its Website, www.tpt.org, features streaming video as well as video podcasts. In 2007, TPT also plans to begin offering Video-On-Demand (VOD) thorough local cable providers.

KTCA's Nielsen ratings are among the highest of any PBS station in the country.

Productions

Twin Cities Public Television is one of the few public television organizations that regularly produces programs for the national PBS schedule. While not as prolific as some producers, TPT is known for high quality, high impact work with several national Emmy awards to its credit. Major productions include The New Medicine (2006)[1], Suze Orman: The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life (2004),The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimers (2004)[2], Benjamin Franklin (2003)[3], American High (2001), American Photography: A Century of Images (1999)[4], Jane Goodall: Reason for Hope (1999), Liberty! The American Revolution (1997)[5], Hoop Dreams (1995), Grant Wood's America (1985). In addition, TPT produced the children's science series Newton's Apple [6] for 15 seasons and followed that success with DragonflyTV [7], now in its 6th season. Other series included Right On The Money and Alive From Off Center.

Twin Cities Public Television also regularly produces programs exclusively for and about Minnesota and the surrounding region. Its Friday night public-affairs program Almanac [8], has been aired weekly for more than 20 years. Other significant local productions include numerous concerts with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota: A History of the Land (2005), North Star: Minnesota's Black Pioneers (2004)[9], the series Don't Believe The Hype (10 seasons), Seth Eastman: Painting the Dakota (2001), Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the Heartland (2000), the series Tape's Rolling, Wacipi-Powow (1995)[10], Lost Twin Cities (1995), The Dakota Conflict (1994), Iron Range: A People's History (1994), and How To Talk Minnesotan (1992).

The Minnesota Channel

In early 2003, TPT began setting aside time on KTCI for the "Minnesota Channel", an evening dedicated to local and regional related programming, frequently produced in partnership with other nonprofit and public service organizations. The service expanded from one to two evenings in 2004 and, on September 16, 2005, became a new full time digital channel, tptMN (digital channel 17.2, Comcast (Saint Paul) 243, Comcast (Minneapolis) 202, and Mediacom 102). "The Best of the MN Channel" can still be seen on KTCI on Saturday and Sunday nights. Since its inception, the MN Channel has co-produced more than 250 programs with more than 100 partner organizations: nonprofits, universities, governmental agencies and other public service organizations.

Among the programs broadcast on KTCI during the MN Channel timeslot are several targeting ethnic communities that now call Minnesota and the Twin Cities home and who are generally underserved by commercial media. Some of these shows are also broadcast on public access cable television channels in the region:

• Zona Latina (Latino)
• Kev Koom Siab (Hmong)
• Geetmala (Hindi)
• BelAhdan (Middle Eastern)
• Journey to the East (Chinese)
• Vietnamese News (Vietnamese)
  

The website www.mnchannel.org features information on programs and partners as well as streaming video and podcasts.

Digital TV

KTCA-DT and KTCI-DT began broadcasting on channels 16 and 34 on September 16, 1999. The digital signals of KTCA and KTCI are multiplexed:

KTCA-DT

Digital channels

Channel	Programming
2.1	Simlucast of KTCA-TV
2.2	tptHD

KTCI-DT

Digital channels

Channel	Programming
17.1	Simlucast of KTCI-TV
17.2	tptMN
17.3	tptKids
17.4	tptCreate

External link

• Twin Cities Public Television
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Transmission Technical Data

KTCA and KTCI are broadcast from the KMSP Tower in Shoreview, Minnesota. There are four broadcast translators for KTCA:

• K65FW 65 (Frost)
• K45EH 45 (Jackson)
• K46AA 46 (St. James)
• K44AE 44 (Willmar)

References

• Geneva Collins (2005-03-14). "TPT gives area nonprofits a voice on Minnesota Channel". Current. Retrieved 2006-02-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)