TPT / Twin Cities PBS

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TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby mulad » September 17th, 2012, 9:44 am

The Strib reported this past week that TPT has raised 2/3 of the $30 million needed for a renovation of their building next to the Union Depot. Sounds like most of the money raised so far has come from several foundations/philanthropic organizations, and now they're going to start poking some of their big donors -- they aren't planning on advertising their project through pledge drives, though.

They're planning to expand downward from their current skyway-level location. Much of the lower levels of the building is dedicated to parking, so I don't know whether there will really be a whole lot of office or production space in the remodel -- I've heard it described earlier as a new entranceway, and the Strib article mentions some community meeting rooms, children's space, and "entertainment" -- perhaps a small performance space/auditorium?

http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/169860476.html

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby at40man » June 19th, 2014, 7:31 pm

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... y-december

This renovation is happening! When I last walked through, the parking is offset and in a different part of the building. It really doesn't take up the entire first floor. I'm not sure what was back there, I seem to recall a lot of blanked-out windows. I think a new main entrance on the street level will provide good visibility. I do hope, however, that in reconfiguring the space they keep windows on the skyway level that look into the space. Perhaps even reconfigure the space so that passers-by in the skyway can view the studio? It's been many years since I took a tour of the inside, but it would be pretty cool to be able to see the Almanac set from the skyway.

I also hope that this renovation includes the portion of skyway between Union Depot and TPT -- the part with the curved ceiling and colored lights. Swap the colored lights to LEDs that can light up the ceiling differently. Replace the carpet with something more durable like terrazzo. And turn down the damn heat! I get an idea of what menopause must feel like....

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby David Greene » June 19th, 2014, 8:07 pm

I also hope that this renovation includes the portion of skyway between Union Depot and TPT -- the part with the curved ceiling and colored lights. Swap the colored lights to LEDs that can light up the ceiling differently. Replace the carpet with something more durable like terrazzo. And turn down the damn heat!
And put in windows, for God's sake!

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby mattaudio » June 19th, 2014, 8:17 pm

I was just in there about a month ago -- the studios (like in most facilities) are in the center of the complex and separated from the skyway by an area of offices and the like.

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby mulad » October 24th, 2014, 4:01 pm

I've seen a few recent tweets mentioning that a number of TPT employees have moved out of the construction area, apparently to another building, but I'm not sure where. David Gillette posted this a little while ago: https://twitter.com/GilletteTPT/status/ ... 6335892480

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby mulad » March 16th, 2015, 6:50 am

A walkthrough of the remodeling effort from last week:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152582604277493

And they added a time capsule, planned to be opened in 2065:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152595561417493

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby mattaudio » March 16th, 2015, 9:24 am

On their facebook page, they also have a little tour of their former facility from the early 1980s. Worth a watch.

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby mulad » June 22nd, 2015, 5:33 am

I feel like I should have realized this through osmosis or just by seeing it on a building directory, but TPT's employees have simply moved across the street to 180 East Fifth during the renovation (across the tracks, on the block between TPT's normal building and Cray/Galtier Plaza). They're under 90 days left before moving back into the TPT building.

https://www.facebook.com/tptalmanac/vid ... 603177493/

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Re: Twin Cities Public TV

Postby mulad » October 12th, 2015, 8:12 am

People have moved back into the TPT building. The Almanac folks posted a new tour video:



As part of the move, the station is now known as "Twin Cities PBS" although it's still being abbreviated as "TPT". The TPT logo has also been tweaked a bit. The name seems awkward to me, but maybe they're trying to reflect the shift toward online viewing vs. broadcast.

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby MNdible » October 12th, 2015, 9:06 am

I'll just take this opportunity to note that it's always driven me crazy that some branding consultant thought that it would be a good idea to abbreviate Twin Cities Public Television as TPT.

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby Silophant » October 12th, 2015, 9:16 am

Twincities Public Television?
Joey Senkyr
[email protected]

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby MNdible » October 12th, 2015, 9:19 am

Exactly. And at the same time, they managed to disregard 50 years of precedent to abbreviate "television" as "TV".

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby mattaudio » October 12th, 2015, 9:29 am

I know, right? It should have been MPT, Minneapolis Public Television.

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby MNdible » October 12th, 2015, 9:33 am

Anyway, all is forgiven now, because TPT now stands for Twin Cities PBS. Obviously.

Thank goodness they simplified things, because KTCA always stumped me.

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby mattaudio » October 12th, 2015, 9:41 am

The TPT change always seemed weird at first, but it definitely became their identity. KTCA was one of their two call signs. And when they made the transition to TPT, it was already known how multicasting over ATSC would work, resulting in many more possible channels over the same two signals. I'm sure they thought of TCPT, but it doesn't work out loud like TPT did.

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby MNdible » October 12th, 2015, 9:47 am

Don't you dare try to explain away my curmudgeonly gripe.

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby FISHMANPET » October 12th, 2015, 9:49 am

Augh open plan office space! The horror!

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby mattaudio » October 12th, 2015, 9:50 am

It's still just a glorified municipal parking ramp.

**walks away slowly**

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby grant1simons2 » October 12th, 2015, 11:44 am

"My favorite part is seeing the light rail pass by"

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Re: TPT / Twin Cities PBS

Postby mulad » October 12th, 2015, 3:59 pm

Anyway, all is forgiven now, because TPT now stands for Twin Cities PBS. Obviously.

Thank goodness they simplified things, because KTCA always stumped me.
Well, they were first incorporated as "Twin City Area Educational Television", so that stood for "Twin City Area" with a K prefix.

But whatever, name changes are always a bit awkward whether they make sense or not.
Augh open plan office space! The horror!
Yeah, I wonder if that's going to turn out to be good or bad in the long run.


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