KTCA correction
Iain Robert Asplin
letter.
KTCA in Minneapolis never regularly scheduled Doctor Who in prime time,
and never on Sunday nights. Occasionally a story might get shown in
prime time during pledge week, but that was only because it was pledge week.
KTCA started showing Who late in 1981 until May of 1983 with the Tom Baker
episodes weeknights at 5 and then 5:30 in episode form.
In May of 1983, the first Davison season was made available and KTCA
decided then to move the show into movie form at either 10 or 10:30
Friday nights (it would vary).
They then repeated the Tom Baker stories, in the middle of that season
Five Doctors debuted and they aired it on the Wednesday night other
PBS stations did (the 23rd of November) to help the anniversary celebration.
Once they got to the end of the Tom Baker run, they ran Davison seasons
one and two, then started over agin with Tom and while they were in the
middle of that the third Davison seaosn became available, so THEN they
added a second night for Doctor Who, Saturdays at 10 or 10:30.
This double night format held tight until 1988 I believe. They exhausted
the Pertwee, Hartnell, and Troughton stories several times over, bought
the first Colin Baker season, and eventually in late 87 they aired
Trial for the first time.
In 88 it was becoming clear the ratings were beginning to falter,
viewers were getting tired of the endless reruns. They did two things
to try to remedy the situation, they moved the Friday nioght slot
to Saturday mornings to try and woo some of the cartoon audience (why
they chose the hartnells to do this I've no idea) and they bought and
aired the first two McCoy seasons. Things still weren't going all that
well. Eventually they dropped the Saturday morning slot, and when
Season 26 became available, they ran the McCoys again including 26
and then I believe they put the show on a small rest. During that
summer (89, I think, it was the year with the really neat lunar eclipse
I remember) they ran the Hartnells and Troughtons on their sister
station KTCI Channel 17. In the fall (maybe this was 90 after all.
I;m not sure exactly) they moved Who back to channel 2 on Sundays at
noon running it in episode form, the Tom baker stories, two episodes
a week. This lasted them until the end of 1991, when their rights to
the series expired and they chose not to renew them as Lionheart had
again raised the price.
The last story to be broadcast on KTCA Channel 2 St Paul Minneapolis
was the story form of "Logopolis" at 12:00 noon on New Year's Day,
1992.
Channel 2 did nothing but good things for the series over the years,
and I proudly supported them with a membership. When ratings truly
began to fall, they tinkered with the format trying to get it to work
again, and partially succeeded. They have promised to purchase any
new series that get produced as well (and perhaps by the end of this year
that may well come true).
Channel 2 was one of the best hotbeds for Whovians in the United States,
and I'll gladly engage anyone on this net who tries to tell me otherwise.
spl...@vax1.mankato.msus.edu
Thanks for clearing that up for me. i remembered watching the show during the
5:00 time slots when i was a little kid, then it dissappeared and i was
disenheartened. when i found out about the 10:30 time slot in about 86 or 87 i
started watching the show again, but stopped when they switched over to KTCI
(we don't get it in new ulm) and when they switched to sunday afternoons (i
often worked sundays).
Sooooo... i didn't see a great number of episodes that i wanted to, and i
missed a lot of information. i appreciate the correction, and i too will stick
up for channel 2 when the new stuff comes out.
In related news, I'm transferring to Duluth next year, and if I remember
correctly, there's a PBS station up there that shows the Doctor as well. Is
this true? and if so, when is it on?
Jake Swantz
aka Wildcard
"I am NOT a loonie!"