Almanac : Context, Depth, and a Little Dose of Quirkiness
“I grew up watching variety shows in the 1960s, and Almanac is kind of a variety show that tackles the news,” says Brendan Henehan, Almanac ’s Producer and Manager of Public Affairs at Twin Cities PBS (TPT), who has been with the show since its launch in 1984. The early production team was challenged to create something different from the obligatory, 30-minute, week-in-review type shows. They aimed for faster pacing, a wider variety of topics, and, most importantly, a little bit of fun.
informed on the issues impacting the state, while interspersing live opera, the latest on bird migration, or a quirky story or poem. What has changed is the breadth of the show’s coverage. To ramp up state political coverage, the team added a Capitol reporter to the mix in the late 1990s. In 2002, Almanac at the Capitol began broadcasting from the House Chamber inside the State Capitol when the legislature is in session. Almanac has also evolved to include more coverage of Greater Minnesota, most notably with the addition of Reporter Kaomi Lee, and increased its commitment to ensuring guests represent the racial diversity of TPT’s viewing community. Almanac is the longest-running program at TPT and the longest-running statewide public affairs program in Minnesota. Almanac at the Capitol is the second longest-running TPT program and public affairs program in the state. Almanac is broadcast live across the state every Friday night by the six public television stations in Minnesota, which means Almanac is the one place all Minnesotans can hear from their public officials and learn about the issues impacting the state together.
In its nearly 40 years on the air, the show has maintained a similar formula, keeping viewers
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NOVEMBER 2022
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