Time to make your bids...

It's that time of year again when the annual WPT Auction makes its way to the Madison-area airwaves to raise funds for the great programming you see each day on WPT. Beginning with tonight's Art & Antiques Auction at 6, the WPT Auction offers a chance for viewers to bid and buy artwork, travel packages, gifts, collectibles and much more during the course of six days.

The event culminates in Sunday night's statewide Auction Showcase, which features big items available with the potential for great savings. And, while the WPT Auction is a regular event, it is a huge undertaking for the staff, volunteers and event underwriters.

According to Auction Manager Kelly Joerres, here is the WPT Auction by the numbers:

3000 -- The number of items donated from around the state to this year's Auction.
2000 -- The number of local volunteers who will donate their time to make every facet of Auction run smoothly.
171 -- The number of art and antique pieces donated by local artists and businesses.
50 -- The number of hours of live television that will be produced during the six-day run.

This year's WPT Auction features a brand-new studio set and a slew of exciting bargains waiting to be had when you call your bids into 263.4040 or 1.800.236.3636.

To bring you a sneak peak behind the scenes of WPT's largest on-air event, Be more Tuned In took a camera backstage in the hours before the controlled chaos of staff, volunteers and bidders begins. (Photos after the jump...)

(Click on the photos for a larger view.)









Auction signage directs volunteers and Art & Antiques bidders into the Vilas Hall studios in Madison.










Art and Antiques available for bidding Tuesday night are displayed in one of the station's studios for perusal by potential bidders.








The volunteer cafe will provide refreshments donated by generous local vendors to the thousands of Auction volunteers.











The shelves of the Auction warehouse are lined with some of the thousands of items that will be transported to the set for bidding during the six-day run.







The new Auction set is vibrant and colorful, allowing ease for viewers, bidders and volunteers alike.










Additional volunteers sit at these stations directly behind the set to tabulate bids and keep the whole process running smoothly.







A crew member puts the finishing technical touches on the new set just hours before Auction hits the air.



While Auction airs in the WHA-TV (Madison) viewing area, the rest of the state's viewers can enjoy a selection of WPT favorites on their WPT affiliate channels. Please check out the WPT homepage for updated schedules.

DeMain is the man...

Tonight's special Live From Lincoln Center "Thirty Years of Live From Lincoln Center" features a local Wisconsin connection. The program, which airs at 8 on WPT, focuses on some of the best performances of the show's three-decade run. Among those performances are two featuring John DeMain, the conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

He will appear in archival performances with Placido Domingo from 1987, and Alvy Powell and the New York City Opera from 2002. The special also features rarely seen live performances from Luciano Pavarotti, Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma and others.

For a chance to see DeMain in person in the coming year, point your browser here to see the MSO's 2006-2007 season schedule.

Photo Courtesy Madison Symphony Orchestra.

The end is near...

'Tis the season for thrilling television finales. So, you won't want to miss the action-packed two-hour ending of WPT's reality-based program Spy! Beginning at 8 tonight.

The final four spies face the toughest challenges yet in their mission to become members of the esteemed British MI-5 intelligence organization. If you have missed the earlier episodes, the show's producing network has a program Web site that offers an in-depth refresher on the program's contestants.

If you can't catch tonight's airing, set your Tivo for Wednesday night's encore of the two-episode finale beginning at 11.

The return of the King ...

New York Times reporter Anita Gates wrote a preview of tonight's American Masters "The World of Nat 'King' Cole," airing at 7 on WPT. In it, she writes about the racial issues that Cole overcame on his rise to Jazz stardom as one of the genre's premiere vocalists.

Despite his death in 1965, Cole is still revered by his peers and loved by a large fan base that continues working to carry on his legacy.

Tonight's program is followed at 8 by a concert from Cole's daughter Natalie on Great Performances. A rare 1961 telecast of Nat "King" Cole in concert will air at midnight Thursday, after an encore of tonight's American Masters.

Prime time schedule change alert ...

WPT will air the presidential address to the nation live at 7 tonight. The regularly scheduled episode of Antiques Roadshow will follow the speech coverage from Jim Lehrer and his NewsHour colleagues. For up-to-date schedule information, visit WPT's home page.

Austin City Limits returns...

Music lovers -- it's time to tell your friends to tune into WPT, as the critically acclaimed live music program, Austin City Limits, returns to the statewide network for a Summer-long engagement. The program gets a two-episode jump start tonight, beginning with a presentation of former Phish front man Trey Anastasio's set at 2004's Austin City Limits Music Festival at 11.

At midnight, former surfer Jack Johnson takes to the iconic Austin skyline-backed studio stage with his laid-back island inspired grooves before indie-pop artists Rilo Kiley perform an inspired set.

The second program will repeat Sunday night at 11, which will become the usual timeslot for the show's episodes in the upcoming summer months. Artists that will be featured in the next few weeks include Alison Krauss + Union Station, Kathleen Edwards, Etta James, Ben Folds, Ray Lamontagne, John Prine and Amos Lee. The schedule does change occasionally -- there is no airing Memorial Day weekend and sometimes the program begins a half-hour earlier or later -- so check wpt.org or your copy of Airwaves magazine to find each week's schedule.

How a legend is born...

John Wayne owes a lot to John Ford. As a football player at USC -- then known as Marion Morrison -- the future "Duke" was befriended by Ford during a summer job at the Fox Studios in Hollywood. Ford put Wayne in a number of films and when he found him a spot in 1939's Stagecoach, Wayne became a star. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, WPT presents American Masters "John Wayne/John Ford: The Filmmaker and the Legend," a program that uncovers the prolific business relationship that grew from that early friendship.

Without Ford's early help, Wayne's legend would be a lot less colorful. Here are some examples:

Without the early star turns in some of the 145 films Ford directed, Wayne probably wouldn't have appeared in 174 films on his own. People wouldn't flock to his birthplace in Winterset, Iowa. He wouldn't have an airport in Orange County, Calif. named after him. There wouldn't be a tour company offering rides on his former yacht. Outdoor types wouldn't be hiking or biking on Washington's John Wayne Pioneer Trail. His name wouldn't be on a marina in the Northwest. There wouldn't be a working movie set from his version of The Alamo that is a big tourist attraction in Texas. He wouldn't be enshrined in the National Cowboy Museum. And probably most prestigiously he wouldn't have his face on a stamp.

Yes, Ford had an amazing career, but as a director, he probably would've made his living as a filmmaker regardless of Wayne. But for the boy from Iowa, that summer job in Hollywood was a pretty good gig.

Former PBS host Louis Rukeyser passes away...

Louis Rukeyser, a man who provided a humorous, yet in-depth approach to financial news on both public and commercial television passed away Tuesday at his Greenwich, Conn. home. Wall Street Week With Louis Rukeyser aired on WPT for many years until the host moved to CNBC after a disagreement with his producing station. Below are a collection of remembrances and reactions to Rukeyser's life, work and how he changed the face of financial television from news sources nationwide.

New York Times

Associated Press via Yahoo!

Baltimore Sun

People Magazine Online

Home, Home on the ranch...

Tonight marks the beginning of WPT's premiere of Texas Ranch House, a four-part series that will air at 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Like previous House programs (Colonial and Frontier to name a couple), this show drops a modern family into the life and times of an 1860s working ranch. Cameras catch their reactions to the harsh working conditions and much different social implications of life nearly 150 years ago.

From ropin' and ridin' to cooking dinner in a primitive kitchen, every daily task is completely different from life today. The eight-hour series lets viewers experience each aspect of life on the ranch, without getting sand in their boots, err shoes, and dust in their eyes. The rich presentation also jumps off of the television screen and onto the computer with an in-depth Web site. Online visitors can download Podcast video to take the ranch with them, play interactive games and make a virtual visit to the Cooke Ranch.

For viewers who feel the call of the cattle in a more reality-based way, Texas has a slew of real-life ranches that offer visitors a working vacation. And for you folks who watch Texas Ranch House and decide it is the career path you've always wanted, you can buy one of these ranches for sale. Or, maybe just buy the series DVD before making such a rash decision.

Texas Ranch House episodes repeat at 10 each following night this week on WPT, except Friday, when part four repeats at 11 p.m.