I was even more surprised at the one tape you found in the first Holden lot that had footage from Phoenix stations (Oprah and Inside Edition on KTVK, Diagnosis Murder on KPPX). Makes me wonder how the seller came across some of these tapes!
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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have
- Thread starter Stanislav
- Start date
I was even more surprised at the one tape you found in the first Holden lot that had footage from Phoenix stations (Oprah and Inside Edition on KTVK, Diagnosis Murder on KPPX). Makes me wonder how the seller came across some of these tapes!
Both of the lots were interesting in the fact that they came from NEIGHBORS ON THE SAME STREET! One was delivered from "405" something road, the second from "407" something road! Perhaps they both shared a tape hobby? The first lot was more interesting than #2 because of the game shows, talk shows, 60 Minutes, random news clips, etc. I never expected to pop in one of the first tapes and find two USA reruns of Press Your Luck on it, along with a Scrabble rerun...
Haven't been having the best of luck finding anything new since the Holden lot on eBay. Last weekend, I went to a thrift store in Norton, where I saw a lot of tapes in general, but only three were home-recorded. One was a BASF tape labeled "Innocent Blood" (1992 movie), but it was a little moldy, so I didn't want to buy it. I saw two other tapes that were unlabeled and didn't have cases. I only took one, since the other was also a bit moldy. But when I came home and tried putting it into the VCR, it wouldn't even go in. Who knows what was even on it to begin with. Chances are there had to be something on it since it wasn't rewound.
And just earlier today, I bought an unlabeled RCA tape at a Goodwill store that contained a worship service from Markey Community Baptist Church in Roscommon, Michigan recorded in October 2000, according to the time and date stamp at the start of the tape. It was copied from another tape and had about 30 minutes of blue screen from the other VCR at the end before it went blank.
Here's one place I've gone hunting for these tapes from time to time during the winter months when no one's holding garage or estate sales. I usually come home with a pretty good-sized haul from here, as tapes in general (both home-recorded and pre-recorded) seem to be pretty easy to find at this location. A lot of the vendors sell retail tapes, but there are usually at least two or three with loads of used blanks in their booths.
http://fleamarketstreetsboro.com/
And just earlier today, I bought an unlabeled RCA tape at a Goodwill store that contained a worship service from Markey Community Baptist Church in Roscommon, Michigan recorded in October 2000, according to the time and date stamp at the start of the tape. It was copied from another tape and had about 30 minutes of blue screen from the other VCR at the end before it went blank.
Here's one place I've gone hunting for these tapes from time to time during the winter months when no one's holding garage or estate sales. I usually come home with a pretty good-sized haul from here, as tapes in general (both home-recorded and pre-recorded) seem to be pretty easy to find at this location. A lot of the vendors sell retail tapes, but there are usually at least two or three with loads of used blanks in their booths.
http://fleamarketstreetsboro.com/
Been going through a 2nd lot from Kirkland WA. Lots of AMC movies from the 1990s w/ promos, quite a bit of 1995 footage from FXM: Movies from Fox, and some movies taped off various premium networks in late 2000 (Cinemax, Starz! Cinema, early Sundance etc). Some of the highlights include:
- Partial episode of Supermarket Sweep taped off KWPX-33 Bellevue/PAX in early 2000 w/ commercials (a '90s Lifetime rerun). Great find!
- "Saturday Night Fever" (1978) taped off USA Network 4/30/1995 with commercials
- "Irreconcilable Differences" (1984) taped off Comedy Central 7/26/1995 with commercials
- "Collosis: The Forbin Project" (1975) taped off Sci-Fi Channel 4/14/1995 with commercials
- "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948) taped off Comedy Central 4/2/1995 with commercials (late night airing), already have this taped off WVFT Roanoke in 1989
- "Time Limit" (1957) taped off TNT in the early morning hours of 6/14/1995 with commercials; "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) taped the same day with commercials (later in the evening)
- "Trial" (1955) taped off TNT early morning 6/15/1995 with commercials
Still have some to go through from THIS lot, including a broadcast of "Southern Comfort" (1981) taped off KTZZ-22 Seattle in 1994, pre-The WB.
Yakima is still a winter wonderland, and a winter storm warning is in effect tonight for another 3-6" of snow! Goodness gracious, where's spring? I miss the Saturday morning yard/estate sales! Hoping that 2017 will be another great year for vintage Yakima TV. Maybe I'll find a big lot of Betamax tapes this year. I still have tons of the Denver Betas to go through - mainly countless Siskel & Ebert/Roger Ebert & The Movies/Ebert & Roeper episodes from the late 1990s-early 2000s, but still haven't copied the 7/27/1980 ads from "Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" yet...
The best way to find these tapes at yard sales is to look for the neighborhoods with the oldest homes, and the houses with residents over the age of 50. Most will still have VHS tapes in their possession that they need to throw out. Sometimes it's just retail/Disney tapes, but other times there are recorded blanks mixed in with the retail, or sometimes an entire lot of recorded blanks.
- Partial episode of Supermarket Sweep taped off KWPX-33 Bellevue/PAX in early 2000 w/ commercials (a '90s Lifetime rerun). Great find!
- "Saturday Night Fever" (1978) taped off USA Network 4/30/1995 with commercials
- "Irreconcilable Differences" (1984) taped off Comedy Central 7/26/1995 with commercials
- "Collosis: The Forbin Project" (1975) taped off Sci-Fi Channel 4/14/1995 with commercials
- "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948) taped off Comedy Central 4/2/1995 with commercials (late night airing), already have this taped off WVFT Roanoke in 1989
- "Time Limit" (1957) taped off TNT in the early morning hours of 6/14/1995 with commercials; "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) taped the same day with commercials (later in the evening)
- "Trial" (1955) taped off TNT early morning 6/15/1995 with commercials
Still have some to go through from THIS lot, including a broadcast of "Southern Comfort" (1981) taped off KTZZ-22 Seattle in 1994, pre-The WB.
Yakima is still a winter wonderland, and a winter storm warning is in effect tonight for another 3-6" of snow! Goodness gracious, where's spring? I miss the Saturday morning yard/estate sales! Hoping that 2017 will be another great year for vintage Yakima TV. Maybe I'll find a big lot of Betamax tapes this year. I still have tons of the Denver Betas to go through - mainly countless Siskel & Ebert/Roger Ebert & The Movies/Ebert & Roeper episodes from the late 1990s-early 2000s, but still haven't copied the 7/27/1980 ads from "Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" yet...
The best way to find these tapes at yard sales is to look for the neighborhoods with the oldest homes, and the houses with residents over the age of 50. Most will still have VHS tapes in their possession that they need to throw out. Sometimes it's just retail/Disney tapes, but other times there are recorded blanks mixed in with the retail, or sometimes an entire lot of recorded blanks.
As I mentioned on one of the 1995 Comedy Central videos you posted, it's interesting for me to see some of the stuff from cable networks that our local cable company didn't pick up at that time, CC being one of them. Although Cablevision (now Spectrum) served both the rural Northeast Ohio area I grew up in and the city of Cleveland and many of its suburbs, the folks in the city and in the 'burbs had more channels on their respective divisions of Cablevision based on the towns or counties they lived in. Same with Warner Cable in Akron and Canton and their surrounding suburbs.
Since the CC content you found was taped in 1995, here's what our Cablevision cable channel lineup looked like that year:
02 WVIZ-25 (PBS)
03 WKYC-3 (NBC)
04 WOIO-19 (CBS)
05 WEWS-5 (ABC)
06 WUAB-43 (UPN/WB)
07 CNN
08 WJW-8 (Fox)
09 ESPN
10 Discovery Channel
11 SportsChannel Ohio
12 CNBC
13 Nickelodeon
14 TNT
15 WBNX-55 (Independent)
16 Headline News
17 TBS
18 USA Network
20 The Family Channel
21 A&E
22 WEAO-49 (PBS)
23 WAKC-23 (ABC)
24 Public Access/Community Bulletin Board
25 Lifetime
26 Showtime
27 The Movie Channel
28 Cinemax
29 Playboy TV
30 Flix
31 Bravo
32 Pay-Per-View 1
33 Pay-Per-View 2
34 HBO
35 Disney Channel
36 TNN
37 MTV
38 VH1
39 AMC
40 C-SPAN
41 C-SPAN2
42 TLC
43 Mind Extension University
44 EWTN
45 INSP
46 The Weather Channel
47 Court TV
48 QVC
49 WQHS-61 (HSC)
55 Sci-Fi Channel
Meanwhile, other areas of Northeast Ohio closer to the bigger cities (Cleveland/Akron/Canton) were able to get Comedy Central, E!, Cartoon Network, FX, CMT, Game Show Network, HGTV, History Channel, Travel Channel (before Discovery or Scripps owned it), ESPN2, WGN, etc. long before Cablevision finally picked those networks up out here in "the sticks."
Since the CC content you found was taped in 1995, here's what our Cablevision cable channel lineup looked like that year:
02 WVIZ-25 (PBS)
03 WKYC-3 (NBC)
04 WOIO-19 (CBS)
05 WEWS-5 (ABC)
06 WUAB-43 (UPN/WB)
07 CNN
08 WJW-8 (Fox)
09 ESPN
10 Discovery Channel
11 SportsChannel Ohio
12 CNBC
13 Nickelodeon
14 TNT
15 WBNX-55 (Independent)
16 Headline News
17 TBS
18 USA Network
20 The Family Channel
21 A&E
22 WEAO-49 (PBS)
23 WAKC-23 (ABC)
24 Public Access/Community Bulletin Board
25 Lifetime
26 Showtime
27 The Movie Channel
28 Cinemax
29 Playboy TV
30 Flix
31 Bravo
32 Pay-Per-View 1
33 Pay-Per-View 2
34 HBO
35 Disney Channel
36 TNN
37 MTV
38 VH1
39 AMC
40 C-SPAN
41 C-SPAN2
42 TLC
43 Mind Extension University
44 EWTN
45 INSP
46 The Weather Channel
47 Court TV
48 QVC
49 WQHS-61 (HSC)
55 Sci-Fi Channel
Meanwhile, other areas of Northeast Ohio closer to the bigger cities (Cleveland/Akron/Canton) were able to get Comedy Central, E!, Cartoon Network, FX, CMT, Game Show Network, HGTV, History Channel, Travel Channel (before Discovery or Scripps owned it), ESPN2, WGN, etc. long before Cablevision finally picked those networks up out here in "the sticks."
The Kirkland stuff was taped off Viacom Cable's Seattle lineup. The lineup in Snohomish and Pierce Counties was a lot different. Comedy Central was timeshared with VH1. Every night around 6 or 7PM PT, VH1 would disappear from ch 35 and Comedy Central would air until 4AM. C-SPAN was also timeshared on ch 30, with BET taking over in the evening.
Once more channels became available on Cablevision in Medina and Summit Counties, there was a lot of time-sharing in our channel lineup as well. Around 1996 or so, after a few more channels were added, four religious networks (EWTN, INSP, TBN and Faith & Values Channel) ended up sharing time on channel 45 for six hours per network. Once HGTV was added in 1997, the Discovery Channel shared time with Knowledge TV (formerly MEU) on channel 10 (Discovery during the day and evening hours, Knowledge TV overnight). Then in 1999, several more new channels came along, two of them being WAM! and Movieplex, both of which shared time on channel 56 (WAM! was on during most of the day and evening before Movieplex took over overnight).
Finally a little luck! Spotted a Craigslist ad for an "indoor yard sale" in Litchfield, Ohio and picked up five tapes. Four out of five are keepers.
TAPE 1: Winds of the Wasteland (1936) taped from AMC circa 2000; partial broadcast of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ("Headlines" segment and partial interview with Elton John) taped from WKYC on 3/13/2000 with one commercial break
TAPE 2: My Cousin Vinny (1992) taped from FX on 3/19/2002, some commercial breaks are included, others are paused out; partially taped-over broadcast of Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New Jersey Nets and Pro-Swing System infomercial taped from SportsChannel Ohio (now Fox Sports Ohio) on 4/10/1993 with commercials; partially taped-over broadcast of the 1992 National City Triathlon of Champions and partial episode of Memories Then and Now taped from WKYC in September 1992 with commercials
TAPE 3: Part one of Spartacus (USA miniseries) taped from USA on 4/18/2004 with commercials
TAPE 4: Part two of Spartacus taped from USA on 4/19/2004 with commercials
I did spot one other tape with "Elvis" written on the label, but I didn't buy that one because of a little mold inside it.
TAPE 1: Winds of the Wasteland (1936) taped from AMC circa 2000; partial broadcast of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ("Headlines" segment and partial interview with Elton John) taped from WKYC on 3/13/2000 with one commercial break
TAPE 2: My Cousin Vinny (1992) taped from FX on 3/19/2002, some commercial breaks are included, others are paused out; partially taped-over broadcast of Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New Jersey Nets and Pro-Swing System infomercial taped from SportsChannel Ohio (now Fox Sports Ohio) on 4/10/1993 with commercials; partially taped-over broadcast of the 1992 National City Triathlon of Champions and partial episode of Memories Then and Now taped from WKYC in September 1992 with commercials
TAPE 3: Part one of Spartacus (USA miniseries) taped from USA on 4/18/2004 with commercials
TAPE 4: Part two of Spartacus taped from USA on 4/19/2004 with commercials
I did spot one other tape with "Elvis" written on the label, but I didn't buy that one because of a little mold inside it.
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Notice to YouTuber's:
If you have posted any episodes of Oprah Winfrey, get them all off your channel now! OWN/Harpo is cracking down. I received my first copyright strike today after posting a partial episode from 1/11/2008 (on lottery winners). Be very careful when posting talk shows and game shows. Sony still removes Y&R/DOOL, and Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy! reruns from YT. The soaps cannot be posted on Dailymotion in any way! They will be taken down by (guess who?) Sony.
If you have posted any episodes of Oprah Winfrey, get them all off your channel now! OWN/Harpo is cracking down. I received my first copyright strike today after posting a partial episode from 1/11/2008 (on lottery winners). Be very careful when posting talk shows and game shows. Sony still removes Y&R/DOOL, and Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy! reruns from YT. The soaps cannot be posted on Dailymotion in any way! They will be taken down by (guess who?) Sony.
It's still mid-winter but there was an estate sale today, surprisingly. Only one home-recorded VHS tape found, the rest were all retail.
The tape contains episodes of Wall $treet Week and Nightly Business Report taped off KYVE-47 (PBS) on 4/11/1997 with promos in between each show. An interesting find, this is my first W$W broadcast found on VHS.
I am closely watching a lot of 47 VHS tapes from Meridian (near Boise), Idaho on eBay. Looks like late 1980s-mid 2000s. Anything from Idaho is HARD to find on eBay/Craigslist etc. 4 bids at $15.50 now, but will bid higher (up to $1/tape if necessary). I'd love to find some items from KBCI, KIVI and KTVB.
If I lose, there's a 14-tape lot from north Texas up on eBay that is on watch as well. The seller told me they actually come from a large estate in Oklahoma City, so programming would come from KWTV/KOCO/KFOR rather than KDFW/WFAA etc.
The tape contains episodes of Wall $treet Week and Nightly Business Report taped off KYVE-47 (PBS) on 4/11/1997 with promos in between each show. An interesting find, this is my first W$W broadcast found on VHS.
I am closely watching a lot of 47 VHS tapes from Meridian (near Boise), Idaho on eBay. Looks like late 1980s-mid 2000s. Anything from Idaho is HARD to find on eBay/Craigslist etc. 4 bids at $15.50 now, but will bid higher (up to $1/tape if necessary). I'd love to find some items from KBCI, KIVI and KTVB.
If I lose, there's a 14-tape lot from north Texas up on eBay that is on watch as well. The seller told me they actually come from a large estate in Oklahoma City, so programming would come from KWTV/KOCO/KFOR rather than KDFW/WFAA etc.
Another estate sale today, and a good lot of VHS tapes. Interesting finds with quite a few talk show clips and TV-movies.
Tape 1 - "An Innocent Man" (1989), "Ernest Saves Christmas" (1988) and "Look Who's Talking" (1989) taped off unknown pay-TV channels, no promos; partial broadcast of game 3 of the 1990 ALCS, and partial broadcasts of Hunter and The Cosby Show taped off KIMA/CBS 10/9/1990 w/ commercials
Tape 2 - Part 1 of "Deadly Matrimony" taped off KNDO/NBC 11/22/1992 w/ commercials; "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977) taped off KAPP/ABC 1/7/1993 with commercials
Tape 3 - "A Father for Charlie" taped off KIMA/CBS New Year's Day 1995 w/ commercials; partial episode of The Maury Povich Show taped off KIMA-29 in December 1994 with commercials; Christmas in Washington (with host Helen Hunt and guests Anita Baker, Kenny G and others performing Christmas songs for President Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton) taped off KNDO/NBC 12/14/1994 with commercials; partial broadcast of Judge for Yourself taped off KIMA-29 in November 1994 with commercials
Tape 4 - Both parts of "Roses Are For the Rich" taped off KIMA/CBS 5/16/1987 and 5/19/1987 with commercials (I now have a complete second part! I have the last hour or so of part 2 on another tape. Commercial breaks will be edited on my YT channel to show this.). After "Roses Are for the Rich" is a broadcast of "Why Me?" (1984) taped off KAPP/ABC 8/10/1987 minus commercials; a partial episode of Donahue taped off KAPP/35 in September 1987 minus commercials (Jessica Hahn interview on her Playboy cover); and another Donahue clip minus commercials (on morbid obesity)
Tape 5 - "Every Which Way But Loose" (1978) taped off KAPP/ABC 1/19/1995 with commercials, "A Family Divided" (1995) taped off KNDO/NBC 1/22/1995 w/ commercials
Tape 6 - Partial episode of The Joan Rivers Show taped off KAPP/35 in late 1992 with a couple of commercials (mentally ill people with amazing skills); partial broadcast of Nature (Mozu: The Snow Money) and Masterpiece Theatre taped off KYVE/PBS 11/29/1992 with a few promos in between the shows; "When No One Would Listen" taped off KIMA/CBS 11/15/1992 with commercials; Maury Povich clip taped off KIMA/29 in November 1992 with commercials (successful women date blue-collar men); partial clip of CNN Headline News taped off KIMA/29 in October or November 1992
Tape 7 - Partial episode of Jenny Jones taped off KNDO/23 in late 1992 with commercials (My Wife Is Having An Affair with My Best Friend!); episode of Wild America taped off KYVE/47 in late 1992; nearly-complete episode of Bertice Barry taped off KIMA/29 in November 1993 with commercials; Austin City Limits (Kathy Mattea) and Country Roads (local production) taped off KYVE/PBS in November 1993
Tape 8 - Jenny Jones clip taped off KNDO/23 circa September 1993, partial airing of "Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica" (1993) taped off KAPP/ABC 9/26/1993 with commercials; partial airing of "Message from Nam" part 2 taped off KNDO/NBC 10/18/1993 with commercials, partial airing of The Return of Ironside and a nearly-complete KNDO News 23 broadcast taped off KNDO/NBC 10/29/1993 with commercials
Tape 9 - Oprah Winfrey episode taped off WRTV/6 Indianapolis on May 4th, 1999 with commercials (Wives Who Don't Want Sex). A first for me - I've never found anything from Indiana on VHS until today.
Tape 10 - The X-Files episode taped off WNYW/FOX on 4/4/1999 with commercials. This tape is not in good condition, for a very odd reason. While the video quality is fine without causing dirty heads, the VCR goes berserk when played. Stops midway through, rewinds by itself, thinks that 1:00:00 is the BEGINNING OF THE TAPE, etc...
I may need to pull the tape reels out of the case it's in (Chrome Master) and put them into a known cartridge that works, but will not be sold due to minus commercials or something copied from a rental. I did this with a couple of tapes.
Note on tape 8 - This was good and bad. Good due to the KNDO newscast. Bad because it's a 1983 Fuji T-120 tape, which originally had the M*A*S*H FINALE ON IT! The woman lived in Tieton most of her life...this would have been off KIMA/29, and with commercials, would have been my oldest find yet from the Yakima Valley. Disappointing that everything was taped over. Finding early 1980s tapes here is like winning the lottery.
Tape 4 was disappointing for the same reason as 8. Great to find new 1987 KIMA footage. But at the beginning of the tape, there's a split second of a Press Your Luck episode (obviously original KIMA/CBS broadcast) before it gets taped over by Roses Are For The Rich. There are several episodes from the end of the PYL run (September 1986) that are missing because USA didn't even rerun them in the early '90s. I was hoping to see something rare.
Tape 1 - "An Innocent Man" (1989), "Ernest Saves Christmas" (1988) and "Look Who's Talking" (1989) taped off unknown pay-TV channels, no promos; partial broadcast of game 3 of the 1990 ALCS, and partial broadcasts of Hunter and The Cosby Show taped off KIMA/CBS 10/9/1990 w/ commercials
Tape 2 - Part 1 of "Deadly Matrimony" taped off KNDO/NBC 11/22/1992 w/ commercials; "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977) taped off KAPP/ABC 1/7/1993 with commercials
Tape 3 - "A Father for Charlie" taped off KIMA/CBS New Year's Day 1995 w/ commercials; partial episode of The Maury Povich Show taped off KIMA-29 in December 1994 with commercials; Christmas in Washington (with host Helen Hunt and guests Anita Baker, Kenny G and others performing Christmas songs for President Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton) taped off KNDO/NBC 12/14/1994 with commercials; partial broadcast of Judge for Yourself taped off KIMA-29 in November 1994 with commercials
Tape 4 - Both parts of "Roses Are For the Rich" taped off KIMA/CBS 5/16/1987 and 5/19/1987 with commercials (I now have a complete second part! I have the last hour or so of part 2 on another tape. Commercial breaks will be edited on my YT channel to show this.). After "Roses Are for the Rich" is a broadcast of "Why Me?" (1984) taped off KAPP/ABC 8/10/1987 minus commercials; a partial episode of Donahue taped off KAPP/35 in September 1987 minus commercials (Jessica Hahn interview on her Playboy cover); and another Donahue clip minus commercials (on morbid obesity)
Tape 5 - "Every Which Way But Loose" (1978) taped off KAPP/ABC 1/19/1995 with commercials, "A Family Divided" (1995) taped off KNDO/NBC 1/22/1995 w/ commercials
Tape 6 - Partial episode of The Joan Rivers Show taped off KAPP/35 in late 1992 with a couple of commercials (mentally ill people with amazing skills); partial broadcast of Nature (Mozu: The Snow Money) and Masterpiece Theatre taped off KYVE/PBS 11/29/1992 with a few promos in between the shows; "When No One Would Listen" taped off KIMA/CBS 11/15/1992 with commercials; Maury Povich clip taped off KIMA/29 in November 1992 with commercials (successful women date blue-collar men); partial clip of CNN Headline News taped off KIMA/29 in October or November 1992
Tape 7 - Partial episode of Jenny Jones taped off KNDO/23 in late 1992 with commercials (My Wife Is Having An Affair with My Best Friend!); episode of Wild America taped off KYVE/47 in late 1992; nearly-complete episode of Bertice Barry taped off KIMA/29 in November 1993 with commercials; Austin City Limits (Kathy Mattea) and Country Roads (local production) taped off KYVE/PBS in November 1993
Tape 8 - Jenny Jones clip taped off KNDO/23 circa September 1993, partial airing of "Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica" (1993) taped off KAPP/ABC 9/26/1993 with commercials; partial airing of "Message from Nam" part 2 taped off KNDO/NBC 10/18/1993 with commercials, partial airing of The Return of Ironside and a nearly-complete KNDO News 23 broadcast taped off KNDO/NBC 10/29/1993 with commercials
Tape 9 - Oprah Winfrey episode taped off WRTV/6 Indianapolis on May 4th, 1999 with commercials (Wives Who Don't Want Sex). A first for me - I've never found anything from Indiana on VHS until today.
Tape 10 - The X-Files episode taped off WNYW/FOX on 4/4/1999 with commercials. This tape is not in good condition, for a very odd reason. While the video quality is fine without causing dirty heads, the VCR goes berserk when played. Stops midway through, rewinds by itself, thinks that 1:00:00 is the BEGINNING OF THE TAPE, etc...
I may need to pull the tape reels out of the case it's in (Chrome Master) and put them into a known cartridge that works, but will not be sold due to minus commercials or something copied from a rental. I did this with a couple of tapes.
Note on tape 8 - This was good and bad. Good due to the KNDO newscast. Bad because it's a 1983 Fuji T-120 tape, which originally had the M*A*S*H FINALE ON IT! The woman lived in Tieton most of her life...this would have been off KIMA/29, and with commercials, would have been my oldest find yet from the Yakima Valley. Disappointing that everything was taped over. Finding early 1980s tapes here is like winning the lottery.
Tape 4 was disappointing for the same reason as 8. Great to find new 1987 KIMA footage. But at the beginning of the tape, there's a split second of a Press Your Luck episode (obviously original KIMA/CBS broadcast) before it gets taped over by Roses Are For The Rich. There are several episodes from the end of the PYL run (September 1986) that are missing because USA didn't even rerun them in the early '90s. I was hoping to see something rare.
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I have seen a dailymotion user upload oprah episodes there instead of on his youtube channel, so maybe it is safe there
On the flip side of this some look at it as a form of "badge of honor". I used to belong to a website about local TV news and some of their members think its cool when their clips are removed. It's almost like they brag about it. I don't get it.
Anyway even though I didn't get the tape my brother-in-law did from a yard sale in Pittsburgh, The tape was a bunch of stuff from WTAE and only from WTAE. Local programming and yes even their news. He claims that there even was a newscasts from 1977 !! No surprise that the guy who recorded this stuff was an employee of WTAE and his now ex-wife was selling off the tapes.
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Stopped by an estate sale today and picked up four tapes. One was a movie copied from a Laserdisc and one wouldn't play in my VCR.
TAPE 1: Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) and partial episode of Sanford & Son taped from WUAB on 5/13/1987 with commercials
TAPE 2: Jeremiah Johnson (1972) taped from WUAB (Star Movie) in November 1986 with commercials
The movie copied from Laserdisc was Jacob's Ladder (1990). The broken tape was labeled "MTV Top Videos of 1986." When I tried putting it in my VCR, it spat the tape back out.
TAPE 1: Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) and partial episode of Sanford & Son taped from WUAB on 5/13/1987 with commercials
TAPE 2: Jeremiah Johnson (1972) taped from WUAB (Star Movie) in November 1986 with commercials
The movie copied from Laserdisc was Jacob's Ladder (1990). The broken tape was labeled "MTV Top Videos of 1986." When I tried putting it in my VCR, it spat the tape back out.
That's too bad, out of the four tapes the one with the rare MTV content just HAD to be broke. I had better luck last year at a moving/estate sale where I found #40-#1 of MTV's 1985 Top 100 countdown w/ commercials, and a partial broadcast of their New Year's Eve concert (with a central time countdown) from early morning January 1st, 1986 w/ commercials. The sale had other rarities like an entire episode of Eye on Hollywood taped off KAPP 8/14/1984 and an entire episode of The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime taped off KOMO 1/17/1986.
Just one tape from an estate sale yesterday. It has both parts of the "Dead by Sunset" miniseries taped off KNDO/NBC 11/19 and 11/20/1995 with commercials. The last couple minutes of Hope & Gloria precede part 1. One other tape at the sale had a home movie on it, and next to it was an entire box of Hi-8/Video 8 home movies...WHY didn't the family take these? According to the obit for the woman who died, she left behind a son and several other family members.
Just one tape from an estate sale yesterday. It has both parts of the "Dead by Sunset" miniseries taped off KNDO/NBC 11/19 and 11/20/1995 with commercials. The last couple minutes of Hope & Gloria precede part 1. One other tape at the sale had a home movie on it, and next to it was an entire box of Hi-8/Video 8 home movies...WHY didn't the family take these? According to the obit for the woman who died, she left behind a son and several other family members.
Five tapes from three sales today.
Church sale - 4th year in a row I've gone here and always get blank tapes!
Tape 1 - Tape is a T-160. AFC and NFC Divisional Games (AFC: NY Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals, NFC: Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles) taped off KNDO/NBC 1/9/2010, some commercial breaks paused, others left intact; syndicated reruns of Friends & The Office taped off KCYU-LD/41 on 1/4/2010 with commercials
Tape 2 - NFC Divisional Playoff (Seattle Seahawks vs. Washington Redskins) taped off KCPQ/FOX 1/14/2006 with commercials - Haven't looked at the rest of this one yet.
Tape 3 - Starts with about 25 minutes of static (not dirty heads - but 25 minutes was ERASED), then cuts to a random mix of 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics footage taped off KNDO/NBC in late July 1996, some commercials paused, others left intact. Haven't looked at the rest of this tape yet.
Estate sale #1
Tape 4 - Episode of Las Vegas taped off KNDO/NBC on 11/1/2004 with commercials. This seems to be the only thing on the tape but I will check the rest later.
Estate sale #2
Tape 5 - Episode of Julie Child: Cooking with Master Chefs taped off unknown PBS station in late 1993 or early 1994 (Presumed KYVE. Guest chef was the late Michel Richard who died in August 2016); partial broadcast of The Defense Rests: A Tribute to Raymond Burr and full airing of Perry Mason: The Case of the Tell-Tale Talk Show Host taped off KNDO/NBC 10/22/1993 with commercials
Church sale - 4th year in a row I've gone here and always get blank tapes!
Tape 1 - Tape is a T-160. AFC and NFC Divisional Games (AFC: NY Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals, NFC: Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles) taped off KNDO/NBC 1/9/2010, some commercial breaks paused, others left intact; syndicated reruns of Friends & The Office taped off KCYU-LD/41 on 1/4/2010 with commercials
Tape 2 - NFC Divisional Playoff (Seattle Seahawks vs. Washington Redskins) taped off KCPQ/FOX 1/14/2006 with commercials - Haven't looked at the rest of this one yet.
Tape 3 - Starts with about 25 minutes of static (not dirty heads - but 25 minutes was ERASED), then cuts to a random mix of 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics footage taped off KNDO/NBC in late July 1996, some commercials paused, others left intact. Haven't looked at the rest of this tape yet.
Estate sale #1
Tape 4 - Episode of Las Vegas taped off KNDO/NBC on 11/1/2004 with commercials. This seems to be the only thing on the tape but I will check the rest later.
Estate sale #2
Tape 5 - Episode of Julie Child: Cooking with Master Chefs taped off unknown PBS station in late 1993 or early 1994 (Presumed KYVE. Guest chef was the late Michel Richard who died in August 2016); partial broadcast of The Defense Rests: A Tribute to Raymond Burr and full airing of Perry Mason: The Case of the Tell-Tale Talk Show Host taped off KNDO/NBC 10/22/1993 with commercials
Found this thread through a Google search after finding a REALLY OLD VHS lot from Ebay a few months back. It took me a few months to read this thread all the way to page 68 
More about that lot later though.
Like others have said, I've noticed that the amount of home recorded VHS tapes at thrift stores has dropped to almost nothing. From time to time I will actually donate doubles of tapes I have to see if they will ever reach the store shelves, and they NEVER hit the shelves at local Goodwills or Salvation Army, it probably has something to do with regional or national rules for such things. HOWEVER, I have noticed that the smaller, non-corporate thrift stores will still sell these tapes, or at least put them in the free bins outside instead of trashing them.
Years ago when these tapes were more common (I'm talking late 1990s-mid 2000s) I would find such gems as ancient Beta K30s or K60s, the oldest recording was 30 minutes of the Carter Inaguration from January 1977, and an hour of North Carolina basketball in the 1981 Final Four plus snippets of the Reagan assassination attempt coverage from the same day in 1981. I've found the 1st game at the Dean Dome (January 18, 1986) 3 separate times at thrift stores, the coverage came from WRAL (my local affiliate). In fact, typical tapes I find are of UNC basketball, and sometimes Duke basketball, usually WRAL or WTVD, depending if the broadcast is CBS/Raycom or ABC. Rarely do I find things from Pay TV, though I did get a complete Wrestlemania 3 (1987) taped from PPV awhile back.
The best find I got in the non-Ebay wild was from an out of town Salvation Army, I was shocked to see they had a stack of 10 home recorded VHS tapes, all labeled with the old school style of sticker letters, and they looked to be RCA VK-250s! In retrospect I should have bought all of them at .25 a piece (as the rest were gone next time I went) but I snagged the 2 most promising ones, which had NFL games on them.
One was from SEPTEMBER 27, 1981 !!! (oldest VHS I've found in the wild) from the Denver, Colorado NBC affiliate of the San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos, complete with commercials, and a bit of local postgame. The other tape was more disappointing as it was from December 1984, Denver Broncos at Seattle Seahawks (also Denver NBC affiliate), I say disappointing because it was heavily edited into 2 hours so no commercials or local airchecks.
Now on to the Ebay lot. The lot came up in my searches feed, and oddly enough it came from only 90 miles east of me. Tapes were not labeled, but there was a note card system of the contents that the seller photographed (it looked to be a large estate lot that the kids were selling off) and the original taper was very meticulous in that they had replaced the factory cardboard boxes with archival hardshell plastic cases. The tapes did look a bit old though, with the typical markings of RCA VK-250s and other older brands.
A week later I was pleasantly surprised with my findings:
Tape 1: Super Bowl XVI recorded from WTVD on January 24, 1982 (then a CBS affiliate before the switch with WRAL in 1985). Unfortunately most commercials were cut to save space (sad because Super Bowls have some of the best commercials). This taped over a late night movie (from WRAL I believe) that aired January 17, 1982 from what I could tell from commercials, all of which were present.
Tape 2: 1981 ACC Championship from March 7, 1981, CD Chesley syndicated broadcast, probably on WRAL. All commercials were present, as well as station breaks and such.
Tape 3: Segments of incomplete games from the 1977!!!! NCAA Tournament taped off the Greenville/New Bern, NC NBC affiliate. This included the Final 4 semifinal and regional semifinal the week before. After doing some research on the unveiling of the VHS format in America, this had to have been copied from a Umatic or Beta, as from what I can tell VHS was not around in April 1977, the date of these broadcasts. Lots of airchecks and commercials in this too.
Tape 4: January 4, 1986 NC State at UNC and January 18, 1986 Duke at UNC. Both were WRAL but edited, so not too many commercials present.
All in all I got that and some other tapes in a lot for about $3.50 each, not bad for Ebay, there is some old gold to be found for sure.
More about that lot later though.Like others have said, I've noticed that the amount of home recorded VHS tapes at thrift stores has dropped to almost nothing. From time to time I will actually donate doubles of tapes I have to see if they will ever reach the store shelves, and they NEVER hit the shelves at local Goodwills or Salvation Army, it probably has something to do with regional or national rules for such things. HOWEVER, I have noticed that the smaller, non-corporate thrift stores will still sell these tapes, or at least put them in the free bins outside instead of trashing them.
Years ago when these tapes were more common (I'm talking late 1990s-mid 2000s) I would find such gems as ancient Beta K30s or K60s, the oldest recording was 30 minutes of the Carter Inaguration from January 1977, and an hour of North Carolina basketball in the 1981 Final Four plus snippets of the Reagan assassination attempt coverage from the same day in 1981. I've found the 1st game at the Dean Dome (January 18, 1986) 3 separate times at thrift stores, the coverage came from WRAL (my local affiliate). In fact, typical tapes I find are of UNC basketball, and sometimes Duke basketball, usually WRAL or WTVD, depending if the broadcast is CBS/Raycom or ABC. Rarely do I find things from Pay TV, though I did get a complete Wrestlemania 3 (1987) taped from PPV awhile back.
The best find I got in the non-Ebay wild was from an out of town Salvation Army, I was shocked to see they had a stack of 10 home recorded VHS tapes, all labeled with the old school style of sticker letters, and they looked to be RCA VK-250s! In retrospect I should have bought all of them at .25 a piece (as the rest were gone next time I went) but I snagged the 2 most promising ones, which had NFL games on them.
One was from SEPTEMBER 27, 1981 !!! (oldest VHS I've found in the wild) from the Denver, Colorado NBC affiliate of the San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos, complete with commercials, and a bit of local postgame. The other tape was more disappointing as it was from December 1984, Denver Broncos at Seattle Seahawks (also Denver NBC affiliate), I say disappointing because it was heavily edited into 2 hours so no commercials or local airchecks.
Now on to the Ebay lot. The lot came up in my searches feed, and oddly enough it came from only 90 miles east of me. Tapes were not labeled, but there was a note card system of the contents that the seller photographed (it looked to be a large estate lot that the kids were selling off) and the original taper was very meticulous in that they had replaced the factory cardboard boxes with archival hardshell plastic cases. The tapes did look a bit old though, with the typical markings of RCA VK-250s and other older brands.
A week later I was pleasantly surprised with my findings:
Tape 1: Super Bowl XVI recorded from WTVD on January 24, 1982 (then a CBS affiliate before the switch with WRAL in 1985). Unfortunately most commercials were cut to save space (sad because Super Bowls have some of the best commercials). This taped over a late night movie (from WRAL I believe) that aired January 17, 1982 from what I could tell from commercials, all of which were present.
Tape 2: 1981 ACC Championship from March 7, 1981, CD Chesley syndicated broadcast, probably on WRAL. All commercials were present, as well as station breaks and such.
Tape 3: Segments of incomplete games from the 1977!!!! NCAA Tournament taped off the Greenville/New Bern, NC NBC affiliate. This included the Final 4 semifinal and regional semifinal the week before. After doing some research on the unveiling of the VHS format in America, this had to have been copied from a Umatic or Beta, as from what I can tell VHS was not around in April 1977, the date of these broadcasts. Lots of airchecks and commercials in this too.
Tape 4: January 4, 1986 NC State at UNC and January 18, 1986 Duke at UNC. Both were WRAL but edited, so not too many commercials present.
All in all I got that and some other tapes in a lot for about $3.50 each, not bad for Ebay, there is some old gold to be found for sure.
I saw that North Carolina lot. I figured there would be some VERY old tapes. Glad you were able to find the 1977 NCAA tournament tape. I presume it was copied from a Betamax, obviously K-60 in those days. And having it off WITN-7 Washington/Greenville instead of a major-market NBC makes it even more rarer. I have a small clip of the 1985 NBA Finals postgame taped off WNCT w/ some commercials.
I'm surprised you were able to find home-recorded tapes at the Salvation Army, especially VK-250s! I have personally found a few at estate sales, and all have 1980s recordings on them. Later this weekend I will post results from several tapes I purchased in Ellensburg, WA, along with a couple estate sales tomorrow if applicable. Ellensburg is the county seat for Kittitas County, about 25-30 miles north of Yakima. Interesting place because the cable system carries both Seattle and Yakima for ABC, NBC and CBS. Over-the-air is translators for Yakima stations, along with a translator for KCPQ-13/Fox Seattle which is not on Charter cable.
I'm surprised you were able to find home-recorded tapes at the Salvation Army, especially VK-250s! I have personally found a few at estate sales, and all have 1980s recordings on them. Later this weekend I will post results from several tapes I purchased in Ellensburg, WA, along with a couple estate sales tomorrow if applicable. Ellensburg is the county seat for Kittitas County, about 25-30 miles north of Yakima. Interesting place because the cable system carries both Seattle and Yakima for ABC, NBC and CBS. Over-the-air is translators for Yakima stations, along with a translator for KCPQ-13/Fox Seattle which is not on Charter cable.
Didn't find any VHS tapes today at the three sales I visited (including two estate sales). So here goes, all the keepers from three different stores in Ellensburg that I visited on Friday.
Store #1 - used record store. Packed to the brim with LPs, CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes - and right in the front was a huge box of free home-recorded tapes, mainly horror and children's movies. Four out of the five were duds minus ads or from retail tapes.
Tape 1 - "Mark of the Vampire" (1935) taped off Turner Classic Movies circa 1998; episode of Powerful Women of Wrestling taped off KSTW-11 Tacoma 11/22/1987 with commercials (I presume from their channel 15 Ellensburg translator)
Store #2 - used bookstore, with free home-recorded tapes in a box. Several more unlabeled and a couple of newer Letterman tapes, but alas I couldn't take them all!
Tape 2 - Episodes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and 1:35AM sign off taped off KNDO/NBC 11/23-24/1993 with commercials (Jay's guests: Robin Williams and Harry Connick Jr., Conan's guest: Sid Caesar). After about 20 minutes of off-air static, the recording ends and reverts to a partial episode of Rush Limbaugh and 12:30AM sign off taped off KAPP/ABC in late November 1992 w/ commercials. Rest of the tape (3 hrs+) is blank. I presume it was taped from the ch 31 NBC and ch 63 ABC translators in Ellensburg, and not coming from Ahtanum Ridge.
Tape 3 - Most of Part 1 of "Out of Africa" taped off KIMA/CBS 7/21/1991 with commercials and first several seconds of the CBS Sunday Night News; episodes of General Hospital and Oprah Winfrey taped off KAPP/ABC in late July 1991 with commercials; part 2 of "Out of Africa" and about half of KIMA NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 7/23/1991 with commercials
Tape 4 - Several KIMA News at 11 clips from 2/1, 2/2, 2/3 and 2/4/1999, episodes of The Late Show with David Letterman, PGA Highlights and first few minutes of The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder taped off KIMA/CBS 2/4-5/1999 with commercials (Letterman's guest: Mel Gibson), partial segment of The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder taped off KIMA/CBS early morning 2/3/1999 w/ commercials; most of an episode of The Late Show with David Letterman taped off KIMA/CBS 1/1-2/1999 with commercials; partial episode of The Rosie O'Donnell Show (summer rerun) and full Oprah Winfrey taped off KGO-7 San Francisco in July 1998 with commercials; first few minutes of KGO Eyewitness News at 5 taped 4/6/1998; a few minutes of Dallas off TNN before the tape goes blank. If taped in Ellensburg, KIMA's translator was ch 51 (K51BD).
Tape 5 - Episode of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson taped off KNDO/NBC 5/21-22/1992 with commercials (second to last episode); yet another copy of the Carson finale taped off KNDO/NBC 5/22-23/1992 with commercials, but with a twist - it also has the full Late Night with David Letterman broadcast from that night, thus new commercial breaks from this evening, and the sign-off. I still have two more copies of the same program off the same station! After the sign-off, the tape reverts to a partial episode of Oprah Winfrey taped off KAPP/ABC in May 1992 with commercials
Tape 6 - Dame Edna's Hollywood taped off KNDO/NBC 11/30/1991 with commercials (This is the second aircheck I have from KNDO from this day. The first aircheck has about 90 minutes of Saturday morning cartoons taped earlier that day.) Also: episodes of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman taped off KNDO/NBC in December 1991 w/ commercials and 1:30AM sign off (Carson originally aired 9/12/1990 with Patrick Duffy, Letterman originally aired 12/11/1990 with Isabella Rossellini); episode of Late Night with David Letterman taped off KNDO/NBC early morning 8/10/1991 with commercials and 1:30am sign off
Tape 7 - Episode of Boston Legal and about half of KAPP Local News at 11 taped off KAPP/ABC on 5/9/2006 with commercials; part of "Milk Money" (1994) and "The River Wild" (1994) taped off Request PPV 4/15/1995 with promos before the second movie
Store #3 - Ellensburg Goodwill. Odd story about this tape. They don't carry home-recorded videos in their VHS section unsurprisingly, but there were several VCRs for sale. There was a GoldStar VCR on the rack, ironically with a sticker on the front saying 'don't forget the blank tape!' What was inside? A TDK VHS tape, still inside when the original owner donated it! Another VCR nearby also still had a tape inside, but alas it was a retail tape. They actually sold the VHS by itself to me instead of confiscating it.
Tape 8 - "Starship Troopers" (1997) and "Scream 2" (1997) taped off Viewer's Choice PPV in June 1998 with promos after the first movie. Haven't checked the rest yet.
I also grabbed a rare 1985 VHS of the Walt Disney film 'The Incredible Journey', this film was from 1963. Original white striped clamshell and tape!
BTW, I also received a lot of Boise tapes last month from eBay. Some of what I've found:
Tape 1 - "Cry Baby" (1990), "Everything But Trouble" (1991) and "Dutch" (1991) copied from rentals; partial broadcast of the 1993 BellSouth Classic taped off KBCI-2/CBS 5/9/1993 w/ commercials
Tape 2 - Episodes of Law & Order and Charmed taped off TNT 9/23/2003 with commercials
Tape 3 - Series finale of Melrose Place and season finale of Ally McBeal taped off KTRV-12/FOX 5/24/1999 w/ commercials (off-air recording with poor audio at times); partial broadcast of A Celebration of Champions taped off KTVB/NBC 11/2/1996 with commercials; about 10 minutes of Days of Our Lives taped off KTVB/NBC 10/30/1996 ends the tape
Tape 4 - "The Last Dragon" (1985) and "Armed and Dangerous" (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channels; episodes of Tenchi Universe (anime series) and Dragon Ball Z taped off Cartoon Network in June 2001 w/ commercials, also includes an episode of The Flintstones from the same time
Tape 5 - Most of "The Polar Express" (2004) taped off ABC Family in December 2007 w/ commercials
Tape 6 - "The Bear" (1988) and "Bingo" (1991) copied from rental tapes; episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KTVB-7/NBC 5/17/1993 w/ commercials; last 15 minutes of The Sword in the Stone copied from rental tape; partial episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KTVB/NBC 9/8/1992 with commercials; partial episode of Jenny Jones taped off KIVI-6 Boise in September 1992 w/ commercials
Tape 7 - "Missing in Action II" (1985) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; most of "Hell is for Heroes" (1962) taped off KTRV-12 Boise's "Midnight Movie" on (presumed) New Year's Day 1993 w/ commercials and 2:00am sign off
Tape 8 - Variety of children's movies both partial and complete off rental tapes - Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Dumbo and Rock-A-Doodle; partial episode (about 40 minutes in SP mode) of General Hospital taped off KIVI-6/ABC Boise in March 1992 w/ commercials, tape runs out before the end of the episode
Other tapes contained episodes of Passions and Days of Our Lives from various dates, 1993-2001, along with more 2001 footage w/ commercials from Cartoon Network (one tape contained several episodes both partial and full of Dexter's Laboratory), and a long aircheck of Fox Kids programming taped 12/2/2000 from KTRV-12. I also found an episode of Oprah Winfrey taped off KTVB 1/29/2009 with commercials, and most of the 2nd half of Super Bowl XLIII. Almost finished with the entire lot.
Store #1 - used record store. Packed to the brim with LPs, CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes - and right in the front was a huge box of free home-recorded tapes, mainly horror and children's movies. Four out of the five were duds minus ads or from retail tapes.
Tape 1 - "Mark of the Vampire" (1935) taped off Turner Classic Movies circa 1998; episode of Powerful Women of Wrestling taped off KSTW-11 Tacoma 11/22/1987 with commercials (I presume from their channel 15 Ellensburg translator)
Store #2 - used bookstore, with free home-recorded tapes in a box. Several more unlabeled and a couple of newer Letterman tapes, but alas I couldn't take them all!
Tape 2 - Episodes of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and 1:35AM sign off taped off KNDO/NBC 11/23-24/1993 with commercials (Jay's guests: Robin Williams and Harry Connick Jr., Conan's guest: Sid Caesar). After about 20 minutes of off-air static, the recording ends and reverts to a partial episode of Rush Limbaugh and 12:30AM sign off taped off KAPP/ABC in late November 1992 w/ commercials. Rest of the tape (3 hrs+) is blank. I presume it was taped from the ch 31 NBC and ch 63 ABC translators in Ellensburg, and not coming from Ahtanum Ridge.
Tape 3 - Most of Part 1 of "Out of Africa" taped off KIMA/CBS 7/21/1991 with commercials and first several seconds of the CBS Sunday Night News; episodes of General Hospital and Oprah Winfrey taped off KAPP/ABC in late July 1991 with commercials; part 2 of "Out of Africa" and about half of KIMA NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 7/23/1991 with commercials
Tape 4 - Several KIMA News at 11 clips from 2/1, 2/2, 2/3 and 2/4/1999, episodes of The Late Show with David Letterman, PGA Highlights and first few minutes of The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder taped off KIMA/CBS 2/4-5/1999 with commercials (Letterman's guest: Mel Gibson), partial segment of The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder taped off KIMA/CBS early morning 2/3/1999 w/ commercials; most of an episode of The Late Show with David Letterman taped off KIMA/CBS 1/1-2/1999 with commercials; partial episode of The Rosie O'Donnell Show (summer rerun) and full Oprah Winfrey taped off KGO-7 San Francisco in July 1998 with commercials; first few minutes of KGO Eyewitness News at 5 taped 4/6/1998; a few minutes of Dallas off TNN before the tape goes blank. If taped in Ellensburg, KIMA's translator was ch 51 (K51BD).
Tape 5 - Episode of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson taped off KNDO/NBC 5/21-22/1992 with commercials (second to last episode); yet another copy of the Carson finale taped off KNDO/NBC 5/22-23/1992 with commercials, but with a twist - it also has the full Late Night with David Letterman broadcast from that night, thus new commercial breaks from this evening, and the sign-off. I still have two more copies of the same program off the same station! After the sign-off, the tape reverts to a partial episode of Oprah Winfrey taped off KAPP/ABC in May 1992 with commercials
Tape 6 - Dame Edna's Hollywood taped off KNDO/NBC 11/30/1991 with commercials (This is the second aircheck I have from KNDO from this day. The first aircheck has about 90 minutes of Saturday morning cartoons taped earlier that day.) Also: episodes of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman taped off KNDO/NBC in December 1991 w/ commercials and 1:30AM sign off (Carson originally aired 9/12/1990 with Patrick Duffy, Letterman originally aired 12/11/1990 with Isabella Rossellini); episode of Late Night with David Letterman taped off KNDO/NBC early morning 8/10/1991 with commercials and 1:30am sign off
Tape 7 - Episode of Boston Legal and about half of KAPP Local News at 11 taped off KAPP/ABC on 5/9/2006 with commercials; part of "Milk Money" (1994) and "The River Wild" (1994) taped off Request PPV 4/15/1995 with promos before the second movie
Store #3 - Ellensburg Goodwill. Odd story about this tape. They don't carry home-recorded videos in their VHS section unsurprisingly, but there were several VCRs for sale. There was a GoldStar VCR on the rack, ironically with a sticker on the front saying 'don't forget the blank tape!' What was inside? A TDK VHS tape, still inside when the original owner donated it! Another VCR nearby also still had a tape inside, but alas it was a retail tape. They actually sold the VHS by itself to me instead of confiscating it.
Tape 8 - "Starship Troopers" (1997) and "Scream 2" (1997) taped off Viewer's Choice PPV in June 1998 with promos after the first movie. Haven't checked the rest yet.
I also grabbed a rare 1985 VHS of the Walt Disney film 'The Incredible Journey', this film was from 1963. Original white striped clamshell and tape!
BTW, I also received a lot of Boise tapes last month from eBay. Some of what I've found:
Tape 1 - "Cry Baby" (1990), "Everything But Trouble" (1991) and "Dutch" (1991) copied from rentals; partial broadcast of the 1993 BellSouth Classic taped off KBCI-2/CBS 5/9/1993 w/ commercials
Tape 2 - Episodes of Law & Order and Charmed taped off TNT 9/23/2003 with commercials
Tape 3 - Series finale of Melrose Place and season finale of Ally McBeal taped off KTRV-12/FOX 5/24/1999 w/ commercials (off-air recording with poor audio at times); partial broadcast of A Celebration of Champions taped off KTVB/NBC 11/2/1996 with commercials; about 10 minutes of Days of Our Lives taped off KTVB/NBC 10/30/1996 ends the tape
Tape 4 - "The Last Dragon" (1985) and "Armed and Dangerous" (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channels; episodes of Tenchi Universe (anime series) and Dragon Ball Z taped off Cartoon Network in June 2001 w/ commercials, also includes an episode of The Flintstones from the same time
Tape 5 - Most of "The Polar Express" (2004) taped off ABC Family in December 2007 w/ commercials
Tape 6 - "The Bear" (1988) and "Bingo" (1991) copied from rental tapes; episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KTVB-7/NBC 5/17/1993 w/ commercials; last 15 minutes of The Sword in the Stone copied from rental tape; partial episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KTVB/NBC 9/8/1992 with commercials; partial episode of Jenny Jones taped off KIVI-6 Boise in September 1992 w/ commercials
Tape 7 - "Missing in Action II" (1985) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; most of "Hell is for Heroes" (1962) taped off KTRV-12 Boise's "Midnight Movie" on (presumed) New Year's Day 1993 w/ commercials and 2:00am sign off
Tape 8 - Variety of children's movies both partial and complete off rental tapes - Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Dumbo and Rock-A-Doodle; partial episode (about 40 minutes in SP mode) of General Hospital taped off KIVI-6/ABC Boise in March 1992 w/ commercials, tape runs out before the end of the episode
Other tapes contained episodes of Passions and Days of Our Lives from various dates, 1993-2001, along with more 2001 footage w/ commercials from Cartoon Network (one tape contained several episodes both partial and full of Dexter's Laboratory), and a long aircheck of Fox Kids programming taped 12/2/2000 from KTRV-12. I also found an episode of Oprah Winfrey taped off KTVB 1/29/2009 with commercials, and most of the 2nd half of Super Bowl XLIII. Almost finished with the entire lot.