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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

Three tapes found at two yard sales today. One was a dud (Maid to Order [1987] copied from rental), but got two keepers as well.

TAPE 1: Local encore presentation of the 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Miami Hurricanes taped from WSYX in Columbus on 1/12/2003 with commercials--game originally aired on ABC on 1/3/2003, but WSYX rebroadcast it by viewers' request; The Ohio State Buckeyes: A Time and Change (documentary hosted by 10TV Eyewitness News sports anchor Jeff Hogan) and 10TV Eyewitness News coverage of the Buckeyes' victory celebration taped from WBNS in Columbus on 1/18/2003 with a few commercials. All of this footage was copied from recordings on a DirecTV DVR.

TAPE 2: NBC 4 coverage of the Ohio State Buckeyes' national championship victory celebration taped from WCMH in Columbus on 1/18/2003, also copied from a DirecTV DVR recording with some commercials--also copied from a DirecTV DVR recording
 
Even more tapes found this past Sunday at a storage unit sale just around the corner from my house!

TAPE 1: Columbo: A Trace of Murder (ABC made-for-TV movie) taped from WEWS on 5/15/1997 with commercials and first few minutes of News Channel 5 at 11:00 with Ted Henry and Lorna Barrett; partially taped-over showing of Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) taped from Starz in April 1997 with some promos after the movie; The Arrival (1996) and In the Gloaming (1997) taped from HBO on 4/20/1997 with promos before each movie. Kodak T-120.

TAPE 2: Snoopy Come Home (1972) taped from the Disney Channel in December 1996 with a few promos before the movie; Magic Island (1995) taped from the Disney Channel circa December 1996; Rock-a-Doodle (1991) taped from the Disney Channel circa December 1996; A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) taped from the Disney Channel circa December 1996. TDK T-120.

TAPE 3: Episode of The X-Files ("Christmas Carol") taped from WJW on 12/7/1997 with commercials; Breast Men (1997) and partial broadcast of Boxing After Dark taped from HBO on 12/13/1997 with promos in between. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 4: Save Our History episode "The Underground Railroad" taped from the History Channel on 2/20/1999 with commercials; episode of Tales from the Tower taped from TLC in February 1999 with commercials; last few minutes of the final round of the 1998 Tour Championship and Don't Be a Target: Your Family's Guide to Crime Prevention (syndicated special hosted by Dennis Franz) joined in progress taped from WEWS on 11/1/1998 with commercials (I already have a tape of the Wonderful World of Disney presentation of 101 Dalmatians that aired that night); partially taped-over broadcast of the final round of the 1998 PGA Championship and partial broadcast of 60 Minutes taped from WOIO on 8/16/1998 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 5: Zeus and Roxanne (1997) taped from HBO circa 1998; most of Gargantua (Fox made-for-TV movie) taped from WJW on 5/19/1998 with commercials, weather advisory messages appear on-screen throughout the movie and aerial reception of the station worsens later in the recording. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 6: Part two of Titanic (1996 CBS miniseries) and first few minutes of CBS 19 News at 11 with Kevin Cokely and Denise Dufala taped from WOIO on 5/26/1998 with commercials (I already have part one of this miniseries taped from its original broadcast); partially taped-over episode of The X-Files taped from WJW on 4/19/1998 with commercials; partially taped-over broadcast of Round 2 of the 1998 Buick Invitational (mostly taped highlights from earlier in the tournament because of the rain delay that day) taped from ESPN on 2/8/1998 with commercials; partially taped-over broadcast of the final round of the 1997 Tour Championship taped from WEWS on 11/2/1997 with commercials; partial broadcast of Round 3 of the 1997 Tour Championship taped from ESPN on 10/31/1997 with commercials. Fuji T-120 (supposedly it originally had coverage of the 1988 Masters on it).

TAPE 7: Part four of Titanic: The Legend Lives On (1994 documentary miniseries) taped from A&E in March 1998 with commercials; partially taped-over broadcast of Round 3 of the 1998 Nissan Open, CBS 19 News at 6 weekend edition with Mike O'Mara and Cynthia Barnes and first segment of CBS Evening News with Paula Zahn taped from WOIO on 2/28/1998 with commercials; partially taped-over NFL on NBC broadcast of Tennessee Oilers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (with WKYC sports anchor Jim Donovan as one of the commentators, ironic since he's now the voice of the Browns!), Sun America Postgame Report with Greg Gumbel, rebroadcast of Meet the Press with Tim Russert joined in progress (only about the last 10-15 minutes), episode of Baywatch and first segment of Channel 3 News at 6:00 weekend edition with Steve Miles and Cheryle Keck taped from WKYC on 9/28/1997 with commercials. Kodak T-120.

TAPE 8: Pocahontas (1995) taped from WEWS (Wonderful World of Disney) on 3/1/1998 with commercials; episode of The X-Files taped from WJW on 3/1/1998 with commercials (including a Mr. Hero commercial that featured two friends of mine from high school as actors--what are the odds!) Fuji T-160.

TAPE 9: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century (1999) taped from Disney Channel on 1/23/1999 with promos during the movie; Wish Upon a Star (1996) and LeAnn Rimes in Concert taped from Disney Channel in February 1999 with promos during and in between programs, intershows also included a couple of Zoog Disney music videos ("Take Me" by Lari White and "Crush" by Jennifer Paige). Maxell T-120.

TAPE 10: Episode of The X-Files taped from WJW on 3/16/1997 with commercials; Twister (1996) taped from HBO in April 1997 with promos before the movie; partial episode of National Geographic Explorer ("Deep Sea Detective") and partial broadcast of Big Trouble in Little China (1986) taped from TBS Superstation in April 1997 with commercials; episode of The X-Files taped from WJW on 4/13/1997 with commercials and first couple minutes of Fox 8 News at Ten weekend edition with Wayne Dawson and Kathy Kronenberger. TDK T-120.

TAPE 11: Most of the final round of the 97th U.S. Open Championship taped from WKYC on Father's Day 1997 with commercials. TDK T-120.
 
Last week went to an estate sale and also scored...and never posted my finds. I still have one more tape to get through.
Tape 1 - 'True Women' part 1 taped off KIMA/CBS 5/18/1997 with commercials; partial clip of Personal FX taped off FX (I presume) 5/19/1997
Tape 2 - Eloise at the Plaza (Wonderful World of Disney) taped off KAPP/ABC 4/27/2003 with commercials; 'A Painted House' (2003/Hallmark Hall of Fame) taped the same night off KIMA/CBS with Hallmark ads and a local break; 'Eloise at Christmastime' taped off ABC Family 12/18/2003 with commercials; partial rerun of The Simpsons taped off KIMA/29 on 4th of July 2003 with commercials; another partial rerun of The Simpsons taped off KIMA/29 7/7/2003 with commercials
Tape 3 - Episode of Looney Tunes taped off unknown channel minus commercials circa early 1990s; episode of Samurai Jack taped off Cartoon Network 9/20/2002 with commercials; partial broadcast of 'The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones' (1987), 200 Centuries of Cartoon Women and partial broadcast of WCW Saturday Night taped off TBS 6/11/1994 with commercials
Tape 4 - Partial episode of Empty Nest, Nurses and part of Sisters taped off KNDO/NBC 9/21/1991 with awful reception in black and white (the owner used to live in Selah, and had a big hill blocking line of sight south); partial episode of Unsolved Mysteries, full episodes of Night Court and My Two Dads and part of Quantum Leap taped off KNDO/NBC 11/15/1989 with commercials
Tape 5 - 'Blank Check' (1994) copied from rental tape; after tape ends, there's about 15 minutes of WGN/9 News from 8/19/1994 with commercials, fed through the second VCR used to copy the rental tape
Tape 6 - 'Brush with Fate' (2003/Hallmark) taped off KIMA/CBS 2/2/2003 with Hallmark ads and local break - I already have this same broadcast including the news, two Seinfeld reruns and the sign off. Also includes: part of 'The Pennsylvania Miner's Story' (2002) taped off KAPP/ABC 11/24/2002 with commercials; part of 'Hope Floats' (1998) taped off KAPP/ABC 1/22/2001 with commercials; most of 'Babe' (1995) taped off KAPP/ABC 1/28/2001 with commercials
 
More tapes found at a garage sale on Saturday. Some finds weren't bad, but others weren't all that great. For one thing, one tape--an MGM T-120 supposedly containing a Backstreet Boys performance at the American Music Awards (unknown year) and the movie Dirty Dancing (1987) turned out to have a broken tape guard that I didn't notice until I brought these home. Here's what I found on the others:

TAPE 1: Starts with the first couple of minutes of Lucky 7 (2003 ABC Family movie), then gets taped over with one partial and one full episode of Disaster Date and one full and one partial episode of Teen Cribs taped from MTV on 4/26/2010 with commercials; then reverts to a couple of hours of footage from Gary Smalley's VHS series Hidden Keys to Loving Relationships copied from rental tapes, tape ends with a couple of minutes of a WOIO CBS 19 News at 11 weekend broadcast with Cynthia Barnes circa December 1998, fed through the second VCR used to copy the Gary Smalley tapes. Sony T-120.

TAPE 2: Raising Helen (2004), episode of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency and partial episode of Tyra ("Inside an Eating Disorder Clinic") taped from Oxygen in March 2007 with commercials; partially taped-over Movie 5 presentation of Mesmerized (1985), about 30 minutes of ABC World News Now with Derek McGinty and Liz Cho and first nine minutes of First Business taped from WEWS on 4/9/2002 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 3: State Fair (1945) taped from AMC circa 1988, including part of Bob Dorian's introduction; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1988. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 4: The American President (1995) taped from TBS Superstation circa December 1998 minus commercials; Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and most of CBS 19 News at 11 with Kevin Cokely and Cynthia Tinsley (fill-in for Denise Dufala) taped from WOIO on 1/4/1999 with commercials, school closings for the next day are shown on screen throughout the movie and throughout the newscast, and yes, my alma mater was one of the schools closed because of that night's snowstorm. MGM T-120.

TAPE 5: Picture This (ABC Family made-for-TV movie) taped from ABC Family on 7/13/2008, some commercial breaks are included, others are cut out; last few minutes of Under Siege (1992) taped from unknown pay TV channel sometime in the mid 1990s; Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, episodes of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Hannah Montana and partial episode of That's So Raven taped from Disney Channel on 7/26/2008 with promos during the shows. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 6: Most of an episode of Dr. Phil ("Babysitter Gone Bad," currently airs in rotation on OWN), Channel 3 News at Six with Romona Robinson, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and first few minutes of Channel 3 News at Seven taped from WKYC on 5/13/2008 with commercials; partial episode of 7th Heaven taped from WBNX on 11/22/1999 minus commercials. MGM T-120.

TAPE 7: The Cutting Edge (1992), The Cutting Edge 2: Going for the Gold (2006 ABC Family movie), encore presentation of The Cutting Edge, Murad infomercial and partial Slendertone infomercial taped from ABC Family on March 12-13, 2006 with commercials; partially taped-over Total Gym infomercial, Ab Lounge XL and Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety infomercials taped from ABC Family circa January 2006 with commercials in between. Sony T-160.

TAPE 8: Starts with the first couple minutes of the final episode of Dawson's Creek taped from WBNX on 5/14/2003, then gets taped over with Eloise at Christmastime (2003 ABC movie) taped from ABC Family on 12/24/2006 with commercials; episode of American Dreams taped from WKYC on 5/18/2003 minus commercials; episode of 7th Heaven taped from WBNX on 5/19/2003 minus commercials; episode of Everybody Loves Raymond taped from WOIO on 5/19/2003 minus commercials; episode of Gilmore Girls taped from WBNX on 5/20/2003 with commercials. Fuji T-120.
 
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I haven't updated in a few weeks because I'm still going through many new tapes. I have received two huge lots from two separate estate sales, and another 18-tape lot from Montana that seems to have Spokane (and a bit of late 1980s Washington DC stuff) on them. I also found three tapes in Ellensburg, not the greatest finds compared to the last visit in March (someone must have taken the rest of the Letterman/Carson/Leno tapes that were free...)

Ellensburg 7/21/17
Tape 1 - 'Island of Terror' (1966) taped off TBS 6/3/1989 with commercials; 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' (1951) copied from rental tape; 'It Came from Outer Space' taped off unknown channel with no commercials (suspect AMC).
Tape 2 - Several Shirley Temple movies taped off Fox Movie Channel in early 2005 (no promos); ends with Headlines segment from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno taped off unknown NBC station 4/25/2005 with a couple of commercials afterwards
Tape 3 - Three episodes of The Munsters taped off TV Land in May 2004, one with commercials and two minus commercials; most of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977) taped off Disney Channel circa 1998

THE BEST estate sale I've ever been to...two separate loads on Sat 7/22 and Sun 7/23! The man who passed away owned a local lumber store in Yakima, and used to live out in the country on a 10-acre horse farm west of Yakima. They later moved into town about 15 years ago up to their passing. They got a VHS VCR when they first came out. They also got a C-Band satellite system in 1983, back when everything was unscrambled and in the clear - even HBO. INCREDIBLY RARE TAPES - the oldest footage ever found from Yakima, and my oldest home-recorded VHS ever!
Saturday's load first, Sunday's second.

Tape 1 - 'Swamp Thing' (1982) taped off Showtime circa March 1983; 'Death Wish II' (1981) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Death Hunt' (1981), Aerobicise and part of My Seventeenth Summer taped off Showtime 3/23/1983 with lots of promos after Death Hunt. Maxell T-120.
Tape 2 - Episode of Black Gold taped off truTV in October 2009 with commercials; CBS Sports Spectacular taped off KIMA-DT/CBS in October 2009 with commercials (PBR 2009 in Review); partial episode and two full episodes of World's Toughest Fixes taped off National Geographic in October 2009 with commercials; ends with partial broadcasts of CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and KIMA Action News at 6 taped 10/30/2009 with commercials (anchors Melissa Wagner and David Klugh). Disappointingly, taped over older content on a 1980s Sony Dynamicron tape.
Tape 3 - 'Smoky' (1966) and 'Sylvester' (1985) taped off Cinemax 7/6/1987 with promos in between the movies; 'Archer' (1986), Ozzie & Harriet and part of 'Those Glory, Glory Days' (1983) taped off Disney Channel 8/26/1987 with promos in between the programs. RCA T-120 SelectaVision
Tape 4 - 'Thunderhead: Son of Flicka' (1945) taped off KNDO/23 Yakima (NBC), some commercials paused, others kept in, taped AUGUST 29TH, 1981 (Not my oldest VHS ever) After the movie is 'Miracle of the White Stallions' (1963) taped off Disney Channel in February 1985. This is followed by a partial broadcast of 'The Country Western Murders' (1979) taped off KNDO/NBC 8/29/1981 minus commercials; clip of Another World taped off KNDO/NBC 7/28/1981 with commercials; another clip of Another World taped off KNDO/NBC 7/24/1981 with commercials; and a dream come true: the end of the Miss USA Pageant and the opening to NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 5/21/1981 with commercials!! This is one of a kind footage! But it's not over yet: there's about 15 minutes of Merv Griffin afterwards taped off KNDO/23 3/4/1981 with commercials! Merv used to air at 3:30 weekdays on KNDO. Curtis Mathes T-120.
Tape 5 - At least ten episodes of The Newlywed Game taped off KAPP/35 in 1980/81 minus commercials - still an excellent find. I can't tell what year exactly they were taped. RCA VK-250.
Tape 6 - 'The Town Bully' (1988) taped off KAPP/ABC 7/7/1991 with commercials; 'Misery' (1990) taped off Viewer's Choice PPV circa July 1991; partial broadcast of the Fujicolor Hi-Speed Stakes taped off unknown channel in July 1991 with one commercial (The Sporting News). After about 30 minutes of static comes 'Road House' (1989) taped off First Choice (Canadian movie channel) in July 1990 with promos before the movie. First Choice is now The Movie Network, and for most of its time served only Eastern Canada. Unless they had a gray-market subscription on C-Band, I have no idea how someone in Yakima, WA could get a Canadian premium channel. They were located on Anik E2, channel 4.
Tape 7 - Tape is full of Christmas specials from December 1984. Included: The First Christmas and Pinocchio's Christmas taped off Showtime; Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey taped off unknown channel (no commercials); Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Small One, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, Snow Foolin' (short) and some Mickey Mouse holiday shorts taped off Disney Channel. Ends with most of 'Three Warriors' (1978) taped off Disney Channel in December 1984 with promos.
Tape 8 - 'Mary Poppins' (1964) taped off Disney Channel in October 1984; 'Charlotte's Web' (1973) taped off HBO in September 1988; episode of Welcome to Pooh Corner taped off Disney Channel in October 1984 with promos and free preview segments with Michael Young (Family Weekend...well not to C-Band subscribers as it was in the clear back then!); 'The Golden Seal' (1983) taped off Showtime circa late 1984
Tape 9 - Mixtape of various Mt. St. Helens specials. Eruption!: St. Helens Explodes taped off KIMA/29 Yakima in late May or early June 1980! - unfortunately no commercials; NOVA episode 'Anatomy of a Volcano' taped off PBS 2/10/1981; 'St. Helens' (1981) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; Mt. St. Helens: 10 Years After taped off KAPP-35 5/18/1990 minus commercials; KNDO First at 5 and KAPP 35 News clips taped 5/18/1995; The Fire Below Us: Mt. St. Helens taped off unknown channel in May 1995 (host Grant Goodeve); Mt. St. Helens: Then and Now and partial episode of Entertainment Tonight taped off KAPP-35 5/18/2000 with commercials. Very old Memorex T-120.
Tape 10 - Many episodes of The New Newlywed Game taped in 1986, almost all commercials cut out. Scotch T-120.
Tape 11 - Partial episode and full episode of Real People taped off NBC in 1980 or 1981 minus commercials; partial broadcast of Days of Our Lives and first 30 minutes of Democratic National Convention coverage taped off KNDO/NBC in August 1980 with commercials! Curtis Mathes T-120.
Tape 12 - Various episodes of the short lived 3's a Crowd (and one episode of The Newlywed Game) - the episodes were tracked to Nov 1979-Jan 1980!!!!! Not all the 3's episodes have commercials, but some do, taped off KNDO/23. Ends with about two minutes of an episode of The Crosswits taped off KNDO/23 in January 1980.
Tape 13 - Six episodes of Black Gold taped off truTV in August-September 2009 with commercials, big difference from 1979 recordings that's for sure!
Tape 14 - More rare holiday specials, this time all from 1991: 'The Nutcracker Prince' (1990) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; Christmas with Tom and Jerry taped off Viewer's Choice PPV in December 1991 with some promos afterwards; The Christmas Tree Train and Chipmunk Christmas taped off USA Network 12/22/1991 with commercials; The Boy Who Dreamed Christmas taped off unknown channel; Jingle Bell Rap and Alien's First Christmas taped off KMGH-7 Denver 12/22/1991 with commercials (how did they get Primetime 24/Denver Six on C-Band when KIMA/CBS was just seven miles away?); Ziggy's Gift taped off Nickelodeon 12/22/1991 with commercials; end of Twice in a Lifetime taped off Showtime 4/18/1991 with some promos afterwards

Sunday's finds - even better than Saturday - and I thought Saturday 7/22 had the greatest finds ever.
Tape 15 - 'Heartburn' (1986), 'Black Widow' (1987) and 'The Bedroom Window' (1987) taped off The Movie Channel in February 1988, very brief intershow after the third movie. RCA T-120
Tape 16 - 'Justin Morgan Had a Horse' (1972) taped off Disney Channel circa late 1983 including an intershow and a Goofy cartoon; episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color taped off Disney Channel circa late 1983 (Seems There Was This Moose), 'Tonka' (1958) and part of 'Moon Pilot' taped off Disney Channel in December 1983 with promos in between. This is my oldest footage from the network. They had just signed on eight months prior. Memorex T-120
Tape 17 - Cinderella live-action movie taped off The Movie Channel circa 1984 (accidentally gets taped over for about 5 minutes by an unknown movie taped off KNDO/23 in May 1991 with commercials); 'Misty' (1961) taped off Cinemax circa 1984; 'Atta Girl, Kelly!' and a full episode of Mouseterpiece Theater taped off Disney Channel in February 1984 with lots of promos. Scotch T-120
Tape 18 - 'Police Academy' (1984) taped off SelecTV circa 1985 (based off TV listing clipping on tape); 'Eddie Macon's Run' (1983) taped off The Movie Channel circa June 1985; partial broadcast of Mickey Mouse Club (original), Donald Duck Presents and The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin taped off Disney Channel in December 1984 with promos. Scotch T-120
Tape 19 - Here's my oldest footage ever on a home-recorded videotape (VHS or Beta), overall and from Yakima! 'The Bible' (1966) taped off KAPP/ABC 10/26/1979, some commercial breaks edited, others were left in! This was the ABC Friday Night Movie airing. But that's not all as the tape contains HALF OF ACTION NEWS 35 AT 11 AFTERWARDS!!!! After 3 hours, the broadcast of Action News is taped over by partial broadcasts of The Merv Griffin Show and Hour Magazine taped off KNDO/23 12/23/1981 with commercials; then reverts back to 10/26-27/1979 KAPP programming with a partial Charlie's Angels rerun. Incredible to find something like this on VHS in this day and age, coming from a market this small of size. I might see this more often with estates in NYC, Los Angeles or Chicago, but never in market #122! Unknown tape, suspect RCA VK250.
Tape 20 - 'Smokey and the Bandit' (1977) taped off Showtime circa 1983; 'For Your Eyes Only' (1981) taped off Showtime circa 1983; 'The Last Chase' (1981) and part of Red Skelton's Funny Faces III taped off HBO 6/6/1983 with lots of promos in between. Curtis Mathes T-120.
Tape 21 - The Velveteen Rabbit cartoon taped off unknown pay-TV channel; The Get-Along Gang (cartoon) taped off HBO in February 1987; Dorothy in the Land of Oz taped off HBO in February 1987; The Red Balloon taped off Showtime in February 1987; partial episode of Matlock, 'Doing Life' (1986), NewsCenter 23 and The Tonight Show (guest host Bill Cosby) taped off KNDO/NBC 9/23/1986 with commercials.
Tape 22 - 'The Yearling' (1946) taped off an unknown station in 1980 minus commercials (SFM Holiday Network), 'Old Yeller' (1957) taped off Disney Channel in 1984; partial episode of Another World taped off KNDO/NBC in December 1980 with some commercials; partial broadcast of Saturday Night Live taped off KNDO/NBC early morning 12/7/1980 with commercials - oldest ever SNL clip found by yours truly! Still looking for some more classic SNLs...Mr. Bill skits, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, the whole works. GE T-120.
Tape 23 - 'Mr. Mom' (1983) and part of Dottie West: Full Circle taped off Showtime in August 1984 with promos; 'Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation' (1962) taped off The Movie Channel in August 1984; 'Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.' (1966) and part of Happy Trails with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans taped off Disney Channel 8/17/1984 with loads of promos. St. Regis T-120 (the box is a ripoff of what Dupont was using at the time for their tape boxes)
Tape 24 - An Evening with Englebert taped off HBO in September 1986; The Lady is a Champ: Barbara Mandrell taped off HBO in late 1986; Tom Jones concert taped off Showtime sometime in late 1986; 'Elvis: That's the Way It Is' copied from rental tape; partial intershow and start of 'Never Say Never Again' taped off Home Theater Network circa 1986; partial broadcasts of Aerobicise and 'Ticket to Heaven' (1981) taped off Showtime 1/19/1984 with promos. Memorex T-120.
Tape 25 - Kenny & Dolly: Real Love taped off HBO in July 1985; Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember taped off KIMA/CBS 12/18/1985 with commercials; Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii taped off Disney Channel in 1988. Tape then reverts back to KIMA/29 on 12/18-19/1985, with a partial NewsBeat at 11, CBS Late Night with T.J. Hooker, 'Dark Places' (1973) and the sign-off! I didn't know this, but KIMA used to air a pre-taped weather bulletin before sign-off, kind of like what BBC-1 did with their closedowns in the UK. RCA T-120.
Tape 26 - 'Star Wars' (1977) and part of 'Caveman' (1981) taped off The Movie Channel in March 1983 with a brief intershow; part of 'The Man Who Saw Tomorrow' (1981) taped off HBO in early 1983 with some promos afterwards...which is EXACTLY the same showing that Scott2013/ChenowethRules has! Unknown T-60/VK-125 tape.

July 25th I received 18 tapes from Helena, MT. I've only had time to check one tape.
Tape 1 - Starts with an episode of Eek! Stravaganza taped off KAYU 28 Spokane/Fox Kids in March 1995 with commercials. Next is a short clip of KXLY News 4 from 1995; then a complete episode of The Price is Right taped off KREM/CBS 4/18/1995 with commercials; most of an episode of Dateline NBC taped off KHQ/NBC 4/18/1995 with commercials; most of an episode of Donahue taped off KHQ/6 4/19/1995 with commercials; St. Helens: Out of the Ash taped off KSPS/7 PBS in April 1995; and ends with a two-part episode of Due South (Victoria's Secret) taped off KREM/CBS 6/2/1995 with commercials

If you thought that wasn't enough, I went to an estate sale and grabbed over a dozen tapes this weekend, on two separate occasions. Older house close to Downtown Yakima with a 'very' musty basement. Tapes were all found down there and most play well.
Tape 1 - 'Summer Girl' (1983 TV-movie) taped off KSTW/11 7/6/1989 with commercials; 'Move Over, Darling' (1963) also taped off KSTW/11 in July 1989 with commercials; 'One Cooks, the Other Doesn't' (1983 TV-movie) taped off KSTW/11 in July 1989 with commercials
Tape 2 - Episodes of Team Knight Rider and FX: The Series taped off KIMA/29 11/23-24/1997 with commercials, cuts off before the sign-off; part of Touched By An Angel taped off KIMA/CBS 11/23/1997 with commercials (already have the full episode taped off KCTV Kansas City.)
Tape 3 - Part of the TranSouth Financial 400 taped off ESPN 3/21/1999 with commercials - SP mode so incomplete
Tape 4 - 'Norma Rae' (1979), full broadcast of The Ten O'Clock News, Barney Miller, Morton Downey Jr., and partial infomercial for the Nu-Day Diet Program, taped off KSTW/11 8/15-16/1988 with commercials; episodes of The Judge and Superior Court taped off KSTW/11 in August 1988 with commercials
Tape 5 - 'Baby Snatcher' (1992) taped off KIMA/CBS 12/29/1992 with commercials - blank after 2hrs
Tape 6 - Very end of Starting Over, and two episodes of Judge Joe Brown taped off KNDO/23 in August 2004 with commercials; episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC in August 2004 with commercials (Not done yet. There are some tape issues.)
Tape 7 - Second half of A Celebration of Country taped off KAPP/ABC 4/27/1991 with commercials (Not done yet, but also lists both parts of 'Switched at Birth' taped off KNDO/NBC 4/28/91 and 4/29/91. With most programs having commercials in this lot, I suppose this one does as well.)
Tape 8 - Two-part Knots Landing finale taped off KIMA/CBS 5/18/1989 with commercials (Not done yet)
Tape 9 - Part of 'Scrooge' (1951) taped off unknown Yakima station in December 1992 with one commercial break; 'Columbo: Sex and the Married Man' and episode of The Commish taped off KAPP/ABC 12/12/1992 with commercials
Tape 10 - 'The Long Hot Summer' (1985), Tidy Endings and most of 'The Man With One Red Shoe' (1985) taped off HBO 9/1/1989 with lots of promos
Tape 11 - 'Three On a Match' (1987) taped off KNDO/NBC Memorial Day 1991 with commercials; episodes of American Music Shop (with Willie Nelson) and The Texas Connection taped off TNN in May 1991 with commercials; about 20 minutes of Opry Backstage taped off TNN in May 1991 with commercials before the tape goes blank (at 3 hrs, 15 min)
Tape 12 - '...First Do No Harm' (1997) and part of Local News at 11 taped off KAPP/ABC 2/16/1997 with commercials
Tape 13 - 'Papa's Delicate Condition' (1963) taped off KSTW/11 in April 1988 with commercials; KIMA NewsBeat clip taped 4/21/1988 (a few commercials and most of the sports with Gary Peixoto); 'Shakedown on the Sunset Strip' (1988), KIMA NewsBeat at 11 and part of the CBS Late Night presentation of 'An American Werewolf in London' (1982) taped off KIMA/CBS 4/22-23/1988 with commercials
Tape 14 - The 20th Annual American Music Awards taped off KAPP/ABC 1/25/1993 with commercials and part of Northwest Nightcast afterwards (already have part of this, but now have the full broadcast!); A Current Affair Extra clip taped off KIMA/29 in January 1993 with commercials (short-lived weekend version, aired at 11:15PM Sundays on KIMA); A Celebration of Country taped off KIMA/CBS 2/6/1993 with commercials
There's still one or two more tapes that I haven't touched yet in THIS lot, one supposedly has 'Trading Places' and 'Assassination' taped off KSTW in the early 1990s.

Also one tiny bonus from a separate yard sale yesterday.
Tape 15 - George Carlin: Doin' it Again taped off HBO circa 1990; 'Dumb and Dumberer' (1995) and 'Leprechaun 3' (1995) copied from rentals; a few minutes of Rambo: First Blood Part II taped off USA Network 4th of July 1995 with commercials, copied from the 2nd VCR that played 'Leprechaun 3'
 
Here is one for you to figure out.......was there ever a network/station to broadcast a signal BUT it could not be taped ??

My cousin bought some old video cassettes yesterday including one that says "Angel...Super TV". ANGEL of course the mid 80s flick high school student during the day hooker at night...Super TV..oh boy !! Anyway when he turn this on it recorded Super TV alright but instead on ANGEL he got three hours of a scrambled picture with the audio "Super TV....WNUV...channel 54...Baltimore" over and over. Could it be that whoever had the cassette first was going to tape Angel on Super TV but found out later could not and after all these years....well ya know.
 
WNUV was subscription television at night, 'Super TV'. OnTV and SelecTV were very similar. OnTV aired on WSNS Chicago. They must have forgot to turn on their decoder box! A waste of three hours of tape.
 
crainbebo said:
WNUV was subscription television at night, 'Super TV'. OnTV and SelecTV were very similar. OnTV aired on WSNS Chicago. They must have forgot to turn on their decoder box! A waste of three hours of tape.
Click to expand...

I had thought that was the case but I remember hearing back then ( I long forgot who ) that Super TV had something that a show from them could not be taped. In other words whoever had Super TV you can watch the show live without any issue but if you taped it then it was scrambled and you got that instead. I never had Super TV myself so of course I can't confirm it.
 
Well, I don't think I'm ever going to top crainbebo's latest finds, but I did find a few tapes at the Litchfield Flea Market outside of Medina yesterday.

TAPE 1: Four episodes of I Love Lucy from the I Love Lucy 50th Anniversary Marathon taped from TV Land in October 2001 with commercials; The I Love Lucy 50th Anniversary Special (CBS special) taped from WOIO in Cleveland on 11/11/2001 with commercials; Christmas episode of I Love Lucy taped from TV Land in December 2001 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 2: Love Story (1970), Time Limit (1957), The Spikes Gang (1974) and part of The Thief of Paris (1967) taped from Flix in October 2002 with promos between the movies. Sony T-120.

TAPE 3: Last segment of a Jenny Jones episode and first segment of a Days of Our Lives episode taped from WKYC in Cleveland in October 1998 with a few commercials, then cuts to about an hour of blank signal; last segment of another Jenny Jones episode and full episode of Days of Our Lives taped from WKYC on 11/6/1998 with commercials; end of another Jenny Jones episode and another full episode of Days of Our Lives taped from WKYC on 10/29/1998 with commercials; 10 (1979) and part of The Crossing Guard (1995) taped from Cinemax in July 1998 with promos in between the movies. BASF T-130.

TAPE 4: Forever Young (1992) and The Man Without a Face (1993) taped from Cinemax in August 1995 with promos between the movies; part of Damnation Alley (1977) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1995. BASF T-130 taped in LP mode.

TAPE 5: To Heal a Nation (1988 NBC made-for-TV movie) copied from rental tape, 12-minute Prevue Channel aircheck taped on 1/23/1995 fed through the second VCR used to copy the movie--features program listings from Greater Rochester Cablevision in Rochester, New York. Zenith T-120.

TAPE 6: Most of NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw taped from WPXI in Pittsburgh on 1/28/1987 with commercials--one year after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster; episode of Tour of Duty taped from WTRF in Wheeling on 1/3/1989 with commercials, fuzzy aerial reception. Fuji T-120.

Another vendor at the flea market had two tubs full of VHS tapes, both prerecorded and home-recorded, but I didn't buy any from her because most of them were covered in dust and mold. Mostly movie titles written on the labels of the home-recorded tapes. One of the vendors I did buy from had several more tapes for sale that I didn't pick up. All of those had movie titles written on the labels, but as I saw from one of the tapes I did get, there might have been a possibility that some of those movies might have been taped over (i.e. the Days of Our Lives tape I got supposedly originally had Grumpy Old Men [1993] and Wolf [1994] on it).

A week and a half from now (August 10-12) is the annual Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale on the residential and business stretches of Old Lincoln Highway adjacent to US Route 30. I may or may not be able to make it to that one this year depending on certain circumstances. I went to some of the sales in the Stark County and Wayne County areas of the event two years ago and had some success. The event itself actually stretches through five different states--West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa (all you VHS collectors and TV retrophiles in those states take note!) To give you an idea of what local contents might be on tapes that could be found at some of these yard sales, the Lincoln Highway goes through these media markets in the aforementioned states...
-Pittsburgh, PA (receivable in Northeastern West Virginia)
-Wheeling, WV/Steubenville, OH
-Youngstown, OH
-Cleveland, OH (receivable in Canton, Ashland and Mansfield areas, along with indie station WMFD in Mansfield--no finds from that station yet in my collection!)
-Columbus, OH (receivable in Mansfield area via cable)
-Toledo, OH
-Lima, OH
-Fort Wayne, IN
-South Bend, IN
-Chicago, IL
-Rockford, IL
-Cedar Rapids, IA
-Des Moines, IA
-Sioux City, IA

Lastly, I did spot one VHS lot listing on eBay from South Bend that looked like it was pretty promising, but I clicked on the link one time and the listing had already ended after only one day on the site! It hadn't been sold, but a notice on the description in the expired listing said the owner wanted to check through the tapes to make sure there wasn't anything on them he wanted to keep and then he would relist the item. One of the tapes in the photo for that listing was a BASF T-200 (10 hours in SLP mode!)
 
Just to kind of clear up any confusion on one statement I made in the last post, the major cities/media markets I mentioned above are within the states of the Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sale. The Lincoln Highway itself obviously goes cross country. Sorry for the confusion if there was any.
 
Three tapes found today at an estate sale in Yakima. The original owner passed away in March and was well-known throughout the valley. He helped design the Yakima SunDome and other Yakima buildings! They lived in a gorgeous 6000+ sq ft house with three stories plus a basement.
Tape 1 - Starts with several minutes of home video footage from a 1985 track meet at Eisenhower HS/Yakima; then cuts to about half of Space (part 3 of the 1985 miniseries) and first several minutes of NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 4/15/1985 with commercials; most of part 4 of Space taped off KIMA/CBS 4/16/1985 with commercials; ends with some old 1930s MGM movie copied from rental tape
Tape 2 - 'William Eggleston in the Real World' (2005) taped off Sundance Channel in July 2008 with promos - unfortunately taped over a 1980s TV airing of the 'Superman' movie, a real shame.
Tape 3 - First hour of 'Home Alone' (1990) taped off KNDO/NBC Thanksgiving 1993 with commercials; episode of Step by Step taped off KAPP/ABC 1/21/1994 with commercials; episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman taped off KIMA/CBS 1/22/1994 with commercials; part of an episode of Great Performances (La Pastorela) taped off KYVE/PBS in December 1993 with promos afterwards; part of Return to Lonesome Dove taped off KIMA/CBS 11/14/1993 with commercials (I already have this in full), but includes the first minute of the CBS Sunday Night News afterwards with Bill Plante; some footage of the third round of the Lincoln-Mercury Kapalua International taped off KAPP/ABC 11/6/1993 with commercials; Masterpiece Theatre 'Where Angels Fear to Tread' taped off KYVE/PBS in November 1993
 
Not so much luck for me this week. I did find two tapes at an estate sale in Wadsworth today, but both turned out to be duds. The first one, a Sony T-120 without a label or case, was some strange home video footage with a camera looking down a pipe. Didn't even have any audio. Don't know what the purpose of that was. The second one, a TDK T-120 without a case, consisted of My Favorite Martian (1999) taped from Pay-Per-View circa August 1999, then cutting to two partially taped-over Pay-Per-View movies, one of them being 8MM (1999).

If anyone in Ohio is reading this and is planning on going to the Lincoln Highway Buy-Way Yard Sales coming up next week, here's a list of who's selling what throughout the state along the old highway. None of the sales I've seen on this list specifically mention anyone selling VHS tapes, but I did pick some up the last time I went to this event two years ago, so who knows? More listings will probably come up within the next few days before it starts.
http://www.historicbyway.com/shop-the-buy-way
 
They obviously had Roto Rooter, Mr. Rooter or another plumbing company take a video of their pipes in the case of slow drains, clogs or backups. I found one of those last year and threw it out as it was a complete dud.
The 'World's Longest Yard Sale' (127 Yard Sale) is going on this weekend through six states and almost 700 miles of roads. Too bad we don't have anything like that in the Northwest. Most yard sales won't list VHS tapes unless they are retail or rare. Best to try the sales with senior citizens and 55+ families selling stuff.
IF you end up going to the Lincoln Highway sales, you may have some interesting luck further east of Canton or towards Mansfield. Heading towards Minerva, Hanoverton and Lisbon, you enter the Youngstown TV market, which has more of a small-town feel. Mansfield and Bucyrus to the west get both Columbus and Cleveland on cable. Upper Sandusky (even farther west) gets Toledo, Columbus and Cleveland on cable.
 
crainbebo said:
They obviously had Roto Rooter, Mr. Rooter or another plumbing company take a video of their pipes in the case of slow drains, clogs or backups. I found one of those last year and threw it out as it was a complete dud.
The 'World's Longest Yard Sale' (127 Yard Sale) is going on this weekend through six states and almost 700 miles of roads. Too bad we don't have anything like that in the Northwest. Most yard sales won't list VHS tapes unless they are retail or rare. Best to try the sales with senior citizens and 55+ families selling stuff.
IF you end up going to the Lincoln Highway sales, you may have some interesting luck further east of Canton or towards Mansfield. Heading towards Minerva, Hanoverton and Lisbon, you enter the Youngstown TV market, which has more of a small-town feel. Mansfield and Bucyrus to the west get both Columbus and Cleveland on cable. Upper Sandusky (even farther west) gets Toledo, Columbus and Cleveland on cable.
Click to expand...

One of these days, I hope to stumble upon content from WMFD Channel 68, an independent station in Mansfield. They have always had some interesting programs on that station, both local and syndicated. The local programs and commercials on WMFD remind me a lot of what you'd see in a smaller market. It would be even more interesting to find footage from when the station's call letters were WCOM. I found this montage of promos from that era on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJjv6RZch0E

Another interesting indie station that I hope to find video of someday is WOAC Channel 67 in Canton. I don't think they had as many local programs as WCOM/WMFD did (other than The Son of Ghoul Show), but when it was independent, I didn't watch enough of the station to know for sure. I do know that WOAC did serve as a secondary CBS affiliate at times in the late '80s and early '90s though (WJW was Cleveland's CBS affiliate prior to 1994). In fact, they aired The Pat Sajak Show late at night when WJW didn't. WOAC later became an affiliate of InTV (infomercial network), then Shop at Home Network and is now WRLM Channel 47, an affiliate of TCT.
At one point, I did find a tape with a WOAC recording of Rambo: First Blood (1982) taped in 1994, but the tape really messed up my VCR heads when I played it back and I had to have them cleaned.

I did find some local stuff from Youngstown last year when I went on a family road trip and stopped by a flea market in Niles. Only Youngstown stations I don't have footage from are WYFX Channel 62, the market's low-powered Fox affiliate, and WBCB Channel 21.2, the area's WB affiliate that was launched in 2004 (now a CW affiliate). I did find some tapes recorded from some surprisingly distant locations at that flea market though, such as Mankato, Minnesota (KEYC); Fort Myers, Florida (WGCU) and South Bend, Indiana (WNIT). I already have a medium-sized amount of Toledo and Columbus footage.
 
Just one tape found at a neighborhood yard sale in Wadsworth yesterday. Actually, even though this homeowner was in the same neighborhood with all the other sales, all he really did was put a bunch of stuff out by the curb to give away for free, so this one ended up being a freebie. In terms of VHS tapes, he also had several retail tapes to give away (mostly kids and family movies) as well as one other home-recorded tape supposedly containing episodes of Teletubbies and Noddy, which I left alone. On the tape I did pick up, here's what I found...
-Dr. Seuss: The Cat in the Hat, The Little Mermaid: A Whale of a Tale and partial episode of The Building taped from WJW on 9/10/1993--most commercial breaks are included, but some are paused out
-Last few minutes of The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark (CBS special) and first few minutes of Newscenter 8 at 11 weekend edition with Dave Buckel and Kelly O'Donnell taped from WJW on 2/20/1993 with commercials
-Partial broadcast of On Trial (NBC made-for-TV movie) taped from WKYC on 4/29/1994 with commercials
-Partially taped-over broadcast of Queen (CBS miniseries) taped from WJW on 2/14/1993 with commercials
-All of part two of Queen taped from WJW on 2/16/1993 with commercials
-Partially taped-over broadcast of 48 Hours (Here Comes Mr. Clinton) and first couple minutes of Newscenter 8 at 11 with Tim Taylor and Kelly O'Donnell (fill-in for Denise Dufala that night) taped from WJW on 1/20/1993 with commercials
-Partial broadcast of Great Television Moments: What We Watched (ABC special) taped from WEWS on 2/6/1993 with commercials
 
So I grabbed those 2 lots of RCA VK 250s off Ebay the other day, and so far I'm pretty impressed with tape 1:

Episode of Insights (KDFW Dallas Public Affairs Show) from sometime in 1981 or 1982 I assume, date impossible to discern

February 8, 1981, WBC Light Flyweight Championship, ABC broadcast, JIP 3rd Round

More to come.
 
The rest of Tape 1 had ABC Wide World of Sports from February 8, 1981, including a horrific video of a death in bobsledding.

Tape 2:
September 16, 1981, Sugar Ray Leonard vs Thomas Hearns, looked to be complete PPV broadcast (from the Preview Channel), 3:18 in length, ended with a minute of the movie "Living Dolls"
 
Tape 3:
1/27/1992 3/4 of an episode of Wheel of Fortune
1/27/1992 American Music Awards (like prior tapes from ABC affiliate in the Dallas/Ft Worth market)

Tape 4:
Clearly this guy was a huge collector of boxing, tons of fight broadcasts from 1981 on this one--
5/23/1981 Hope vs Benitez WBC Super Welterweight Title (CBS KDFW-TV)
1979? Dexter Gordon Quarter concert partially taped over with the event above
5/31/1981 Rossman vs Braxton (CBS KDFW-TV)
6/6/1981 Minter vs Hansho (ABC)
6/12/1981 Leon Spinks vs Holmes (ABC)
 
If you end up on YouTube don't EVER post anything from that Wheel of Fortune episode except the WFAA commercial breaks. Sony will throw a copyright strike on you faster than you can say 'I'd like to solve the puzzle.' Still a great find, just post it to Dailymotion instead.
Also, a word to all people on this thread - don't post ANYTHING from TNN to YouTube. Jim Owens threw a copyright strike on me for a generic 1998 promo and is cracking down on many other users. I had to remove and throw to Dailymotion ALL of my TNN content.
 


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