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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

Just finished checking a HUGE lot of Beta tapes from a Craigslist post from a seller who lives about 45 minutes away. Lots of junk like rental duds or pay TV (mostly HBO) movies without promos and even a few adult videos, but still a nice amount of stuff found, including my oldest find of a mostly complete episode of a popular game show as well as some early episodes of some popular '90s shows with commercials, and much of an obscure '80s PBS business series. There were over 150 tapes in all and about a dozen retail tapes, including a couple of rarer ones like the Walt Disney Home Video release of The Black Hole (1979), The Who "The Kids Are All Right" (1979), and the horror film Son of Blob off of the Video Warehouse label, which was a rather obscure home video chain based out of upstate New York back in the early-mid 1980s. It also included another Sony SL-HF 300 Beta player, of which I've already got one, so I'll likely use this as a spare. As for actual finds taped off the air cable, here's my list:

TAPE 1: Four episodes of Davis Rules taped off WJZ/ABC in February/March 1991 with most commercials, followed by most of a Dear John episode off WMAR/NBC with most commercials. There were a couple other episodes with the commercials missing, but great to find this rather obscure sitcom that was sandwiched in between Who's The Boss? and Roseanne on ABC's popular Tuesday night comedy lineup.

TAPE 2: Most of a Damon Wayans special off HBO circa 1991, followed by The Simpsons off WTTG/FOX on 10/3/1991 with commercials (missing the closing), followed by part of the broadcast of the final MLB game played at Memorial Stadium between the Detroit Tigers and Baltimore Orioles off WMAR on 10/6/1991 with commercials, starting in the top of the 7th and including the closing ceremony of the stadium itself. Sadly, the last time the Orioles won the pennant was in this ballpark.

TAPE 3: Back To The Future II copied from rental, followed by the HBO special The One, The Only Grouch from November 1991 with several minutes of promos after the special

TAPE 4: Part of the All Night with Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy movie marathon as well as The Muppet Show and Woody Woodpecker & Friends off TNT on 2/17/1992 with commercials.

TAPE 5: Starts with a certain movie (can't recall since there's no label on the tape) copied from a rental, followed by a summer rerun of The Simpsons from 1992 off WTTG/FOX with commercials, followed by the last 20 minutes of A Current Affair and the first ten minutes of the overnight rebroadcast of the WTTG Fox 5 News At Ten from February 1992 with commercials, along with the last 20 minutes of Late Night with David Letterman and the first few minutes of Later with Bob Costas off WMAR/NBC in February 1992 with some commercials.

TAPE 6: Eddie Murphy "Raw (1987) off HBO circa 1992 with no promos, followed by the first half of the US Men's Basketball quarterfinals game from the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games off WMAR/NBC on 8/3/1992 with commercials, followed by nearly two hours worth of footage from the same summer Olympics from 8/6/1992 off WMAR/NBC with commercials, including the Men's Basketball semis.

TAPE 7: Starts with most of the Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash off WMAR/NBC on 11/1/1992 with some commercials, followed by The Simpsons and Martin off WBFF/FOX on 11/5/1992 with commercials, followed by most of Cheers off WMAR/NBC from the same night, then it wraps up with part of Married... With Children off WBFF/FOX on 11/8/1992 with commercials.

TAPE 8: Kicks off with Paul McCartney: Live In The New World (I just saw him this past Sunday BTW) off WBFF/FOX on 6/15/1993 with some commercials, followed by a full hourlong newscast of the WBFF 10 O'Clock News form the same night (my first from this station!) I've already got that McCartney concert anyway, but its still great to find classic Baltimore late news.

TAPE 9: A nice, nearly 2 1/2 hour aircheck of evening programming off WBAL/NBC, including a full Must See TV Tuesday block from 4/30/1996: It starts out with about the last ten minutes of American Journal, followed by episodes of 3rd Rock From the Sun, Wings, Frasier, and the John Laroquette Show, before wrapping up with about the first ten minutes of Dateline NBC.

TAPE 10: Another nice primetime block from 1996 kicks off this tape, featuring episodes of The Simpsons, Ned & Stacey, and The X-Files from 11/24/1996 off WTTG/FOX with commercials, followed by most of a summer rerun of Seinfeld along with the first 30 minutes of the Republican National Convention off WBAL/NBC with some commercials, then wraps up with about two-thirds of the WBAL 11 PM Newscast (featuring a phone plug for ordering newscasts, I don't recall ever seeing that before by any other local station), and the first ten minutes of The Tonight Show on 7/9/1996.

TAPE 11: Starts with an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event circa summer 1989 without commercials, followed by another episode of the recurring WWF wrestling program off WMAR/NBC on 7/29/1989 with commercials, followed by the Mike Tyson-Buster Douglas boxing bout on HBO from March 1990 with no promos afterwards.

TAPE 12: Starts out with another episode of Saturday Night's Main Event from late 1989 or early 1990 with no commercials, followed by another episode of SNME from 1/27/1990 off WMAR/NBC with most commercials. I've already got the last 30 minutes of that later episode, so this is a nice upgrade.

TAPE 13: About four hours worth of live footage from HBO's Comic Relief '90 along with about ten minutes of promos afterwards on 5/12/1990. Official video releases and online footage only show the edited, two-hour versions, so this is a nice upgrade from what's on there already!

TAPE 14: Ten episodes of The Simpsons from the first half of Season 2 (October 1990-January 1991), with the 11/1/1990, 11/15/1990, 12/13/1990 (a rerun), and the 12/20/1990 episodes having commercials off WTTG/FOX, the others zapped out. I have the DVD sets for the first four seasons of the show and already have an OB copy of the 11/15/90 episode, but great to see more back when everyone did the Bartman!

TAPE 15: Seven episodes of The Simpsons from Season 1, albeit all except for the 1/21/1990 were zapped and without ads. The one episode that isn't was recorded off WTTG/FOX, with the CBS special The California Raisins Sold Out off WBAL on 5/2/1990 with more ads rounding out the tape.

TAPE 16: Approximately the last 2 hours and 40 minutes of the Knebworth concert, followed by 70 minutes of videos, and the first 35 minutes of the Headbangers' Ball off MTV on 7/14/1990 with commercials. I've already got much of that Knebworth footage, but its still a nice find.

TAPE 17: Nine episodes from the first half of the first season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air off WMAR/NBC. Five episodes had the "ad shredder" treatment (no pun intended), with the 9/24/1990, 10/1/1990, 10/15/1990, and 11/12/1990 having the commercials intact.

TAPE 18: Starts with "Problem Child" copied from a rental, followed by a portion of Uncle Buck, the WBAL 11 PM News, a syndicated rerun of Who's The Boss?, and the first several minutes of CBS America Tonight from 11/13/1990 with commercials. WBAL had introduced its current logo (based off of the classic 11 from KTTV) by this point.

TAPE 19: Eight episodes of The Simpsons from the second half of Season 2, with six scoped out, with only the 1/31/1991 and 2/7/1991 episodes having commercial breaks, recorded off WTTG/FOX of course.

TAPE 20: Nine more episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air from the second half of its first season, with six shows with the ads zonked out, but with the 2/11, 2/18, and 2/25/1991 having commercials intact, recorded off WMAR/NBC.
 
TAPE 21: Glory Years copied from a rental, followed by about 20 minutes of an episode of General Hospital off WJZ/ABC on 4/16/1986 with a few commercials, then about the last 10 minutes of One Life To Live and around the first 35 minutes of General Hospital off WJZ/ABC on 4/15/1986 with commercials.

TAPE 22: Six episodes of the HBO comedy 1st & Ten from fall 1985 with a few promos after one episode, followed about 14 minutes of a General Hospital episode circa summer 1985 off WJZ/ABC with a few commercials, including an EBS test.

TAPE 23: Six more episodes of 1st & Ten from December 1985 and January 1986 off HBO with a couple promos, followed by a few minutes of INN news from January 1986 along with about 15 minutes of Star Search off WTTG on 1/10/1986 with a few commercials (I've already got that episode in case your wondering).

TAPE 24: Four hours of the first ever Comic Relief special off HBO on 3/29/1986. No promos, but with the official "Best of" releases with a run time of just two hours and not much else online, great to see more from one of the classics of the pay-tv network!

TAPE 25: Several more episodes of Davis Rules circa March/April 1991 without commercials, followed by about half of Divorce Court from November 1986 off WJZ with a few commercials, along with the last 25 minutes of Falcon Crest off WBAL/CBS from around the same time with commercials.

TAPE 26: Rocky V copied from a rental, followed by about the last 35 minutes of Dynasty off WJZ/ABC from 11/26/1986 with commercials.

TAPE 27: Eight episodes of 1st & Ten off HBO between 8/19/1986 and 1/23/1987 with a couple promos at the end.

TAPE 28: Robin Williams: Live At The Met, The Prince's All Star Rock Concert, and the Paul Rodriguez "I Need The Couch" specials with no ads, followed by the HBO Comedy Hour episode featuring Eddie Murphy from 1987, with several minutes of promos after the last special

TAPE 29: Home Alone copied from a rental, followed by about 15 minutes of videos, the Beyond The Floyd Special, and about the first five minutes of The Week In Rock off MTV circa June 1988 with some commercials

TAPE 30: 3 hours of footage from the Human Rights Now Tour special off HBO on Christmas Day 1988, featuring Youssou N'Dour, Tracy Chapman, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and Peter Gabriel. More hard-to-find special footage!

TAPE 31: Starts with three children's specials including a couple Christmas specials and the Berenstein Bears Valentine's Day special without commercials circa 1984-85, followed the Making of We Are The World off HBO circa summer 1985, followed by most of Jeopardy! off WMAR from 6/10/1985 with commercials. The episode begins during the interviews midway through the Jeopardy! round, and features feature 1985 Tournament of Champions contestant Paul Croshier. My oldest ever find of Jeopardy!, even if its incomplete.

TAPE 32: A couple of John Belushi specials, including the MTV special John Belushi: Rock 'n Roll Act from 1985 with commercials

TAPE 33: Rental dubs of Rocky III and First Blood, then it cuts to about the last eight minutes of of America's Choice with Casey Kasem (an episode about the ten most attractive women) along with part of the WMAR Late Movie with several commercial breaks from February 1985.

TAPE 34: Starts with an wrestling special off MTV circa February 1985 with commercials, followed by most of an episode of TNT (a WWF talk show) off USA on 2/14/1985 wtih commercials, followed by a short clip from ABC's 20/20 about the WWF circa March 1985, followed by part of another episode of TNT off USA without commercials.

TAPE 35: The 90-minute infomercial The Art Of Celling off CBN from April 1985 with commercial breaks before and after the paid programming feature.

TAPE 36: A three-hour bootleg fan recording of Bruce Springsteen performing at the Capital Centre in Largo, MD in 1980. Tons of clips circulate and the concert is incomplete, but its still a fun watch.

TAPE 37: Starts with about 20 minutes of a random home recording, followed by part of the 1st annual MTV Video Music Awards from 9/14/1984 with some commercials (the last hour or so is completely unscoped), followed by the 2nd Annual MTV Music Awards from 9/13/1985 with no commercials (I've already got the latter anyways)

TAPES 38-40: About 25 episodes of the 1982 PBS series "The Business of Management" recorded off WMPB (MPT) from September-December 1984 with a few promos, with one of the tapes featuring a partial episode of Wall Street Week from late 1984 in addition. Boy how times have changed in the workplace seeing the tech in those episodes...

A miscellaneous find included a 15-minute programming crawl from Comcast Cablevision from April 1986, albeit with no music that I'm also keeping. This was way before it became a media giant, and that Eurostyle double C logo makes nostalgic as many of my relatives subscribed to Comcast back then in those pre-bundle days. The local cable inserts focus on the Hartford County, MD area. For $25 (plus about $15 in gas/tolls), it certainly wasn't a bad deal despite all the duds. It surely beats that lot of 8 VHS tapes above, which turned out to have all but a 15-minute clip of a Soul Train episode featuring Stevie Wonder, as well as a lot of junk in there with virtually NO commercials. I even asked the seller for a refund, returned my package, but still haven't receive it, so if I don't get it back by the time I return, I may just leave him/her a neg. Well, I'm off for a big road trip throughout the Midwest over the next couple weeks, so I'll be taking a bit of a break, but will always look out for any tapes that come my way.
 
I am moving out of Ellensburg in a few weeks and heading back to Yakima, so I am keeping VHS purchases to the bare minimum and cleaning out my apartment before my friends come with the U-HAUL at the end of the month.
But...I visited an estate sale in Cle Elum on Sunday that was packed to the brim with items. The family never threw anything out. In the garage, old '70s clothes were still packed in a suitcase next to a box of softball trophies and another box that had mid-late '80s Daily Record (Ellensburg), Observer (CWU), and Seattle Times newspapers...I scored a 1982 Daily Record that still had the TV Record inside and a 1987 Seattle P-I that talked about the Iran-Contra debates. There was a Seattle Times in that same box that was still in the rubber bands as if it came right out of the newspaper delivery box. I believe it was from April 1988.

I'd say 2,000 books + several years of The New Yorker from the '70s and '80s, Life magazines from the revived '80s run, many religious magazines, National Geographics dating 1968-1990...this house and garage were insane. And BTW, most everything was dusty. I worried about getting bitten by a black widow!

VHS finds so far have been mixed, but interesting. Remember, Cle Elum was part of the Seattle market (on cable) for decades. They didn't switch over to Yakima until recently, maybe 10-15 years ago. Historically, there were OTA translators located just east of Peoh Point, KING (2), KOMO (10), and KIRO (12) all operating with very low power.
It looks as though the couple went to Dish Network in the early '00s timeframe, and their networks went from Seattle to Yakima by default because of the county they were located in. Even though KIMA *never* talks about Cle Elum. (Case in point - the Jolly Mountain fire of 2017 was covered more by KOMO 4 News than KIMA Action News. Same owners, different focus. Too bad.)

Tapes so far from Cle Elum
Tape 1 - 'Max Dugan Returns' (1983) taped off WeTV on 4/25-26/2004 with commercials (not carried on Cle Elum cable, so this came from the dish); partial episode of General Hospital taped off KAPP/ABC on 4/23/2004 with commercials; part of One Life to Live and General Hospital taped off KAPP/ABC on 4/21/2004 with commercials; ends with part of One Life to Live and another General Hospital taped off KAPP/ABC in April 2004 with commercials. Maxell EX T-120
Tape 2 - Mt. St. Helens retrospectives taped off KIRO-7 and KOMO-4 in May 1990, with some commercials on the KIRO broadcast (with Gary Justice, already up on YouTube) and no commercials on the KOMO broadcast (with Dan Lewis & the late Kathi Goertzen), ends with a home movie from June 1992 of the family traveling to the Mt. St. Helens National Monument in their RV. Maxell T-120
Tape 3 - 30 Years of National Geographic Specials taped off KING/NBC on 1/25/1995 with commercials. I have this already from KNBC Los Angeles, but it was a summer repeat. TDK T-120
Tape 4 - Most of 'Protocol' (1984) taped off KING/NBC on 5/19/1989 with commercials. Master T-120, blank after 1:40 or so
Tape 5 - Walker, Texas Ranger episode taped off USA Network on 8/21/1998 with commercials, partial episode of All My Children, One Life to Live, General Hospital, and about 15 minutes of Northwest Afternoon (with Cindi Rinehart and the Soaps) taped off KOMO/ABC on 8/21/1998 with commercials...my first find of Northwest Afternoon, a show that my mom watched every afternoon growing up! It was a time-warp to see Cindi talking about soaps and viewer reactions. Afterward, another partial General Hospital and another Cindi Rinehart segment on Northwest Afternoon taped off KOMO/ABC on 7/30/1998 with commercials; and ends with part of the 1993 PGA Championship taped off KIRO/CBS on 8/15/1993 with commercials. Older Fuji T-120 from the '80s
Tape 6 - Big Brother 8 finale taped off CBS On Demand in September 2007 (obviously not on the 18th when it aired); 'Flushed Away' (2006), 'Monster House' (2006), 'Open Season' (2006) and 'Zoom' (2006) follow...I wish the latter *was* an episode of the PBS series...that's why I picked it up; ends with two partial episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show taped off WCVB-5 Boston on 4/25/2007 and 11/24/2006 with commercials - my first non-indie Boston find! She had Larry King on the first episode and Matt Lauer on the second episode from NYC. This was long before anyone gave notice to her producers and how they had been abusing staff members. Fuji T-160

A few more left, including two marked Town Meeting, which has to be the former KOMO public-affairs program with the late Ken Schram.

Best non-VHS find? A 1980s Safeway sign that used to hang in-store. It uses the 'honest deal' slogan that they used in the mid-1980s and shows a picture of pork chops on a grill. About 4 feet tall and 24" wide. I'd say it's one of a kind.

On May 27th, I also hit an estate sale in Wenatchee of a hunter/fisherman. Not many tapes, but I did find these tapes:

Tape 1 - KING 5 News: Holiday Blast, taped in early January 1997 with Dennis Bounds & Jean Enersen, talking about the big winter storms that hit Washington state just after Christmas 1996. Includes commercials. Maxell T-160
Tape 2 - Premiere of Witchblade, Law & Order, an encore presentation of Witchblade, and part of 'China O'Brien' (1988) taped off TNT on 6/12/2001 with commercials. Scotch T-120 in LP. This was just after TNT changed its logo and its slogan to 'We Know Drama'.
One more tape had family footage from a 1989 Westport WA fishing trip.
 
I am back in Yakima at this time, and the first sale after returning to my hometown was full to the brim with VHS tapes...about 15 home-recorded too. I took six, and found some magnificent finds. One was a blank dud with no label. This was a rummage sale at a Christian school that I've been to before...this year was the biggest sale they've ever had. There was an entire aisle of Christmas stuff, hundreds of LPs, two boxes full of vintage Midwest (NE, IA, MO, etc.) license plates from the 1960s-1980s, and plenty of furniture among other things. There were several with 3 movies/tape that I didn't take because of obvious reasons (HBO or rental duds with no promos, probably...), also one marked with 'Million Dollar Baby' (2004) that was probably another pay-TV broadcast.

Tape 1 - Starts with a 20-minute video of some plane ride around the San Juan Islands with no video, but the rest of the tape is a treat: a non-stop 4/13/1990 KIMA/CBS aircheck with commercials - last 20 min. of CBS This Morning, Family Feud (daytime), Wheel of Fortune (Bob Goen), The Price is Right, The Young and the Restless, Love Connection, The Bold & The Beautiful, and As the World Turns! BASF T-120, totally unmarked. KIMA did clear daytime Wheel and Feud while KIRO Seattle sent them packing to KCPQ.
Tape 2 - Starts with the arrival of Space Shuttle Atlantis at Edwards AFB on 4/11/1991 (taped off NASA Select TV), part of 'Sarah, Plain and Tall' (1991) taped off unknown CBS station minus commercials; part 2 of 'Separate But Equal' taped off unknown ABC station on 4/8/1991 minus commercials; 'Evil in Clear River' (1988) taped off unknown ABC station on 7/8/1991 minus commercials; ends with part of Into the Night with Rick Dees and 1AM sign-off taped off KAPP/ABC on 4/9/1991 with commercials. It's the older sign-off that I've already posted from a 2/28/91 recording (after Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf's press conference). Memorex T-120
Tape 3 - 'Dragnet' (1987) and 'Predator' (1987) taped off unknown channels; clip of Hour Magazine taped off KFMB-8 San Diego in August 1988 with commercials; 'The Hidden' (1987) taped off unknown channel. Sony T-120
Tape 4 - Starts with a few commercials and the start of a soap (All My Children?) taped off KAPP/ABC in late August 1989; then cuts to an episode of The Young and the Restless taped off KIMA/CBS on 8/31/1989 with commercials; episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KNDO/NBC on Labor Day 1989 with commercials; partial episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KNDO/NBC on 1/25/1988 with commercials; syndicated repeats of Cheers and Magnum P.I. taped off KIMA-29 later that night with commercials; partial episode of As the World Turns taped off KIMA/CBS on 1/22/1987 with commercials, followed by a full Days of Our Lives taped off KNDO/NBC later that afternoon with commercials. SEL T-120 marked "Gary's Garfield Cartoon Collection, Don't Touch!" Apparently they taped over the Garfield with soaps, and Gary probably got upset...
Tape 5 - 'The Believers' (1987) taped off Premiere Television PPV circa January 1988 with a few promos. Not sure where it was located, but it was a local cable-run service...maybe California? Memorex T-120
 
Nice finds on tapes one and four, especially the first tape with the game shows/soaps, including a Goen Wheel that hasn't circulated yet. One question I have for that Price Is Right episode regards the introduction to the pricing game "Grand Game". One of my biggest childhood phobias was the sudden zooming in of an orange graphic with the words in a strange, scripted font that said "Ten Thousand Dollars". According to The Price Is Right Timeline, the following playing of Grand Game (4/23/1990) was the first known playing to do away with that graphic (though it would of course come back during summer reruns). Any idea if that graphic was still in use as of that playing?

I'm going to be listing some of my old tapes over the coming week now that I'm back from my trip. I didn't really have much time to notice much, but I did stop at a store in Decorah, IA to pick up gently used DVD sets: The A-Team (Seasons 2 and 3), Hunter (Season 1), Roseanne (the 4th season), and Dallas (Season 2), where they had a buy four, get one free deal, with the sets in the $6-$10 price range. Pretty comparable to eBay prices, but at least there's no shipping! An antique mall in Stillwater, MN featured a seller with $1 National Geographics with quite a few from the 1930s and even a 1925 and 1927 in there that I scooped up.
 
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Heads-up VHS collectors...
Be very careful digitizing any BASF tapes that date back to the mid-1980s. This weekend I went to an estate sale in Yakima with tons of VHS tapes, one of them being the BASF mentioned above. Unfortunately, the BASF oxides are starting to shed and flake off the cassette. Physically, you'll see cracks in the oxide, and while playing there are dropouts. Eventually, it flakes off to the point where it looks like the beginning/end leader and the VCR will think it's the start of the tape.
The unfortunate part is that there are KNDO newscasts from December 1987 on this tape. I may be able to get one pass out of this, digitize, and throw it away. It can't be converted to DVD.
 
Acquired a tape of 7 hours of recordings from Philadelphia in February/March of 1994. The tape includes several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation recorded off WTXF-TV Fox 29 (though only one episode contained commercials), a partial episode of Ren and Stimpy recorded off Nickelodeon on 2/5/94 w/ commercials and the beginning of Are You Afraid of the Dark? recorded off Nickelodeon on the same night (The Tale of the Dollmaker episode), an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Patrick Stewart recorded off KYW-TV 3 on 2/5/94 with commercials, and a Star Trek spoof segment from The Newz recorded off WPHL-17 sometime in the fall of 1994. The tape begins with the first 4 TNG episodes listed below, then it cuts to the partial Ren and Stimpy episode, then the SNL episode, the Journey's End episode and finally the Trek parody on The Newz.

The Star Trek: TNG episodes were:
Lower Decks (the only episode w/ commercials, recorded on 2/12/94)
Thine Own Self (recorded on 2/19/94)
Masks (recorded on 2/26/94)
A Matter of Perspective (unknown record date)
Journey's End (recorded on 4/2/94)

A Star Trek-related tape obviously. Totally worth it for the commercials on the Lower Decks episode and the SNL episode.

Recorded on a Sony T-160 VHS
 
I've actually been keeping this a secret, but I scored over 300+ Betamax tapes from a Craigslist seller. It took almost two years to make a deal on them and I managed to meet up with him the day he was going back home to Philly. It's an incredible mix of TV/movie broadcasts (with most commercials included) from the Pittsburgh/Johnstown/Wheeling, WV areas. Problem is, there are some tapes that need cleaning before they can be digitized. I am willing to trade these for others once they are all done, as I don't just want to throw them away.
 
Estate sale finds from the last two weeks.

Terrace Heights on 7/16 (awful lot of home camera recordings, just sitting and rotting away to be thrown in a landfill...he surely had some family members to take these?)
Tape 1 - 'Why Me?' (1984) taped off Lifetime on 3/14/1989 with commercials, and blank after 1:58 in EP. Scotch T-120
Tape 2 - 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' (1993) taped off Cinemax circa November 1994; 'Rudy' (1993) taped off HBO on Thanksgiving 1994 with promos before and after; partial broadcast of 120 Minutes (with MC 900 Ft Jesus) taped off MTV early on 8/1/1994 with commercials...my first find of this alternative rock show! Also includes This Week in Rock and part of MTV Dreamtime. Maxell HGX-Gold T-120 in Hi-Fi
Tape 3 - Starts with the last few minutes of a KAPP 35 News broadcast from May 1989 with commercials, then cuts to 'The Witches of Eastwick' (1987) taped off HBO circa March 1989 during the Spring Tryout; commercials, credits from The Ryan White Story and first few minutes of KAPP 35 News at 11 taped on 1/16/1989, blank at 2:05. Scotch T-120

and another estate sale south of Yakima Valley College (on 16th Ave) last Saturday
Tape 4 - 'Arsenic & Old Lace' (1944 - colorized) and about 5 minutes of Gomer Pyle, USMC taped off TBS on 8/6/1988 with commercials; 'Audrey Rose' (1977) and 2:30am sign-off taped off KAYU-28 Spokane on 8/7/1988 with commercials; episode of Bosom Buddies (with a young Tom Hanks) taped off KSTW-11 on 8/16/1988 with commercials; part of 'The Beguiled' (1971) taped off TBS on 8/16/1988 with one commercial break. Memorex T-120
 
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VideoTreasures said:
I've actually been keeping this a secret, but I scored over 300+ Betamax tapes from a Craigslist seller. It took almost two years to make a deal on them and I managed to meet up with him the day he was going back home to Philly. It's an incredible mix of TV/movie broadcasts (with most commercials included) from the Pittsburgh/Johnstown/Wheeling, WV areas. Problem is, there are some tapes that need cleaning before they can be digitized. I am willing to trade these for others once they are all done, as I don't just want to throw them away.
Click to expand...
I've dealt with this seller twice, and while there are certainly a few clunkers in that lot, including some dirty tapes along with a few that were snapped, there certainly was a lot of great content that I found, and the first lot especially is easily a top five find of mine over the eight years I have been in this hobby. I've still got a few dozen tapes from both batches that I've got to convert. More details can be found upthread. He was a very nice guy when I talked with him. Star Search, rare beauty pageants, Dance Fever, a few episodes of Solid Gold, first run episodes of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, some tapes from the 1984 summer and winter Olympics, and a few newscasts from as early as 1983 were my favorites. It's landed me several trades with others as a result.

But I find Craigslist lots more fun to check than eBay, especially since in addition to being almost certainly unsearched, you don't get those ridiculous bids that can happen with some of these lots. Those two lots were the only time I actually had the tapes shipped, the rest were local pickups. A couple weeks ago, I checked this lot off eBay. Unfortunately, the seller wouldn't accept local pickup even though I was driving directly past him/her on a quick beach getaway. A little less than half contained TV content with commercials, a couple tapes contained home movies (the common Christmas/birthdays at home stuff, not the cool stuff like concerts or in town), and a couple were bulk erased. Finds included a Sun Records reunion special hosted by Dick Clark that aired on TBS in August 1989 with commercials, most of ABC World News Sunday and the WMAR 6:30 News from 9/9/2001 (I usually stop at 1999 for my finds, but given that the Internet Archive's 9/11 project starts the day before, it's hard to pass up on this in hindsight), most of The Blues Brothers off WBFF on 11/3/1987 with commercials (too bad the viewer recorded in SP as the broadcast with 2 1/2 hours), a tape with both Miracle on 34th Street off WTTG on 12/13/1992 with ads along with Bell, Book and Candle off TNT on 2/14/1993 with local Baltimore inserts. The oldest find was a tape that began with the first several minutes of ABC's Monday Night Football (Redskins vs. Giants) off WJZ/ABC on 10/27/1986, then it cuts over to the last few minutes of the Giants/Eagles game along with 60 Minutes and most of Murder, She Wrote off WBAL/CBS on 11/3/1986 with commercials, then it cuts back for the last bit of the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter of that Redskins/Giants game that I had previously found off WABC.
 
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Interesting Gofundme project here:

www.gofundme.com

USFL Video Library Preservation, organized by Paul Reeths

The history of the United States Football League is at risk. Right now, thousands of vide… Paul Reeths needs your support for USFL Video Library Preservation
www.gofundme.com

I wish other shows and video archives would do stuff like this. Even shows that exist in DVD form like Beverly Hills 90210 and Northern Exposure or even WKRP in Cincinnati are missing original music on their releases so you have to go back to original airings to get the actual show. Broadcast masters of those shows have to exist somewhere you would think.
 
Full report later, but I found some sweet '90s recordings at an estate sale on Friday, near 40th/Nob Hill in Yakima. Included was a tape of Beavis & Butthead (haven't checked for ads yet), a 10,000 Maniacs performance on MTV Unplugged w/ commercials, taped in December 1993, and the entire USA Dream Team Gold Medal Game vs. Croatia taped off KNDO/NBC on 8/8/1992 w/ commercials. My time to upload has gotten limited due to work and trying to find a teaching job for the upcoming school year, but there's more goodies coming to Archive soon.
 
Purchased a huge lot of Beta tapes from an eBay seller from Oklahoma City, noticing a reply that the tapes would have commercials. That said, I had to return about half of them since the majority of the tapes, about 80% had the commercials paused out. But there was still some finds out there, including a short-lived sitcom that only aired a handful times, an obscure model contest, a Bozo the Clown-type tribute show, and a few specials.

TAPE 1: Extreme Close-Up, The NBC Monday Night Movie off KTVY/NBC on 10/22/1990 with commercials

TAPE 2: Part 3 of The Kennedys of Massachusetts mini-series off KOCO/ABC on 2/21/1990 with commercials, followed by short clips of Bette Midler at the 1990 Grammy Awards off presumably KWTV from the same night, then it jumps to an eight minute clip of a KOCO 10 PM newscast from early 1990 with one commercial break

TAPE 3: The Postman Always Rings Twice off TNT on 4/5/1990 with commercials and local OKC inserts

TAPE 4: Duel In The Sun off WBS on 8/29/1990 with commercials, followed by the last 30 minutes of Caroline, a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation off KWTV/CBS on 4/29/1990 with a few commercials

TAPE 5: A rerun of Barbara Mandrell & The Mandrell Sisters of TNN in August 1990 with commercials

TAPE 6: Westward Ho! The Women off TBS on 4/11/1989 with commercials, followed by Cimarron off OETA on 4/21/1989 with intermission breaks

TAPE 7: Everytime We Say Good Bye off KOCH circa 1989 without commercials, followed by the last 15 minutes of Paradise Hotel and a Headline Sports break off KTVT on 7/21/1989 with commercials. This was my only out-of-market find, and probably the market I expected the most as I view OKC as a "poor man's DFW".

TAPE 8: Most of the Battle of the Network Stars special off KOCO/ABC on 5/23/1985 with no commercials, followed by Swimsuits, the NBC Monday Night At The Movies feature off KTVY on 2/19/1989 with commercials. This completes a Big 3 trifecta of their primetime movie presentations personally from that night.

TAPE 9: Dynasty taped off KOCO/ABC on 1/5/1989 with commercials, followed by Sentimental Journey and part of The 700 Club off the CBN Family Channel from the same night with ads. My first find from this transitional phase between CBN and FAM.

TAPE 10: A Conspiracy Of Love taped off KWTV/CBS on 10/17/1987 with no commercials, followed by clips from Donahue (a road show) and PM Magazine from late 1987 or early 1988 with no commercials

TAPE 11: Perfect People, taped off KOCO/ABC on 2/29/1988 with no ads (I've already got this off KXLY anyways), followed by a special memorial tribute to Ho-Ho The Clown off KOCO on 7/8/1988 with no commercials. Given its Bible Belt location, most of the funeral service is provided, something that you rarely see with a local personality, even back then.

TAPE 12: Burning Kinds, The ABC News Special off KOCO on 10/3/1988 with commercials. This was opposite season premieres of ALF and The Hogan Family on NBC.

TAPE 13: About four hours worth of footage from Good Morning America the week of 2/1-2/5/1988 off KOCO with very few commercials. This was an on location week in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. All of the news/weather segments are zapped out unfortunately, but 1980s GMA is still a tough find.

TAPE 14: The Bob Hope Christmas Special and the Marcus Welby, M.D. Reunion TV movie off KTVY/NBC on 12/19/1988 with commercials.

TAPE 15: Go Toward The Night, the CBS Tuesday Movie off KWTV on 11/1/1988 with commercials

TAPE 16: A Night In Heaven and Happy Housewife, along with the first 24 minutes of the Comedy All-Stars off Showtime on 4/12/1988 with promos after the movies

TAPE 17: The 45th Annual Golden Globe Awards from early 1988 with no commercials, followed by Larry King Live off CNN in early 1988 with no commercials (with Donald Trump one of tonight's guests), followed by All My Children and the first 20 minutes of the midday news off KOCO/ABC with commercials. I've already got that AMC, but noon newscasts are tough finds from this era.

TAPE 18: The American Experience: Kennedy-Wallace off OETV in November 1988 with no commercials, followed by most of Four Days In November off KWTV/CBS on 11/17/1988 with commercials.

TAPE 19: Two episodes each of Gilead's Bodies In Motion and Getting Fit with Denise Austin off ESPN in 1987 with no commercials

TAPE 20: Ash Wednesday, recorded off KOKH circa 1987 with no commercials, followed by ABC's 20/20 off KOCO/ABC on 10/2/1987 with no commercials. I don't see that full episode posted yet, and it features a story Mikhail Baryshnikov.

TAPE 21: About three hours of footage from Australia Week on The Today Show off KTVY/NBC the week of 2/2-2/6/1987 with no commercials, news, or weather segments. Once again, still nice to find morning news from this era despite the heavy scoping.

TAPE 22: The 1987 CMA Awards off KWTV/CBS in October 1987 with no commercials, followed by the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards Special off KWTV/CBS on 12/9/1987 with no commercials

TAPE 23: Most of a week of OKC's PM Magazine from Australia in 1987 with no commercials

TAPE 24: Seven Days In May, a CBS News Special off KWTV/CBS on 6/24/1987 with commercials, followed by Marty Robbins: Super Legend off KOKH circa summer 1987 (likely a rerun due to the 1986 copyright) with no commercials. It seemed like Multimedia (the cable provider this owner had) produced many country music syndicated specials during Reagan's tenure, including this one.

TAPE 25: Four episodes of Laurel and Hardy off CBN circa August 1987 with commercials

TAPE 26: The Lawrence Welk Christmas Special recorded off OETV in December 1987 with no promos, followed by Falcon Crest off KWTV/CBS on 11/13/1987 with commercials. I would have loved to had seen the recorder continue on with the news and that short-lived American version Top Of The Pops though with all that space remaining on the tape though.
 
TAPE 27: The Coca-Cola Kid and Impulse, recorded off The Movie Channel on 2/14/1987 with about 15 minutes of promos after the second movie

TAPE 28: The Great Gatsby (1974), recorded off KOKH circa 1987 with no commercials, followed by the Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy story off Lifetime on 8/11/1987 with commercials

TAPE 29: A National Geographic special on Hawaiian Sea Travel circa early 1987 with no commercials, followed by about an hour's worth of footage from Hawaii Week on OKC's PM Magazine (not sure what channel this aired on, please reply) from February 1987 with no commercials

TAPE 30: A sitcom rarity here! Starts with a Christmas Eve special featuring Loretta Young, recorded off KOKH in December 1986 with no commercials, followed by most of Cheers, Mama's Boy, and the This Is Your Life special off KTVY/NBC on Thanksgiving night 1987 with commercials. In addition to some "Black Friday" ads, Mama's Boy was quite a treat, it only aired monthly from September-December of 1987, then again in April, then a few more times in the summer of 1988. It was produced by the same company that did The Golden Girls.

TAPE 31: A rerun of The Barbara Walters Special featuring Cher, Barbra Streisand, and Cybil Shepard off KOCO/ABC on 9/3/1986 with no commercials, followed by most of ABC News 20/20 off KOCO on 11/6/1986 with no commercials.

TAPE 32: Several hours of ABC News footage, basically an expanded GMA, featuring the wedding of Andrew and Sarah from 7/23/1986 off KOCO with no commercials

TAPE 33: 2 hours and 10 min. of footage of GMA from the week of 5/5-5/9/1986 from various places around the US. No commercials, news, or weather of course, despite half of the tape still being blank

TAPE 34: The 6th Annual Country Music Songwriter Awards from January 1986 off KOKH with some commercials

TAPE 35: The Best of the National Geographic Specials: The Nile In Egypt off KGMC circa fall 1986 with commercials

TAPE 36: Two movies starring James Casey part of a tribute marathon off KOKH circa April 1986 with commercials

TAPE 37: Episodes of As The World Turns from 3/31, 4/1, and 4/2/86 with a brief news clip from the CBS Morning News before the April 2nd show to commemorate the soap opera's 30th anniversary off KWTV (no commercials or closing credits unfortunately), followed by most of I Dream Of Jeanie off KOKH circa March 1986 with some commercials

TAPE 38: Dave, recorded off KOKH circa September 1986 with commercials (lots of promos for their new season, including Strike It Rich and Dream Girl USA)

TAPE 39: On a tape labeled "Bit Parts #5", this contained a hodgepodge of content, from portions of various movies, PM Magazine clips, other news clips on shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, as well as a partial episode of Sally Jessy Raphael. Most of the content was recorded around mid-1986, with several stories involving swimwear fashions.

TAPE 40: The Osmonds 25th Anniversary Special off KOKH in September 1985 with commercials, followed by Bill Cosby: Himself off KGMC with no commercials

TAPE 41: The 1985 Mrs. America Pageant off KOKH in August 1985 with no commercials (I've got this off WPTT already), followed by a Barbara Mandrell special off KTVY in November 1985 with commercials

TAPE 42: Part 3 of The Last Convertible off KOKH in October 1985 with commercials

TAPE 43: Miss World off KGMC in December 1985 with no commercials, followed by the complete 1986 Supermodel of the World pageant off KOKH on 1/13/1986 with commercials. I found most of this off WPTT previously, but that copy was missing the first ten minutes and most of the ads.

TAPE 44: National Lampoon's Vacation off KGMC with no commercials, followed by Memphisto Walk off KOKH from late May 1985 with commercials.

TAPE 45: Part 3 of East Of Eden (1981) off KOKH circa October 1985 with no commercials, followed by off Return To Paradise (1953) off KGMC circa April 1985 with commercials

TAPE 46: Another "Bit Parts" tape like #39, and this includes the College Cheerleading Championshio off KTVY/NBC on 1/2/1985 with no commercials, although this tape has quite a few short clips from The Love Boat (too bad, since ever tape with that label in this lot had the ads zapped out, so I sent those back).

TAPE 47: Yet another "Bit Parts" tape, with more excerpts from news shows, talk shows, and more. Most content is from around mid-1985 based on what's on it. Its hard to specifically sort out, but stay tuned for it in the future on my YouTube channels.

TAPE 48: Excerpts from CBS All-American Thanksgiving Parade from 1985, include most of the Hawaii portion (no commercials of course), followed by the 1985 Hula Bowl halftime show off KTVY/NBC in December 1985 with no commercials

TAPE 49: The 1985 America's Junior Miss Pageant recorded off KOKH circa summer 1985 with no commercials or closing, followed by An Innocent Love off KGMC circa 1985 with no commercials. Only clips of this pageant are currently posted, so its great to see even more beauties.

TAPE 50: An episode of the syndicated travel showcase Grand Tours off KOKH in September 1985 with no commercials or closing. Over 80% is still blank sadly, but you can't have everything.

TAPE 51: Most of The Most Beautiful Girl In The World pageant from 3/12/1985 off KTVY/NBC with no commercials. Sadly, the recorder even scoped the announcement of the winner, but another pageant rarity nonetheless that only appears in short clips and promos currently.

TAPE 52: The second Night of 100 Stars Special from 3/8/1985 off KOCO/ABC with no commercials, followed by most of three episodes of As The World Turns featuring Bob's wedding in 1985 with very few commercials

TAPE 53: The 1984 Orange Bowl Parade off KTVY/NBC on New Year's Eve 1984 with no commercials or close, followed by CBS footage of the 1985 Tournament Of Roses Parade off KWTV on New Year's Day 1985 with no commercials/close (Bob Barker co-hosts, and this year isn't yet online, even though his pre-TPIR appearances from 1971 and '72 are), followed by the 1985 Orange Bowl Parade off KTVY/NBC on New Year's Eve 1985 with no commercials or closing

TAPE 54: One more "Bit Parts" tape, similar to what's found on #47, focusing on the later part of 1985 in terms of recording date

TAPE 55: The Look Now: Model of 1985 fashion contest off an unknown station due to no commercials, followed by Miss America off KTVY/NBC on 9/14/1985 with no commercials, then wraps up with an interview with The Lennon Sisters from GMA in late 1985. Unlike the "Look of the '80s/Supermodel of the World" pageant which was backed by the Ford modeling agency, this model search was supported by the Elite agency. I can't find any information online about this, so this is truly a rarity. Connie Francis hosted it.

Well a friend of mine may be sending me another box of about 30 Betas coming soon, which reportedly may contain some '90s MTV stuff on it, especially 120 Minutes. I've received similar hand-me-downs before, so we'll see if anything there is worth keeping.
 
I visited a Craigslist seller in Rehoboth Beach, DE yesterday to pick up tapes after mentioning "three episodes of The Golden Girls" on each tape, and then contacting him saying that most of those tapes should contain commercials. Well, I had a much better hit rate this time around. 18 of the 22 tapes did contain at least one episode of The Golden Girls, with most of them containing four. They weren't NBC broadcasts, but syndicated reruns from 1993 off of WBAL and WTTG, all with lots of memorable local commercials that were a staple of my childhood at the time. I'm not sure if WBOC or WMDT carried The Golden Girls, but my fuzzy memories seem to recall them doing so. I would have enjoyed the smaller market ads, but still nice to see classic DC/Baltimore content. Most of the recordings looked to be timeshifted, with a few tapes containing the first minute or two of the WBAL 6 PM News (hard to believe, but of the Big Three in Baltimore, only WMAR carried the news at 5 PM at the time, and I definitely was watching channel 2 frequently at the time). One tape contained an episode of Inside Edition on 7/13/1993 with ads off WBAL instead of The Golden Girls since channel 11 moved those shows so that they could cover special pre-game coverage of the MLB All-Star Game from Oriole Park At Camden Yards. Another tape contained the last halves of Donahue off WBAL on 9/7 and 9/8/1993 as the channel had just picked up the talk show from WMAR to replace Golden Girls reruns, where it would spend the next year and a half before WBAL added back their 5 PM news. Another tape contained a hodgepodge of gardening shows, Backyard America and The Joy of Gardening off TNN circa fall 1991 with commercials, along with an episode of The Victory Garden from 1990 off WHYY/PBS with a few promos. Another tape contained a couple heavily scoped episodes (no intros, credits, commercials, along with portions before/after the break missing) of Gilead's Bodies And Motion and Fitness Pros recorded off ESPN in 1994 or 1995 (with the ESPN logo on the upper right), with the later show being a fairly tough find since it only lasted 2 1/2 years on the network, before it siphoned all morning fitness shows in favor of SportsCenter reruns at the beginning of 1996. Two tapes I passed on were one tape with four episodes of Will & Grace from December-January 2000-2001 off WCAU/NBC with commercials, and another tape with episodes of Smallville and Angel off WBD/WB on 9/10/2003 with ads, along with about two-thirds of Cher: The Farewell Tour off WCAU/NBC on 4/8/2003 with commercials, along with the first couple minutes of the 11 PM News (we've got Marion Stokes for that anyway). Everything was recorded in SP mode except for the tape with the gardening shows (LP) and the Cher concert on the other tape (EP).

The most haunting reminder of a scary component growing up was the appearance of WBAL's yellow lightning bolt icon on the upper left hand corner, with periodic beeping preceding a crawl of severe weather watches/warnings.
 
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The "WBD" stuff is WB 100+ and very hard to find as they were only in small markets on cable providers. I'd upload the clips regardless. In 7+ years of searching, I have never found anything from our WB 100+ cable station. It had the fictional calls of "KWYP" and was on Charter channel 31 in Yakima. Surely someone in Yakima taped Dawson's Creek post-WGN or Gilmore Girls?

I found a random unmarked tape on Friday at a sale in Union Gap where they buy/sell storage units...so who knows if it's porn, CSI, or soaps. Also found two more random blanks at the Packwood (WA) Flea Market yesterday. It was my first time going out there. 300+ vendors, and probably 10,000 people visiting, many from our area and a lot from the westside. Packwood is 75 mi W of Yakima on Hwy 12 near Mt. Rainier National Park. If you wanted license plates, Hot Wheels, DVDs, or tools, there were DOZENS of vendors selling them, but only one vendor had a few blank VHS tapes...only about 5 or 6 vendors had ANY VHS tapes to speak of. I'm surprised, since the horror VHS tapes are so collectible, I'd figure there was a booth. Or someone would bring their wooden holders full of them.
Some were ridiculously expensive. I saw one booth where a random California or Idaho license plate from the 1980s, no less, was $42. PASS.
Best seller? A man who used to own an antique store in the Bothell area, who had a huge booth of antiques/collectibles, including tons of Rolling Stones. He marked them all down to $2 each. All from the '80s. Too bad I was on a budget and only bought one (Michael J. Fox from 1987) in case I found that 'motherload VHS' vendor...

PS - That booth with the few blanks had some obvious bootleg VHS tapes. They were printed B&W copies of the covers and labels, and the tape reel had way too much tape for the 90 min. movie that they recorded.
 
It's been quite some time since I posted any updates on my VHS finds and the last time I did so was around May or so. In the last few weeks though, I've found a LOT more tapes that I haven't even had a chance to take a look through yet being so busy with work. I have a day off tomorrow so I plan on finally getting around to looking at some of those tapes tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a bit of a backlog of some of what I've found in recent months.

Estate sale--Copley, OH
TAPE 1: ABC Sports coverage of Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Penn State Nittany Lions, Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Washington Huskies and partial broadcast of Game 4 of the 1995 American League Division Series taped from WEWS in Cleveland on 10/7/1995 with commercials. Radio Shack Supertape T-160.

Barn sale--Homerville, OH
TAPE 2: Northern Exposure taped from the Hallmark Channel on 2/18/2005 with commercials; partial broadcast of My Favorite Martian (1999) taped from the Hallmark Channel on 2/21/2005 with commercials; episodes of Northern Exposure taped from the Hallmark Channel on February 22, 23, 24 and 25, 2005 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 3: Episodes of Northern Exposure taped from the Hallmark Channel on 2/28/2005, 3/1/2005, 3/2/2005, 3/3/2005, 3/4/2005 and 3/7/2005 with commercials. Sony T-120.

Garage sale--Medina, OH
TAPE 4: Last few minutes of Eyewitness News at 11:00 and Movie 5 presentation of The Bible: In the Beginning taped from WEWS on December 29-30, 1986 with commercials. JVC T-120.

TAPE 5: Gone with the Wind (1939) taped from WKRN in Nashville in October 1996 minus most commercials. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 6: ABC News coverage of the inauguration of George W. Bush taped from WKRN on 1/20/2001 minus most commercials; coverage of the inauguration of George W. Bush taped from Fox News Channel on 1/20/2005. Polaroid T-120.

Estate sale--Strongsville, OH
TAPE 7: Parts one and two of Dazzle (CBS miniseries) taped from WOIO in Cleveland on August 10 and 12, 1997 with commercials; Jane Eyre (made-for-TV movie) taped from A&E on 10/19/1997 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 8: The Best of Barbara Walters: Legends: The New Generation taped from WEWS on 5/12/1992 with commercials, this had taped over most of a Radio Shack video catalog tape from 1988, a few minutes of which are present at the end. Tape appears to be a T-60.

TAPE 9: The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson taped from WKYC in Cleveland on May 22-23, 1992 with commercials. Unknown brand T-60.

Seville garage sale #1
TAPE 10: A.I. Root Middle School (Medina, OH) assembly highlighting the return of a teacher from Operation Desert Storm taped from Medina City Schools Channel 36 on Armstrong Cable on 5/17/1991 (obviously not the same day the assembly was held), then cuts to about two and a half hours of the Medina City School District's community bulletin board accompanied by an uncut radio aircheck of WQMX in Akron complete with commercials, newscasts and traffic and weather updates--this was when the station was branded as "Mix 94.9" and had an adult contemporary format, two years before it switched to country--really cool find! BASF T-120.

TAPE 11: Game 6 of the 1995 World Series and first few minutes of Channel 3 News at 11 taped from WKYC on 10/28/1995 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 12: Partial episode of Cheers and partial 8 O'clock Movie presentation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) taped from WUAB in Cleveland on 11/15/1988 with commercials; partial episode of Day by Day and In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders (NBC made-for-TV movie) taped from WKYC on 11/27/1988 with commercials; partial broadcast of The Ten O'clock News taped from WUAB on 11/15/1988 with commercials; partial Universal Pictures Debut Network presentation of Going Berserk (1983) taped from WEWS in June 1987 with commercials; ABC Thursday Night Movie presentation of The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) taped from WEWS on 12/24/1987 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

Barn sale--Seville, OH
TAPE 13: This one was largely a hodgepodge of country music videos on CMT and GAC taped in August 1997, but also in the mix were Elvis: From the Waist Up and Elvis on Tour (1972) taped from VH1 in August 1997, only a few commercials from one of the CMT recordings were found. JVC T-120.

Seville garage sale #2
TAPE 14: Most of Inspector Morse: Twilight of the Gods taped from A&E in November 1999 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120.

Estate sale--North Royalton, OH
TAPE 15: Katie Couric with guest Barry Manilow taped from WEWS on 1/16/2013 with commercials; General Hospital taped from WEWS on 1/17/2013 with commercials; two partial episodes of Hardcore Pawn taped from TruTV on 12/4/2012 with commercials; partial episode of General Hospital taped from WEWS on 10/10/2012 with commercials; episodes of General Hospital taped from WEWS on October 11, 12, 15 and 16, 2012 with commercials. Maxell T-160.

TAPE 16: ABC Big Picture Show presentation of Phenomenon (1996) taped from WEWS on 2/19/2000 with commercials; partial broadcast of Kidnapped: In the Line of Duty (1995 NBC made-for-TV movie) and Less Than Zero (1987) taped from MoreMax in February 2000 with promos. JVC T-120.

Since those sales, I had gone to a lot more garage sales and estate sales and picked up a LOT more tapes that I'm hoping to get started looking through soon. I also found a few cassette tapes of radio recordings, including three Sony HF-90 tapes that altogether contain a broadcast of the Detroit Tigers' last game of the 1991 season (against the Orioles), which was also the last game at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium and was also the final broadcast of Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey, recorded from WJR in Detroit. From what I've heard of the first tape, the commercials are included in these recordings as well.
 
It's still taking me some time to go through all the tapes I've accumulated in the last month and a half or so, but the one sale I went to in Wellington in July netted quite a few noteworthy finds, including some PBS Kids shows from 2002, an uncut eight-hour aircheck of WKYC from late Christmas Eve and early Christmas Day of 2009, several PGA Tour golf broadcasts from the mid to late '90s, some CBS Daytime soaps from 1998, some infomercials taped from WUAB on a Sunday morning in 1997 after a broadcast of In Touch with Charles Stanley, and a couple of memorable Oprah episodes (featuring Prince and Dennis Rodman, respectively).

Only about a week after the Wellington sale, the town of Litchfield just across the county line held its annual community garage sales, where I netted several tapes from a couple of the sales. The labels I'm seeing on some of the tapes from the first sale I scored at have "Millennium," "American Idol," "National Geographic" and some movie titles I can't think of right now, along with a couple of unmarked tapes. Another Litchfield sale netted some more tapes, including two tapes that altogether include Super Bowl XXXVIII (yes, the one with the "wardrobe malfunction," and I'm guessing they were taped in SP mode if they used two tapes) and some tapes with such labeling as "Push, Nevada 09-19-02" and "Lost 09-29-04." Also in Litchfield I found an audiocassette containing an aircheck from Christian radio station WCRF from around Christmastime, although I haven't listened to enough of it to identify the year yet.

Other smaller-scale lots I had come across since that time have included two tapes of an I Love Lucy marathon from 2001 (I'm guessing TV Land) at a church rummage sale in Wadsworth, a tape labeled "Music Videos" from Spencer's annual community garage sales (wouldn't be surprised if they're country videos given the area) and a tape found at a Strongsville estate sale with "Trumbull vs. Wilton" written on the case. Based on what I've found with those search terms on Google, this tape likely may have come all the way from Connecticut.

The day before the Wellington estate sale, I went to the sale in Middleburg Heights that netted me the three audiocassettes of Detroit Tigers baseball on WJR that I mentioned before. I found a few VHS tapes there as well. One of them was an uncut six-hour aircheck of CNN from 1995 during the O.J. Simpson trial, but disappointingly, it was recorded without audio.

An "honorable mention" goes to a prerecorded tape I found at a church rummage sale in Medina on the same day I went to Litchfield. In the late '80s, a Canadian video production company called Family Tyme distributed VHS tapes of public domain cartoons and B-movies, one of which was the 1983 CTV movie The Terry Fox Story. One look at the badly typewritten label was a clue that this Family Tyme company didn't exactly make the best quality tapes, but in terms of the overall content of the tape, it was recorded in LP mode in mono audio and was accompanied by a noticeable hissing sound. The link below is a partial opening to this particular Family Tyme release.

Can you imagine how thrilled I would have been if this tape was of the original broadcast of The Terry Fox Story as it aired on CTV on May 22, 1983 with original commercials?

At any rate, I'll get into the more detailed contents of these latest additions to my collection once I get through all of them. I may even end up finding more when Hinckley holds their annual community garage sales this Saturday, so long as the weather is decent. Whether I make it out there or not, so many tapes, so little time!
 
Finally updating my latest finds too...the last time I updated was mid-August.

8/19 - estate sale near 40th and Nob Hill, I mentioned there were some great '90s finds here
Tape 1 - Episode of WCW Monday Nitro taped off TNT on 5/4/1998 with commercials. Maxell T-120 in SP Hi-Fi
Tape 2 - MTV Unplugged with 10,000 Maniacs taped in December 1993 with commercials; part of 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (1974), 'Thunderball' (1965) and part of 'Teachers' (1984) taped off TBS on 12/11-12/1993 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 3 - Episode of Battlefield (Battle of Normandy) and part of Masterpiece Theatre taped off KEPB/PBS on 7/31/1995 with promos; partial series premiere of Amazing Grace and episode of Sweet Justice taped off KMTR/NBC 16 Eugene on 4/1/1995 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 4 - Awesome '90s artifact: the USA Basketball 'Dream Team' gold-medal game vs. Croatia (at the Barcelona Olympics) taped off KNDO/NBC on 8/8/1992 with commercials, includes a few minutes of Star Trek: TNG after the Olympics coverage; then the taper flips through channels on the TCI cable box until deciding on Wings, already in progress on The Discovery Channel, with some commercials, and the aircheck also includes episodes of Adventurers and most of Wild About Wheels; partial episode of Transformers taped off KSTW-11 circa 1988 minus commercials at the end. Maxell T-120
Tape 5 - 'Happy Gilmore' (1996) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Mike's Murder' (1984) taped off KPTV-12 circa August 1998 with commercials (the 2:30AM Moonlight Theatre presentation); episode of The Young and the Restless taped off KOIN/CBS on 8/4/1998 with commercials; part of '1001 Arabian Nights' (1959) taped off HBO on 10/16/1986 with promos before. Polaroid T-120
Tape 6 - Great tape! Clip of Martha Stewart Living taped off KIMA-29 in August 1999; partial episode of The Young and the Restless taped off KIMA/CBS on 8/16/1999 with commercials; partial broadcast of Donny & Marie, Sally Jessy Raphael, KIMA News at 5, CBS Evening News, KIMA News at 6, Mad About You, Seinfeld, The Simpsons and part of Kids Say the Darndest Things taped off KIMA-29 on 7/30/1999 with commercials (newscasts include coverage of a fire at the historic St. Joseph's Catholic Church). Safeway T-120
A 7th tape is marked Beavis & Butthead and has not been digitized yet.

9/2 - yard sale in Union Gap, the lone unlabeled tape that I mentioned

Tape 7 - Last 5 minutes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal taped off KAPP/ABC on 2/20/2005 with commercials; partial episode of CSI: Miami, KIMA News at 11, The Late Show with David Letterman, a very early episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and 1:37AM sign off taped off KIMA/CBS on 2/14-15/2005 with commercials. Maxell STD T-120 (Hey, I said it could have been CSI!)

9/3 - Two tapes at the Packwood Flea Market, 75 mi W of Yakima in Lewis County. Both from the same vendor. So many vendors, so many antiques and 'American Pickers'-type things, so many DVDs, BUT so few VHS tapes.

Tape 8 - NOVA: Decoding Nazi Secrets taped off KUID/PBS (Idaho Public Television) on 11/9/1999 with several minutes of promos after the program. TDK HS T-120
Tape 9 - 1/2 of The Young and the Restless, full episode of Oprah Winfrey and part of KREM 2 News First at Five taped off KREM/CBS on 7/12/1991 with commercials; partial broadcast of 'They Only Kill Their Masters' (1972) taped off TBS on 2/1/1991 with commercials; 'Chiller' (1985) and part of 'And Now the Screaming Starts!' (1973) taped off TBS 'Night Flicks' on 2/1-2/1991 with commercials. Chrome Master T-120

9/10 - Two tapes in a free pile at a yard sale near 48th and Nob Hill in Yakima

Tape 1 - 'The Fugitive' (1993) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; cuts to part of 'White Men Can't Jump' (1992) copied from rental tape; then is taped over by a partial episode of Power Rangers in Space and Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog taped off KRXI-11 Reno/FOX on 12/12/1998 with commercials - first find from Reno! Next is a partial tape-over of 'The Wanderers' (1979) taped off Encore circa 1997-98; most of 'The Client' (1994) taped off HBO circa December 1995; ends with a partial broadcast of Taxicab Confessions taped off HBO around the same time. Wal-Mart T-120
Tape 2 - 'Police Academy 2' (1985) and 'Splash' (1984) taped off unknown pay-TV channels; 'Stick' (1985) and about 30 minutes of 'The Champ' (1979) taped off Showtime early on 4/20/1986 with several minutes of promos afterwards. ATI Mark-V SHG T-120
Five others were duds. But at least they were free.

9/17 - finds from Tri-Cities, including the Giant Kennewick Swap Meet at the Benton-Franklin Fairgrounds. 100+ vendors there

Tape 1 - Episode of Montel Williams taped off KFFX-11 in September 1999 minus commercials (with the late Sylvia Browne); part of 'Back to the Future III' (1990) taped off USA Network circa 1998 minus commercials; part of Rude Awakening taped off MTV in February 1995 with commercials. TDK EHG T-120 (found at the swap meet)
Tape 2 - GREAT tape...but it took a while for the commercials to show up! Starts with episodes of The Real Ghostbusters, DuckTales, and The Smurfs taped in 1987 minus commercials; then cuts to another episode of Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters taped off KVEW/ABC in September 1987 with a few commercials; episode of DuckTales ('The Money Vanishes') and part of The Real Ghostbusters taped off KNDU-25 on 10/5/1987 with commercials (KNDU and KNDO aired these cartoons in the 4:00 hour after Days of Our Lives); partial episode of The Ewoks taped off KVEW/ABC on 10/18/1986 with commercials, cutting over to Lazer Tag Academy ('Witch Switch') on KNDU/NBC MINUS commercials....this has never been put on DVD and it was last rerun on the Sci-Fi Channel in the late 1990s; Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over and Bugs Bunny's Mystery Special taped off CBS (presumed KEPR-19) minus commercials; episodes of DuckTales and The Real Ghostbusters taped off KNDU-25 on 10/15/1987 with commercials; It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Garfield's Halloween Adventure taped off CBS (presumed KEPR-19) minus commercials; ends with a few minutes of another Ewoks episode circa 1986. TDK T-120, some in LP, some in EP (swap meet)
Tape 3 - A Year in Provence (part 1) taped off A&E on 3/21/1993 with commercials. Maxell XL-HIFI T-120 (found at Ragtime Antiques/Collectibles in Richland)

Unfortunately, my usual home-recorded 'stop' in Tri-Cities was closed on Saturday due to a family emergency...Atomic City Thrift in Richland. There are BOXES of home-recorded tapes there. Nothing gets thrown out. I've seen instructional videos for appliances in those same boxes with the home-recorded stuff. That's where I found hours of early '90s Nick Jr. and hours of 1993-94 Garfield reruns from WGN last summer. I will be back to try again in October.
Meanwhile, Goodwill Outlet/Pasco was a total DUD!! There wasn't a home-recorded tape to be found both times I checked (rotated inventory). Disney tapes galore, a few comedy/drama retail tapes, and a strange short tape that was intended for a Gulf War soldier to record a Christmas greeting.
Chandler, what's the best day to go to the 'bins' again? Because even the cashier said that Saturday was relatively slow.
 
crainbebo said:
Chandler, what's the best day to go to the 'bins' again? Because even the cashier said that Saturday was relatively slow.
Click to expand...

In my experience Thursdays and Fridays had the most action in regards to how quickly the workers refresh the bins. Monday and Tuesdays are the worst days, partially because they are so busy on weekends too. The outlets vary greatly, some have bins mixed with any form of media imaginable and others put books in one bin and movies in another (VHS, DVD, laserdiscs, even CEDs etc.). One outlet had set "grazing periods" for the bins, they would switch them out every 20 minutes, no matter if someone was looking through them or not, which was a real pain in the ass as that particular outlet store had a bin of strictly VHS tapes with a good 1/4 of them home recorded from a quick look at the labels.

I realized I've been bad at posting finds this year I'll start cut and pasting finds from my Google doc list soon, 10-15 tapes at a time.
 


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