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How Old Is Your Oldest NYC TV Aircheck? (Audio Or Video)

H

hubcity

Folks,

I'm curious about the oldest aircheck that you (or someone you know) were responsible for creating. No fair claiming your earliest aircheck is of FDR at the World's Fair because you got it from some retrospective (though if you do have that one, the Paley Center would like to have a word with you.)

For me:

My oldest video is a Betamax tape of the WNEW-TV broadcast of The Kenny Everett Show as part of their "Mobil Summershow" specials package, complete with WNEW-TV continuity card for the show which, because it looks like there was an issue at the station, stays up for a good minute or so. I think it was the only time WNEW-TV aired the show - it was picked up in syndication later on WNBC-TV. I'd enjoyed the show while vacationing in London with my family (it was on Thames) and was excited enough about it airing here that I bought a Beta tape and gave it to a friend of mine who actually owned a recorder - it was probably a year or so before I got a chance to actually watch it. I believe it aired in June 1980, though I'm not certain of the exact date.

My oldest audio comes to me from my father (who's pleased at my having digitized it for him) - he ran a reel-to-reel aircheck of WCBS-TV's broadcast of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concert; the topic was "orchestration", and it featured a performance of Bolero. It's got some on-air continuity promoting an upcoming Ed Sullivan Show, though an earlier bit of continuity was obscured by a rung doorbell and the inevitable response from my father's dog. Episode guides put this broadcast on March 8, 1958, but since the promo says that the Ed Sullivan Show is "tonight", wouldn't that be March 9 (Sunday?).

Incidentally, does anyone know what visual would have accompanied that announcement? Might be interesting to put it together with the audio, and put the whole shebang up on YouTube...but I digress...

So...what've you got?
 
My oldest video is a Betamax tape of the WNEW-TV broadcast of The Kenny Everett Show as part of their "Mobil Summershow" specials package, complete with WNEW-TV continuity card for the show which, because it looks like there was an issue at the station, stays up for a good minute or so.

Hmm... was that part of WNEW's "Thames on Nine"-like stretch of British programming that they had sometime during the late '70s? I don't know if it was a full week like WOR had in 1976, but I do recall quite a bit of UK programming. One show that I recall in particular was an episode of a horror/thriller anthology program starring Patrick Magee.
 
John Murphy said:
My oldest video is a Betamax tape of the WNEW-TV broadcast of The Kenny Everett Show as part of their "Mobil Summershow" specials package, complete with WNEW-TV continuity card for the show which, because it looks like there was an issue at the station, stays up for a good minute or so.

Hmm... was that part of WNEW's "Thames on Nine"-like stretch of British programming that they had sometime during the late '70s? I don't know if it was a full week like WOR had in 1976, but I do recall quite a bit of UK programming. One show that I recall in particular was an episode of a horror/thriller anthology program starring Patrick Magee.
Click to expand...

The answer's in your reply - Thames on 9 was...on WOR-TV Channel 9 in 1976; the Kenny Everett Video Show wouldn't premiere on Thames until 1978. That said, the "Thames On 9" week aired before I had any VCR access (did anyone?) but I was (and still am) fascinated by that project and would love it if an aircheck surfaced of the continuity, which was apparently done Thames-style rather than WOR-TV-style.

How fascinated? Enough that I put up a stub of a site to collect whatever I could about it...here:

http://www.exit109.com/~hubcity/thames/
 
The answer's in your reply - Thames on 9 was...on WOR-TV Channel 9 in 1976; the Kenny Everett Video Show wouldn't premiere on Thames until 1978.

I recall watching "Thames on 9" in the fall of 1976 on WOR. What I was referring to was a block of British programs that WNEW presented a few years later. I was just wondering if Kenny Everett's show was one of them, that's all.
 
John Murphy said:
The answer's in your reply - Thames on 9 was...on WOR-TV Channel 9 in 1976; the Kenny Everett Video Show wouldn't premiere on Thames until 1978.

I recall watching "Thames on 9" in the fall of 1976 on WOR. What I was referring to was a block of British programs that WNEW presented a few years later. I was just wondering if Kenny Everett's show was one of them, that's all.
Click to expand...

D'oh! You said "Thames-on-9-like". Sorry - blew through that.

The block in question was, in fact, the "Mobil Summershow" which was (I think) a weekly showcase. But I think it may all have been from ITV, if not Thames specifically.

(Still really wanna see a "Thames On 9" aircheck, though...)
 
D'oh! You said "Thames-on-9-like". Sorry - blew through that.

Heh. No problem.

The block in question was, in fact, the "Mobil Summershow" which was (I think) a weekly showcase. But I think it may all have been from ITV, if not Thames specifically.

I don't know why I don't recall that. I wish YouTube had a clip of it.

(Still really wanna see a "Thames On 9" aircheck, though...)

Same here! I saw Benny Hill for the very first time there.
 
John Murphy said:
The block in question was, in fact, the "Mobil Summershow" which was (I think) a weekly showcase. But I think it may all have been from ITV, if not Thames specifically.

I don't know why I don't recall that. I wish YouTube had a clip of it.
Click to expand...

Actually, I can provide that - it'll be my first YouTube clip when I get it done (hopefully over the weekend)...
 
hubcity said:
Folks,

I'm curious about the oldest aircheck that you (or someone you know) were responsible for creating. No fair claiming your earliest aircheck is of FDR at the World's Fair because you got it from some retrospective (though if you do have that one, the Paley Center would like to have a word with you.)
Click to expand...


People have been looking for a legendary film that was supposed to have been shot off of a TV monitor at the RCA building of the FDR World's Fair telecast in April 1939, but so far....nothing. There are still pictures that exist, shot directly from a monitor. Here's one:
http://www.davidsarnoff.org/gallery-tv-bw/FDR_TV-WF_39.html


The oldest TV item that I have ever seen is a little filmed ID made for WNBT (now WNBC) in New York when it was on channel one. This ID dates from about 1943-1944: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQLvMpYuQBE
 
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