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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

Only one keeper today; today in Selah there were three sales, including a community sale where over 25 vendors took space at the school bus barn. And the 'keeper' footage is only about 5 minutes of content...

Tape 3 - Starts with a clip from KNDO NewsCenter 23 taped in February 1990, partial weather forecast and segment on a local grocery store closing (commercial break edited out); then cuts to 'Working Girl' (1988) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Addams Family Values' (1993) taped off HBO circa 1994; part of 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' (1986) taped off KAPP/ABC 3/4/1990 minus commercials; 'The Karate Kid Part III' (1989) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; about 20 minutes of 'Road House' (1989) taped over at the end

Oh well. I'm really hoping to head for Zillah next Saturday. HUGE city-wide yard sale, most houses on every block will have sales! Last year there were over 70 homes participating and it's too bad I wasn't able to go. This year, hopefully I'll head down to the lower valley and grab a bunch of rarities up.
 
No luck at the rummage sale at the local United Methodist Church in Hinckley on Saturday, but I did pick up several tapes from a garage sale just a few blocks away. There were still quite a few others there that I left behind.

TAPE 1: Flamingo Road (1949) taped from WBNX in February 1988 minus most commercials; partially taped-over 8 O'clock Movie presentation of Through Naked Eyes (1983) taped from WUAB in January 1988 with commercials. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 2: 25 Years of Friday Nights (WJW special on the history of the station's late-night movie hosts including Ghoulardi [Ernie Anderson], Houlihan, Big Chuck and Lil John) taped in November 1988 minus commercials; JFK: A Time Remembered (PBS special) taped from WVIZ in November 1988 with a few promos beforehand; broadcast of Frontline ("The Faces of Arafat") taped from WVIZ on 2/27/1990 with a couple of promos afterward; three hours of ABC News coverage of the Iran-Contra Hearings taped from WEWS in July 1987. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 3: Episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire taped from WEWS on 7/16/2000 with commercials (already have that night's Wonderful World of Disney presentation of The Pooch and the Pauper taped from WYTV in Youngstown); partial episode of WWTBAM taped from WEWS on 7/18/2000 with commercials. JVC T-120.

TAPE 4: Tin Cup (1996) taped from WEWS (ABC Big Picture Show) on 3/1/1999 with commercials; short clip from a Prime Time Live broadcast taped from WEWS circa February 1999. JVC T-120.

TAPE 5: Very short tape--ten minutes of the first segment of a Fox 8 News at Six broadcast with Tim Taylor and Wilma Smith taped from WJW in November 2001--includes a package from Tracy McCool on the closing of the former Medina County Home, as indicated on the tape's label. Sony T-120.

TAPE 6: Both parts of Far and Away (1992) taped from WEWS on July 7 and 8, 1996 with commercials, meteorologist Brad Sussman breaks into programming three times for severe weather bulletins during part one; partially taped-over Movie 5 presentation of Sophie's Choice (1982) and first ten minutes of the Paul Mitchell Puerto Rico Summer Celebrity Sports Invitational (syndicated special hosted by Pat O'Brien) taped from WEWS in the early hours of 7/8/1996 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 7: Janek: Internal Affairs (1988 CBS made-for-TV movie) taped from the Family Channel on 11/17/1996 with commercials--didn't look at the whole tape because my VCR made clunking sounds anytime I would fast-forward it. Sony T-120.

TAPE 8: Partial broadcast of Prime Time Live (Diane Sawyer interviews Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley) taped from WEWS on 6/6/1995 with commercials; partial episode of Scooby-Doo taped from WBNX (Hanna-Barbera's We Are Cartoons block) in June 1995 with a few commercials; two Looney Tunes shorts taped from Nickelodeon in June 1995 with a few commercials; clip from The Bugs Bunny/Tweety Show taped from WEWS in July 1995 with a few commercials; part one of Trial: The Price of Passion (1992 NBC miniseries) taped from WKYC in July 1995 with commercials; NBC postgame interview segments following Cleveland Indians vs. Baltimore Orioles game taped from WKYC on 9/8/1995; partial broadcast of Channel 3 News with Judd Hambrick and Kate Lurie (fill-in for Dawn Stensland) taped from WKYC on 9/8/1995 with commercials (lots of Cleveland Indians playoff celebration coverage); episodes of Home Improvement, Coach and The 10 Most Fascinating People of 1995 taped from WEWS on 12/5/1995 with commercials. Kodak T-120.

TAPE 9: Michael Crawford in Concert (PBS special) taped from WVIZ on 3/1/1998 with at least one partial pledge break--audio is really bad, so I didn't look at all of it. Fuji T-120.

Also went to the Volunteers of America Thrift Store in neighboring Brunswick, where I could have potentially found some other content for my YouTube channels if not for one disappointment. Among all the various electronic items spotted in the store was an old DirecTV TiVo box with the remote, but the power cord for the box was missing! I even asked the cashier if the power cord for it was around and he said it likely didn't come with the DVR when it was donated. Sure, any recordings found on that TiVo would have been from the 2000s, but that still wouldn't have been a bad score. I've seen other TiVo boxes sold at garage sales and thrift stores before, but never thought to pick one up at the time to hook it up and look for any recorded shows.
 
Here's all the tapes I got today from the Zillah City-Wide Yard Sale. These were all found at one specific house. I wish they were older, but oh well. First content from KFFX, the Fox station serving Tri-Cities, along with some unexpected New York/Los Angeles recordings. Three more were spotted at a local church but they were all educational documentaries and wouldn't have any TV content. A third yard sale netted one unlabeled tape that was cued up almost to the end...but was blank! I'm scratching my head over that. Amazing how many sales didn't contain media of any kind, just the usual clothes, baby/kids stuff etc.

Tape 1 - Last 10 minutes of The Book of Daniel premiere taped off KNDU/NBC 1/6/2006 with commercials; 1/8/2006 60 Minutes episode taped off KEPR/CBS with commercials; episode of Criminal Minds taped off WCBS/CBS on 1/11/2006 with commercials (how did they pull this off?! DirecTV had started uplinking Central WA stations around 2004.) Afterwards is a couple of TiVo recordings: two episodes of House taped off KFFX/FOX 1/9/2006 with some commercials (a few fast-forwarded on the TiVo), and another episode taped 1/10/2006 with commercials; another TiVo recording of Medium taped off KNDU/NBC 1/9/2006 with commercials
Tape 2 - Most of Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration taped off KIMA/CBS 11/13/2001 with most commercials (some edited out) and a good chunk of KIMA News at 11 afterwards; part of 'Lethal Weapon 3' (1992) copied from rental tape, after the tape ends is part of 'The Undefeated' (1969) taped off USA Network on 1/15/1993 with commercials, copied from the 2nd VCR used to tape Lethal Weapon 3 (early morning recording)
Tape 3 - America's Funniest Home Videos episode taped off KABC/ABC 10/4/2002 with most commercials (they had Dish Network before the Yakima locals were uplinked), rest of tape is blank
Tape 4 - Real Time with Bill Maher episode (with Alec Baldwin and Whoopi Goldberg) taped off HBO2 in early April 2005 with a partial intershow after; partial NCIS episode taped off KCBS/CBS 3/29/2005 minus commercials (all fast-forwarded on the TiVo); also includes episodes of Alias, Joan of Arcadia, Cold Case, Two and a Half Men and CSI: Miami minus commercials
Tape 5 - Partial 4th quarter of the New Orleans Saints-Green Bay Packers game taped off unknown Fox station 9/30/2007 with commercials (this was taped off DirecTV, possibly from Sunday Ticket); Arizona Cardinals vs. Seattle Seahawks taped off KFFX/Fox 9/30/2007 with commercials, followed by episodes of Columbia Country, AutomotiveVision.TV (joined in progress), Alias and about half of a 24 rerun all w/ commercials
Tape 6 - NCIS episode taped off KEPR/CBS in January 2006 minus commercials; episode of Two and a Half Men taped off WCBS/CBS 1/23/2006 with commercials; episode of Criminal Minds taped off WCBS/CBS 1/25/2006 with commercials; episode of Without a Trace taped off WCBS/CBS 1/26/2006 with commercials; episode of Medium taped off KNDU/NBC 1/23/2006 with commercials; episodes of Design, Inc., Small Space-Big Style, and a couple of infomercials taped off HGTV in January 2006 with commercials
Tape 7 - CSI: Miami episode taped off KCBS/CBS 1/12/2004 with commercials; partial episode of Joan of Arcadia taped off KIMA/CBS 10/3/2003 with commercials; episode of Joan of Arcadia taped off KCBS/CBS 10/10/2003 with commercials
 
I have the complete Joan of Arcadia episode from 10/3/2003 on your last tape. Interesting find with the syndicated shows found after the NFL on Fox footage on KFFX, particularly since I had never heard of Columbia Country or AutomotiveVision.TV. Not sure if either of those programs were shown in the Cleveland/Akron/Canton market.

I found two tapes yesterday--one at a yard sale in Wadsworth, the other at a church rummage sale in Medina. The latter tape actually has hardly anything on it.

TAPE 1: Starts with about a minute of ABC News coverage of Pope John Paul II's funeral on 4/8/2005, presumably taped from WBAY in Green Bay given the other contents of the tape; end of an episode of Murder She Wrote and Thin Air (2000) taped from the Biography Channel in April 2005 with commercials; Deep Sleep (2000) and partial episode of Power Players (Christina Onassis) taped from the Biography Channel in May 2005 with commercials; partial episodes of The West Wing and Law & Order taped from WGBA in Green Bay on 3/9/2005 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 2: All this one contains is a few minutes of an NCAA basketball game taped from ESPN sometime in the mid 2000s--not enough content to pinpoint a date of recording. Sony T-160.
 
Columbia Country was only aired in eastern Washington and I think parts of Montana; it was a fishing/outdoors show. AutomotiveVision.TV was another one of Byron Allen's cheap weekend filler shows. He's got a similar one running now, Cars.TV.
I will be compiling another list of tapes this week - 20 tapes are coming to my door from McGill, NV. This is a small farming town in eastern Nevada where the nearest big city is 175 miles away! (BTW, it's Salt Lake City.) There were/are translators for SLC stations but he may have also had a satellite dish...possibly more Denver stuff coming my way? Many of the tapes date to the late 1980s. Labels list westerns, miniseries and a few TV shows (High Mountain Rangers comes to mind...a short-lived CBS adventure series that aired in 1988 with Robert Conrad). I'm hoping the commercials were left on these!
 
I got my 20 tapes from McGill, NV (near Ely) this afternoon. Unfortunately I had more duds (minus commercials) than I did keepers. The person must have loved the pause button. A few good finds nevertheless...only the keepers are listed. I also listed the translator callsigns for most of the stations. While the Salt Lake City stations have dozens of translators throughout Utah, they also serve Ely and eastern Nevada by default. Also some Las Vegas stuff mixed in, the two stations I found in the recordings both have/had translators in the Ely area.
Tape 1 - 'Manhunt for Claude Dallas' (1986) taped off unknown CBS station (likely KSL) minus commercials; KUTV/2 News (NBC) clip taped in March 1987 (the arrest of Claude Dallas who had escaped from prison a year earlier. KUTV was repeated on K32CJ in Ely.)
Tape 2 - 'The Man from Snowy River II' (1988) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; last 20 minutes of 'Thompson's Last Run' (1986) taped off KSL/CBS (K34CM) 5/2/1987 with one commercial break, weak signal in and out of color and fuzzy audio; 'The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission' taped off KUTV/NBC (K32CJ) 4/11/1988 minus commercials; episodes of Mama's Family, M*A*S*H and part of Police Story taped off KVVU-5 Las Vegas (K06HT) in April 1988 with commercials
Tape 3 - 'The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw' (Both parts) taped off KUTV/NBC (K32CJ) 11/3/1991 and 11/4/1991, only one commercial break was intact on the 11/3 recording and none on the 11/4 recording.
Tape 4 - 'Houston: The Legend of Texas' (1986) taped off KSL/CBS (K34CM) on 11/22/1986 minus commercials; part of 'Tom Horn' (1980) taped off unknown channel minus commercials; 'Where The Hell's That Gold?!!?' (1988) taped off KSL/CBS (K34CM) on 11/13/1988 with commercials
Tape 5 - 'Geronimo' (1993) taped off TNT minus commercials; 'The Broken Chain' (1993) taped off TNT minus commercials; 2nd half of All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital taped off KTVX/ABC (K30CN) sometime in December 1993 with commercials (haven't gotten exact date yet)
Tape 6 - 'I Will Fight No More - Forever' (1975) copied from rental; third part of The Native Americans taped off TBS 10/13/1994 with commercials
Tape 7 - No commercials, but a cool find: 6 episodes of the short-lived High Mountain Rangers, taped off a CBS station (likely KSL) in March and April 1988. Robert Conrad starred in this short-lived adventure series. I'll try to get those episodes up on Google+ sometime.
Tape 8 - 'Son of the Morning Star' (1991) copied from two retail tapes respectfully of each part; another copy of 'I Will Fight No More - Forever' (1975) from the rental, after about 15 minutes of black after the movie (quite a bit for a retail tape it seems?), the VCR switches to about 20 minutes of CBS This Morning taped off KLAS-8 Las Vegas/CBS (translator K65AC) 4/23/1992 with commercials
Tape 9 - 'MacArthur' (1977) taped off TBS minus commercials; complete Desert Storm Victory Parade taped off C-SPAN 6/8/1991 with plenty of commentary in between segments

At least I got some soaps, a CBS This Morning recording and some rare KVVU stuff out of that...
 
I Know This Is Recent But There Is This Site On Archive.org Called TV News Archive And Even Though It Its About News There Is A LOT Of Non-News Stuff On There.
I Dont Know I Can Link To Anything But I Looked On The WBFF Page And I Saw Some Episodes Of The Richi Lake Show And The Test.

Again, Im Sorry But I Dont Want To Link Anything.
 
Well I outdid myself once again, picked up somewhere between 80 and 100 home recorded tapes for free from a guy locally on Craigslist, some really old mid to late 80s tape stocks so I am potentially excited for this find, none are labeled so it will really be a treasure hunt. This puts me at over 200 tapes that I need to go through for material.

So 2 questions for those here that are more experienced at this:

1. What site(s) do you use for old TV listing archives? I'm amazed that many of you can pinpoint exact dates of airings of movies on TV, its easy with sports, but hard to figure out some of these movie airings. I can only usually pinpoint a week or month something aired.

2. Have you had any luck selling off lots of these tapes on Ebay? I foresee selling off many of these in the coming months and wondered if it would be worthwhile to pursue Ebay for it.
 
I have a subscription to Newspapers.com, along with access to the old Google News Archive, where I use the Eugene Register-Guard, Ellensburg Daily Recorder and Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA) archives to find dates.
As for eBay, the older, the rarer, the better. Mixed lots of 20-30 tapes usually go for $20-35. But mixed lots of rare content (game shows, soaps, 1980s TV shows w/ commercials) can go for up to $100 if not more.
 
chandler0201 said:
Well I outdid myself once again, picked up somewhere between 80 and 100 home recorded tapes for free from a guy locally on Craigslist, some really old mid to late 80s tape stocks so I am potentially excited for this find, none are labeled so it will really be a treasure hunt. This puts me at over 200 tapes that I need to go through for material.

So 2 questions for those here that are more experienced at this:

1. What site(s) do you use for old TV listing archives? I'm amazed that many of you can pinpoint exact dates of airings of movies on TV, its easy with sports, but hard to figure out some of these movie airings. I can only usually pinpoint a week or month something aired.

2. Have you had any luck selling off lots of these tapes on Ebay? I foresee selling off many of these in the coming months and wondered if it would be worthwhile to pursue Ebay for it.
Click to expand...

TVTango.com is a good place to look for the dates of these recordings. When it comes to network premieres of theatrical films, a Google search of the movie title, network and year of taping will often turn up the TV Tango schedule of the major networks for the date the movie premiered on TV.
 
Didn't get a chance to post my finds from last weekend until now, but I bought seven tapes at a yard sale in Hinckley last Saturday. One turned out to be blank, but the other six had some decent finds overall, including some hard-to-find content from the low-powered WAX/WAOH in Akron during its days as an America One affiliate (it's now an affiliate of Retro TV under the call letters W16DO).

TAPE 1: Most of National Velvet (1944) taped from WVIZ on 12/28/2002 (WVIZ/PBS Big Picture Show presentation); last few minutes of Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (1999 CBS made-for-TV movie) taped from WVPX sometime in 2002; start of a broadcast of Great Day America (PAX TV morning show with Marc Summers and Marianne Curan) taped from WVPX sometime in 2002. Wal-Mart T-120.

TAPE 2: America One Western Theater presentation of The Yellow Rose of Texas (1944) and the short film A Letter from Bataan (1942) taped from WAX/WAOH in January 2000 with commercials; partially taped-over broadcast of Bonanza: The Return (1993 NBC made-for-TV movie) taped from WVPX on 12/23/1999 with commercials. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 3: Episode of Live with Regis and Kelly (guests Jamie Foxx and Molly Ringwald and entertainment report with Claudia Cohen) taped from WEWS on 9/5/2001 with commercials, also has the first minute of Martha Stewart Living; partially taped-over broadcast of In the Good Old Summertime (1949) taped from WVIZ on 8/25/2000 with 12 minutes of promos afterward, including a Nightly Business Report News Brief with the late Paul Kangas. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 4: The Audrey Hepburn Story (ABC made-for-TV movie) taped from WEWS on 3/27/2000 with commercials, also has the start of News Channel 5 at 11 with Ted Henry and Robin Swoboda; short clip from an episode of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman taped from WVPX circa 2000. Wal-Mart T-120.

TAPE 5: Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) taped from WJW on 1/4/2000 with commercials, also has the start of a preempted Fox 8 News at Ten with Tim Taylor and Macie Jepson. Maxell T-160.

TAPE 6: America One Hollywood Classics presentation of Second Chorus (1940), Merrie Melodies short and first minute of a broadcast of Thunderbox taped from WAX/WAOH sometime in 2001 with commercials. Maxell T-120.
 
Recent finds here...

Ellensburg WA finds, 4/27/18
Tape 1 - 'Grumpier Old Men' (1995) and part of Inside the NFL taped off HBO 10/10/1997 with promos in between. SP mode, taped over older content on a mid-'80s Sony tape.
Tape 2 - Bob Dylan biography special taped off The Biography Channel in March or April 2005 minus commercials; episode of Medium taped off KNDO/NBC 4/25/2005 with commercials; ends with about an hour uninterrupted of an unknown early 2000s romantic drama
Tape 3 - 'Welcome to Woop Woop' (1997) and part of 'Wolf' (1994) taped off HBO Signature 6/6/2000 with promos before and after

4/28/18 - Found some tapes at an estate sale, I haven't gone through all of them yet. There were two duds, one with a Gaither Homecoming special off the retail tape and another with some home movie of a kid's birthday party. Others contained a lot of TNN and PBS (KIXE-9 Redding) stuff dating 1987-1991 - Austin City Limits, Great Performances and etc. There were a couple episodes of Nashville Now mixed in, including the 11/22/1989 episode with Mel & Pam Tillis and the rest of the family. TNN stuff contained commercials and locally-inserted ads for Chico, CA businesses.

5/5/18 - Five tapes found at an estate/storage sale in Yakima. Nothing taped from Yakima. Some of the tapes were moldy and dirty so I didn't pick them up. Most of these tapes should have had much older content on them - the tapes were originally bought in the late 1980s.
Tape 1 - The Price is Right and Young & The Restless episodes taped of KEPR/CBS 12/22/2008 with commercials
Tape 2 - Episode of The Price is Right taped off KEPR/CBS in April 2007 with commercials (maybe 4/24?) and a few minutes of The Young & The Restless, episode of NCIS taped off KEPR/CBS 4/24/2007 with commercials
Tape 3 - Episode of The Price is Right taped off KEPR/CBS 2/22/2008 with commercials; 'Knight Rider' (2008), Local News 11 at 11, SNL and Poker After Dark taped off KNDU/NBC 2/23-24/2008 with commercials
Tape 4 - Episode of Legend of the Seeker taped off KVEW-DT2/MNTV in December 2008 with commercials; 'Miracle' (2004) taped off KVEW/ABC 12/27/2008 with commercials; Victoria's Secret Fashion Show taped off KEPR/CBS 12/3/2008 with commercials; partial clip of Fox First at 10 taped off KFFX in October 2008 with commercials; episode of Young & The Restless taped off KEPR/CBS in October 2008 with commercials
Tape 5 - CBS Evening News and KEPR Action News broadcasts taped in February 2008 with commercials; episode of The Price is Right taped off KEPR/CBS in February 2008 with commercials; episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles taped off KFFX/FOX in February 2008 with commercials; partial episode of Dr. Phil taped off KEPR/CBS on Martin Luther King Day 2008 with commercials; partial broadcast of Alien Nation: Millennium taped off KCPQ/Fox 1/2/1996 with commercials

5/12/18 (today), was Yakima's Biggest Yard Sale at Perry Tech. I've gotten tapes here every time I've gone. While the number of VHS tapes continues to dwindle at Perry Tech (the first year I came there were 500+ tapes at one booth in various holders, albeit most were duds and post-2005), I still found a few things.
Tape 1 - Most of 'Jurassic Park' (1993), KNDO Local News and 20 minutes of Saturday Night Live taped off KNDO/NBC 11/25/2000 with commercials; 'The Arrival' (1997) and a little bit of KNDO Local News taped off KNDO/NBC 12/2/2000 with commercials
Tape 2 - 'Erin Brockovich' (2000) taped off Starz sometime in early 2001; most of an episode of This Old House (syndicated repeat) taped off KAPP-35 (ABC) 2/18/2001 with commercials; about half of 'Marked for Death' (1990) taped off TBS 2/18/2001 with commercials (just a few hours after Dale Earnhardt was killed at Daytona), tape goes blank afterwards
Tape 3 - Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery (part 1) taped off KCET/PBS in February 1999 with promos afterwards; partial episode of Law & Order, plus a second full new episode, taped off KNBC/NBC 2/10/1999 with commercials
Tape 4 - Seattle Mariners vs. Texas Rangers (starts in the 3rd inning) taped off FSN Northwest 10/1/2004 with a few commercial breaks (one of Edgar Martinez's last games, and Ichiro's 258th hit of the year - a single-season U.S. baseball record); Seattle Mariners vs. Texas Rangers taped off FSN Northwest 10/2/2004 minus commercials, plus Edgar Martinez's farewell ceremony and speech
Tape 5 - Two episodes of Outdoor Excursions, and one episode each of Hunting & Outdoor Adventures with Keith Warren, Americana Outdoors and Northwest Hunter taped off Fox Sports Net NW in April 2001 with commercials; ends with an unknown western movie taped off TNT circa 2000
 
Didn't hit any sales this weekend. There was a church rummage sale in Brunswick today that I wanted to go to, along with some others I recall seeing ads for on Craigslist and elsewhere, but with the weather predicted to have been bad, I didn't bother to go.

I have that NBC Saturday Night Movie showing of Jurassic Park with Ryan Seacrest from 11/25/2000 taped from KRBC in Abilene. I also have that two-hour pilot episode of NBC's failed Knight Rider reboot taped from WKYC in Cleveland, but the one I have was its original airing on 2/17/2008.

The Dr. Phil episode from 1/21/2008 on Tape 5 (re:5/5/18) was "Real Life Gossip Girls" (an obvious reference to the then-new CW series Gossip Girl based on the books of the same name).
https://www.drphil.com/shows/1018/

Re:Tape 5 from 5/12/18--Surprisingly, even with the amount of hunters, gun owners and outdoor enthusiasts living in my hometown, I don't believe I've ever found any hunting shows on any of these tapes. Granted, I don't think the Outdoor Channel or OLN were available in our area until 2002 when Adelphia (now Spectrum) first offered digital cable, but didn't TNN or ESPN show similar programs before that time?
 
This morning I went to an estate sale in Medina and found one tape--a Focal T-120 recorded almost entirely in LP mode. The tape was labeled "Super Bowl XXVII" and "Peter Pan." Neither were found on the tape, but it did have some pretty decent content nonetheless.
-One Special Night (1999 CBS made-for-TV movie) and most of Hometeam 19 News at 11 with Jack Marschall and Denise Dufala taped from WOIO on 12/1/2000 with commercials--the A-block of the newscast contained a package by reporter Brett Anthony recorded at my high school!
-Most of the fourth quarter of Cleveland Browns vs. New England Patriots, last few minutes of Baltimore Ravens vs. Tennessee Titans and part of the Subway Postgame Show taped from WOIO on 11/12/2000 with commercials
-Part of the first quarter of Florida State Seminoles vs. Florida Gators football taped from WEWS on 11/21/1998 with commercials
-Couple minutes of Michigan Wolverines vs. Iowa Hawkeyes taped from WEWS on 10/3/1998
-Couple minutes of Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) taped from unknown pay TV channel at end of tape
 
Yeah, TNN showed a lot of hunting and fishing shows on weekends when they were country-orientated in the 1990s. I'm surprised I haven't found more outdoor/fishing shows on VHS in this area. This county (while 36% Hispanic) is highly conservative, politics aside there's a lot of church-going people, outdoors people, high family values, etc. I do find a lot of 'family-friendly' programming on tape, westerns, Hallmark movies, and the like.

I found one tape yesterday at a yard sale near 40th and Lincoln Ave in Yakima. Thought it was sub-par until I saw the end of it!
Tape 1 - Compilation of outtakes from the 1970s TV show 'Emergency!' without commercials (and likely copied from somewhere else), 'Turk 1982' (1985) taped off unknown pay-TV channel circa 1986; some KIMA, KAPP and KNDO news clips from around 1990 or 1991 of a large fire at the Yakima Speedway, which destroyed the entire grandstand, a couple more assorted Yakima news clips of fires follow; instructional video called Sam Splint: The Pocket Cast follows, used for orthopedic emergencies; ends with about 90 minutes of classic MTV taped sometime in November 1985 with commercials and Alan Hunter's VJ commentary. Sony T-120
Today, two neighborhoods (mobile home park + a normal neighborhood with over 20 homes) are having community yard sales. Hope to come back with more.
 
A small find today at a neighborhood yard sale near my apartment.
Tape 1 - 'Instant Justice' (1986) taped off HBO circa April 1989; 'Ironweed' (1987) taped off HBO circa April 1989; 'Eye of the Needle' (1981) taped off Cinemax 4/25/1989 with about 5-6 minutes of promos afterwards
One other tape was found here with a Mexican movie ('Amigo' from 1980) taped off Univision in 1996 or 1997, but the commercials were pulled out sadly. This is still my first content whatsoever from a Spanish network, and it's surprising I've had to wait so long knowing we have a lot of Hispanic people living here in the valley. Guess many of them were too busy to record telenovelas...
Two more tapes were found at another yard sale at the nearby mobile home park, but they were both duds (a WWE PPV special from the late '00s on one tape, and three movies on another without promos or commercials). An estate sale about three houses away from my apartment also had tapes but they were all retail and Disney movies. Gotta take what you can get around here -- I haven't scored any HUGE lots yet, besides the 7 tapes I found in Zillah last month. This is unlike 2017 where I found over 25 tapes from one of the first VCR owners in Yakima (which included that 1979 KAPP newscast and a bunch of '3's a Crowd' Jim Peck episodes among other things).
 
A few more tapes found at a couple of yard sales in Medina on Thursday.

TAPE 1: Four episodes of In-Fisherman TV taped from TNN circa 1989 minus commercials; Overboard (1987), Late for Dinner (sketch comedy show) and Someone to Watch Over Me (1987) taped from Cinemax in December 1988 with promos in between. Laser T-120.

TAPE 2: Partial episode of Home Improvement and full episode of Roseanne taped from WEWS on 3/24/1992 with commercials, also includes an ABC News Special Report on "The '92 Vote" with the late Peter Jennings; partially taped-over episode of Home Improvement (guest starring George Foreman) and full episode of Roseanne taped on 2/25/1992 with commercials, first on WAKC during the first Home Improvement segment on the tape, then the cable box switches over to WEWS during the first commercial break and stays there for the rest of the recording; episode of In Living Color taped from WOIO on 5/24/1992 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120 (unlabeled).

Two other tapes were found at this first yard sale, but one was erased (blank screen with memory counter moving) and one I'm hesitant to play back because I noticed the tape guard won't flip back, so I'm a bit scared the tape could get stuck in my VCR or cause it to turn itself off. Lately I've gotten into the habit of looking at the tape inside these cassettes before playing them back to make sure they're clean on the inside.

At the second yard sale, I picked up four more tapes. One turned out to be blank. The other three were strapped together in a rubber band. These were movies that were taped from TBS Superstation's Salute to Louis L'Amour Westerns marathon in February 1993. All three tapes were recorded in SP mode. Most of the commercials were paused out, but in the last film of the marathon, Catlow (1971), a couple of commercial breaks were included. The VCR even kept recording into the first 20 minutes or so of Honky Tonk (1941) along with the first commercial break from that movie. At the end of that tape is a partially taped-over episode of Airwolf taped from WOIO sometime in 1992 with a few commercials. Tape brands were Super Vision, RCA and Scotch T-120s.
 
It is good when the VHS tapes have labels that have a bit more details on what's actually on the tapes. I'm surprised at how often I see tapes at pound stores and garage sales that have labels on them- but the labels are blank.

And then some people have time to make very detailed labels. https://www.ebay.com/itm/173336008327?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

What I've found is that if the tapes seem to weigh a bit more, they are more likely to be older.
 


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