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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

That guy selling those tape lots on Ebay has to be a board member here, that or one of the Youtube guys who post commercial blocks, very odd tape lengths on some of those, plus the range of areas of the country seems like someone who had bought lots before and then marked them and is now selling them again.

Anyways, had a bit of a surprise find with a tape from a lot of commercially recorded tapes, I only expected to get Super Bowl 19, but instead I got:

1/20/1985- Super Bowl 19, some pregame, complete game, plus some halftime and postgame, but missing all but a few seconds of commercials sadly ~3 hours running time
-I was disappointed the commercials were cut but then was redeemed by finding...

12/31/1984- MTV New Year's Eve Rock n' Roll Bash, part of it had to have been recorded over with the Super Bowl, picks up at about 1:35 EST or 11:35 MST based on the Mountain Time Zone countdown. Some gags with Pee Wee Herman and a live set with bands I've never heard of, like General Public. All commercials included, nearly 2 hours in length in total.
 
chandler0201 said:
That guy selling those tape lots on Ebay has to be a board member here, that or one of the Youtube guys who post commercial blocks, very odd tape lengths on some of those, plus the range of areas of the country seems like someone who had bought lots before and then marked them and is now selling them again.

Anyways, had a bit of a surprise find with a tape from a lot of commercially recorded tapes, I only expected to get Super Bowl 19, but instead I got:

1/20/1985- Super Bowl 19, some pregame, complete game, plus some halftime and postgame, but missing all but a few seconds of commercials sadly ~3 hours running time
-I was disappointed the commercials were cut but then was redeemed by finding...

12/31/1984- MTV New Year's Eve Rock n' Roll Bash, part of it had to have been recorded over with the Super Bowl, picks up at about 1:35 EST or 11:35 MST based on the Mountain Time Zone countdown. Some gags with Pee Wee Herman and a live set with bands I've never heard of, like General Public. All commercials included, nearly 2 hours in length in total.
Click to expand...

did you also win the lakers bulls 1991 tape that I bid on and if you did are you planning to convert it to dvd?
 
I don't think the FL seller posts anything to YouTube. Anything I've seen from those videos comes from Michael Pannoni whenever he gets the chance to win those lots. Too bad I don't have a lot of $$$ right now because I would bid on the lot currently up for auction with KTVF Fairbanks content from 1987 on one of the tapes! Talk about RARE! I think the same lot also has some late 1980s Seattle items as well, they are always welcome to the collection. Maybe this summer I'll take a road trip up to the record store in downtown Everett where I've found gold mines of Seattle programming on VHS. It's been about 5 years but the store is still open and the owner still roosts every Sunday at the checkout desk. If I can dig through the boxes, maybe I'll bring home two Northwest Afternoon tapes that I unfortunately left...they were master copies duplicated at KOMO-TV, one from 1999 as I recall. (As long as they still have those VHS tapes stocked somewhere!)
There's several sales tomorrow including the Tancara neighborhood yard sales - this is where I found the 1988 Kennedy Center Honors, 'Foxfire,' my oldest Hallmark Hall of Fame movie taped 12/13/87, and lots of early-mid '00s Yakima TV clips with commercials/newscasts, last June.
 
Massive haul this weekend! Found tapes at four different yard sales, two of those being at the Tancara neighborhood yard sale off 56th and Tieton in Yakima (where I went last year), and two estate sales. First, estate sale #1. Some excellent finds and my oldest clips from a pay-TV movie network.

Estate sale #1
Tape 1 - Sinatra 75: The Best is Yet to Come, the CBS Sunday Night News and partial episode of The Byron Allen Show taped off KIMA/CBS on 12/16/1990 with commercials; partial broadcast of 'Stephen King's It', part 1, taped off KAPP/ABC 11/18/1990 with commercials; about an hour of part 2 of 'Stephen King's It' taped off KAPP/ABC 11/20/1990 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 2 - Part 1-3 of Scarlett taped off KIMA/CBS 11/13/1994, 11/15/1994 and 11/16/1994 with commercials (already have part 2 on another tape - the others are new); ends with part of a Roseanne rerun taped off KIMA-29 in late June or early July 1994 with one commercial break. Scotch EG+ T-120
Tape 3 - Part 4 of Scarlett and part of NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 11/17/1994 with commercials; episodes of As the World Turns and part of Guiding Light taped off KIMA/CBS 3/2/1995 with commercials; partial episode of As the World Turns and about half of Guiding Light taped off KIMA/CBS in September 1994 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120 (in a newer Sony 8-hour case)
Tape 4 - Part 4 of Noble House taped off KNDO/NBC 7/10/1991 with commercials; both parts of 'Out of Africa' (1986) taped off KIMA/CBS 7/21 and 7/23/1991 with commercials - I already have both of these broadcasts, that tape was found in Ellensburg.
Tape 5 - Partial episode of Due South, full episode of Chicago Hope and part of Eye to Eye with Connie Chung taped off KIMA/CBS 10/13/1994 with commercials; end of part 1 of American Experience: The Kennedys taped off KYVE/PBS 9/20/1992 with promos afterwards; Part 2 of American Experience: The Kennedys taped off KYVE/PBS 9/21/1992; last few minutes of 'Pearl,' part 1 (recording stopped before last commercial break); partial broadcast of Reasonable Doubts, KNDO News 23 and about half of The Tonight Show (guest host Jay Leno) taped off KNDO/NBC 11/29-30/1991 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 6 - Part 1-3 of Noble House taped off KNDO/NBC 7/7, 7/8 and 7/9/1991 with commercials

Estate sale #2 - wanted a ridiculous $2.00 a tape, but gave me one free for mentioning the Craigslist ad. But most were worth the $2...including my oldest pay-TV content yet! There were over 60 other tapes that I had to leave, again due to the ridiculous price. If these were 25 or 50c, I'd buy 20 of them.
Tape 7 - 'Hell in the Pacific' (1968) taped off KTZZ-22 Seattle in March 1991 with commercials; part of 'True Grit' taped off KSTW-11 Tacoma on 5/1/1986 with commercials; 'Down the Long Hills' (1986) taped off an unknown ABC station (either KAPP or KOMO) on 5/24/1987 minus commercials. Sony Dynamicron T-120
Tape 8 - 'Caveman' (1981) taped off HBO in mid-May 1982 with a few promos before the movie and several afterwards (my oldest HBO find yet!); 'The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again' (1979) taped off HBO in June 1982 with promos before the movie; 'Stripes' (1981) taped off Showtime in June 1982 with a brief intershow before the movie (and for some reason begins in B&W); ends with part of 'Take This Job and Shove It' (1981) taped off HBO sometime in 1982. TDK T-120
Tape 9 - 'Pete's Dragon' (1977) taped off Showtime sometime in May 1981; 'The Muppet Movie' (1979) taped off Showtime 5/10/1981 with promos (oldest pay-TV content I've ever found!); 'Hot Stuff' (1979) taped off Showtime in May 1981 with a few promos afterwards. TDK VK-250
Tape 10 - 'The Cowboys' (1972) taped off Cinemax in January 1988; 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1967) taped off Cinemax 7/30/1988 with several promos after the movie. Scotch T-120
Tape 11 - 'Back to Bataan' (1945) taped off KSTW-11 1/8/1987 with commercials; 'North to Alaska' (1960) taped off unknown channel, commercial-free. Quasar T-120
Tape 12 - 'The Alamo' (1960) taped off KCPQ-13 Tacoma in December 1986 with commercials. Panasonic T-120
Tape 13 - 'The African Queen' (1951) taped off SuperStation WTBS 1/30/1986 with commercials; 'The Empire Strikes Back' (1983) taped off unknown pay-TV channel circa 1986; 'SpaceCamp' (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channel circa 1987. Fuji T-120
Tape 14 - 'Pillow Talk' (1959) taped off TNT 1/14/1990 with commercials; 'Heartbreak Hotel' (1988) taped off Showtime in January 1990 with a few promos before the movie. Maxell XL-HIFI T-120
Tape 15 - 'Quo Vadis?' (1951) taped off KCPQ-13 Tacoma in November 1987 with commercials. Kodak XHG T-120

Tancara sale #1
Tape 16 - 'Support Your Local Gunfighter!' (1971) and first few minutes of Snowy River: The McGregor Saga taped off Family Channel on 11/5/1994 with commercials; ends with a few minutes of a KYVE-47 pledge break taped 12/2/1989. Kodak T-120
Tape 17 - Target Stars on Ice 2002 taped off A&E 3/2/2002 with commercials; episode of Simply Quilts taped off HGTV in March 2002 with commercials; several hours of HGTV taped in March 2002 with commercials, including episodes of: Homes Across America, Dream Drives and Extreme Homes, and a special presentation called 'Headline Homes 2.' Memorex T-120
Tape 18 - 'Prancer' (1989) taped off Showtime circa December 1991; The Gigham Dog & The Calico Cat taped off Showtime in December 1991; 'The Neverending Story II' (1990) taped off HBO circa December 1991; Santa Bear's First Christmas and Thomas' Snowsuit/50 Below taped off Showtime 12/17/1991 with promos; HBO Storytime Musicals: The Rise and Fall of Humpty Dumpty taped off HBO circa December 1991; Frosty the Snowman minus commercials; Opus & Bill: A Wish for Things that Work minus commercials; ends with Babar & Father Christmas taped off HBO. Kodak T-120
Tape 19 - 'The Christmas Box' (1995) taped off Hallmark Channel on 12/2/2002 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 20 - 'The Wedding Dress' (2001) taped off KIMA/CBS 10/28/2001 with commercials; part 2 of Christy: Choices of the Heart and first several minutes of a Northern Exposure rerun taped off Hallmark Channel 6/26/2002 with commercials; about an hour of the North & South miniseries taped off The Family Channel sometime in 1994 with commercials (haven't found an exact date yet.) Kodak T-120

Tancara sale #2
Tape 21 - Partial episode of The Insider, episodes of Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and first few minutes of Dirty Sexy Money taped off KAPP/ABC 11/19/2008 with commercials; Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008 and Local News at 11 taped off KAPP/ABC 12/4/2008 with commercials; end of Jimmy Kimmel Live, episode of Extra and most of Judge David Young taped off KAPP/ABC in the early morning hours of 11/14/2008 with commercials (had the recording went on another 10 minutes, we'd see them sign off); partial episode of Life on Mars and a couple minutes of KAPP Local News at 11 taped 10/23/2008 with commercials in SP mode. Scotch T-120...originally had a mid-1990s America's Funniest Home Videos episode that was taped over by the 2008 items.

Lots of catching up and posting next week for sure...
 
crainbebo said:
Massive haul this weekend! Found tapes at four different yard sales, two of those being at the Tancara neighborhood yard sale off 56th and Tieton in Yakima (where I went last year), and two estate sales. First, estate sale #1. Some excellent finds and my oldest clips from a pay-TV movie network.

Estate sale #1
Tape 1 - Sinatra 75: The Best is Yet to Come, the CBS Sunday Night News and partial episode of The Byron Allen Show taped off KIMA/CBS on 12/16/1990 with commercials; partial broadcast of 'Stephen King's It', part 1, taped off KAPP/ABC 11/18/1990 with commercials; about an hour of part 2 of 'Stephen King's It' taped off KAPP/ABC 11/20/1990 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 2 - Part 1-3 of Scarlett taped off KIMA/CBS 11/13/1994, 11/15/1994 and 11/16/1994 with commercials (already have part 2 on another tape - the others are new); ends with part of a Roseanne rerun taped off KIMA-29 in late June or early July 1994 with one commercial break. Scotch EG+ T-120
Tape 3 - Part 4 of Scarlett and part of NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 11/17/1994 with commercials; episodes of As the World Turns and part of Guiding Light taped off KIMA/CBS 3/2/1995 with commercials; partial episode of As the World Turns and about half of Guiding Light taped off KIMA/CBS in September 1994 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120 (in a newer Sony 8-hour case)
Tape 4 - Part 4 of Noble House taped off KNDO/NBC 7/10/1991 with commercials; both parts of 'Out of Africa' (1986) taped off KIMA/CBS 7/21 and 7/23/1991 with commercials - I already have both of these broadcasts, that tape was found in Ellensburg.
Tape 5 - Partial episode of Due South, full episode of Chicago Hope and part of Eye to Eye with Connie Chung taped off KIMA/CBS 10/13/1994 with commercials; end of part 1 of American Experience: The Kennedys taped off KYVE/PBS 9/20/1992 with promos afterwards; Part 2 of American Experience: The Kennedys taped off KYVE/PBS 9/21/1992; last few minutes of 'Pearl,' part 1 (recording stopped before last commercial break); partial broadcast of Reasonable Doubts, KNDO News 23 and about half of The Tonight Show (guest host Jay Leno) taped off KNDO/NBC 11/29-30/1991 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 6 - Part 1-3 of Noble House taped off KNDO/NBC 7/7, 7/8 and 7/9/1991 with commercials

Estate sale #2 - wanted a ridiculous $2.00 a tape, but gave me one free for mentioning the Craigslist ad. But most were worth the $2...including my oldest pay-TV content yet! There were over 60 other tapes that I had to leave, again due to the ridiculous price. If these were 25 or 50c, I'd buy 20 of them.
Tape 7 - 'Hell in the Pacific' (1968) taped off KTZZ-22 Seattle in March 1991 with commercials; part of 'True Grit' taped off KSTW-11 Tacoma on 5/1/1986 with commercials; 'Down the Long Hills' (1986) taped off an unknown ABC station (either KAPP or KOMO) on 5/24/1987 minus commercials. Sony Dynamicron T-120
Tape 8 - 'Caveman' (1981) taped off HBO in mid-May 1982 with a few promos before the movie and several afterwards (my oldest HBO find yet!); 'The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again' (1979) taped off HBO in June 1982 with promos before the movie; 'Stripes' (1981) taped off Showtime in June 1982 with a brief intershow before the movie (and for some reason begins in B&W); ends with part of 'Take This Job and Shove It' (1981) taped off HBO sometime in 1982. TDK T-120
Tape 9 - 'Pete's Dragon' (1977) taped off Showtime sometime in May 1981; 'The Muppet Movie' (1979) taped off Showtime 5/10/1981 with promos (oldest pay-TV content I've ever found!); 'Hot Stuff' (1979) taped off Showtime in May 1981 with a few promos afterwards. TDK VK-250
Tape 10 - 'The Cowboys' (1972) taped off Cinemax in January 1988; 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1967) taped off Cinemax 7/30/1988 with several promos after the movie. Scotch T-120
Tape 11 - 'Back to Bataan' (1945) taped off KSTW-11 1/8/1987 with commercials; 'North to Alaska' (1960) taped off unknown channel, commercial-free. Quasar T-120
Tape 12 - 'The Alamo' (1960) taped off KCPQ-13 Tacoma in December 1986 with commercials. Panasonic T-120
Tape 13 - 'The African Queen' (1951) taped off SuperStation WTBS 1/30/1986 with commercials; 'The Empire Strikes Back' (1983) taped off unknown pay-TV channel circa 1986; 'SpaceCamp' (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channel circa 1987. Fuji T-120
Tape 14 - 'Pillow Talk' (1959) taped off TNT 1/14/1990 with commercials; 'Heartbreak Hotel' (1988) taped off Showtime in January 1990 with a few promos before the movie. Maxell XL-HIFI T-120
Tape 15 - 'Quo Vadis?' (1951) taped off KCPQ-13 Tacoma in November 1987 with commercials. Kodak XHG T-120

Tancara sale #1
Tape 16 - 'Support Your Local Gunfighter!' (1971) and first few minutes of Snowy River: The McGregor Saga taped off Family Channel on 11/5/1994 with commercials; ends with a few minutes of a KYVE-47 pledge break taped 12/2/1989. Kodak T-120
Tape 17 - Target Stars on Ice 2002 taped off A&E 3/2/2002 with commercials; episode of Simply Quilts taped off HGTV in March 2002 with commercials; several hours of HGTV taped in March 2002 with commercials, including episodes of: Homes Across America, Dream Drives and Extreme Homes, and a special presentation called 'Headline Homes 2.' Memorex T-120
Tape 18 - 'Prancer' (1989) taped off Showtime circa December 1991; The Gigham Dog & The Calico Cat taped off Showtime in December 1991; 'The Neverending Story II' (1990) taped off HBO circa December 1991; Santa Bear's First Christmas and Thomas' Snowsuit/50 Below taped off Showtime 12/17/1991 with promos; HBO Storytime Musicals: The Rise and Fall of Humpty Dumpty taped off HBO circa December 1991; Frosty the Snowman minus commercials; Opus & Bill: A Wish for Things that Work minus commercials; ends with Babar & Father Christmas taped off HBO. Kodak T-120
Tape 19 - 'The Christmas Box' (1995) taped off Hallmark Channel on 12/2/2002 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 20 - 'The Wedding Dress' (2001) taped off KIMA/CBS 10/28/2001 with commercials; part 2 of Christy: Choices of the Heart and first several minutes of a Northern Exposure rerun taped off Hallmark Channel 6/26/2002 with commercials; about an hour of the North & South miniseries taped off The Family Channel sometime in 1994 with commercials (haven't found an exact date yet.) Kodak T-120

Tancara sale #2
Tape 21 - Partial episode of The Insider, episodes of Pushing Daisies, Private Practice and first few minutes of Dirty Sexy Money taped off KAPP/ABC 11/19/2008 with commercials; Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008 and Local News at 11 taped off KAPP/ABC 12/4/2008 with commercials; end of Jimmy Kimmel Live, episode of Extra and most of Judge David Young taped off KAPP/ABC in the early morning hours of 11/14/2008 with commercials (had the recording went on another 10 minutes, we'd see them sign off); partial episode of Life on Mars and a couple minutes of KAPP Local News at 11 taped 10/23/2008 with commercials in SP mode. Scotch T-120...originally had a mid-1990s America's Funniest Home Videos episode that was taped over by the 2008 items.

Lots of catching up and posting next week for sure...
Click to expand...

Oh, And I Almost Forgot To Mention This But I Was Watching Most Of Your Videos On Youtube And I Have Discovered That The KCYU-LP Commericals From 12/14/1999 That You Uploaded Got Blocked! Same Goes To Part 5 Of The WRC Commercials From 4/29/1989 You Uploaded.

Its Best That You Can Upload These To Your Google Plus Account Like You Did For The Real People Episodes.
 
Large VHS haul from two estate sales this past weekend, both in Bath Township, Ohio (outside of Akron).


Estate sale #1--held at a big house just around the corner from LeBron James' house (no joke!) Basement was full of VHS tapes, including the oldest content I've found from three major cable networks--the Disney Channel, the Family Channel and ESPN.

TAPE 1: All this one had was the music video for Marcy Playground's song "Comin' Up from Behind" taped from MuchMusic circa 1999--still a neat find though. MuchMusic is Canada's MTV counterpart, but it used to be available on many American cable and satellite providers as well, including Cablevision (now Spectrum) in Northeast Ohio. Only difference between the American feed and the Canadian feed was the commercials the network showed. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 2: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) taped from the Disney Channel on 10/31/1984 with promos afterward; Annie (1982) taped from unknown pay TV channel circa 1984. JVC T-120.

TAPE 3: End of a broadcast of PM Magazine with Michael Stanley and Jan Jones and Happy Birthday Garfield (CBS special) taped from WJW in Cleveland on 5/17/1988, some commercial breaks are included, others are paused out; last couple minutes of a Three Stooges short and partial episode of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future taped from WUAB in Cleveland on 2/28/1988 with commercials, after the Three Stooges clip is a Superhost segment with the late Marty Sullivan; partially taped-over episode of Duck Tales taped from WOIO in Cleveland in February 1988 with commercials; partially taped-over first round coverage of the 87th U.S. Open Championship and partial coverage of the Pro Baseball Team Arm Wrestling Championship taped from ESPN on 6/18/1987 with commercials. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 4: Last 70 minutes of Round 3 of the 102nd U.S. Open Championship, Entertainment Tonight Weekend joined in progress, Sphere (1998) and most of Channel 3 News at 11 weekend edition with Scott Newell and Lydia Esparra taped from WKYC in Cleveland on 6/15/2002 with commercials, last 30 minutes of the tape is a jumble of late night programming on other channels from the same night via channel surfing on an Adelphia cable box (Mad TV on WJW, The Man Show on Comedy Central, Cheers on Nick at Nite, etc.) Maxell T-120.

TAPE 5: Two partial episodes of Batman taped from the Family Channel in September 1989 with commercials; last hour of final round coverage of the 1989 Ryder Cup taped from USA on 9/24/1989 with commercials; one partially taped-over and two full episodes of Batman and partial episode of Hardcastle and McCormick taped from the Family Channel in September 1989 with commercials; partial Magical World of Disney presentation of The Barefoot Executive (1971) taped from WKYC in September 1989 with commercials. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 6: NFL on CBS coverage (Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens) taped from DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket on 9/3/2000 with commercials, rest of the tape is the NFL Sunday Snap scoreboard afterward on the same channel the game was on. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 7: Partial unknown documentary film on Walt Disney World taped from the Disney Channel circa 1986; partial episode of The Real Ghostbusters, full episode of Pound Puppies and partial episode of The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show taped from WEWS in Cleveland on 11/8/1986 with commercials. Scotch T-120.


Estate sale #2--just a few blocks away from the last one, another basement full of tapes, lot of out-of-market content on these.

TAPE 8: Wonderworks presentations of The Chronicles of Narnia (BBC versions--both The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian) taped from KCET in Los Angeles in December 1989 with promos in between parts, ends with the first few minutes of the 32nd Annual Los Angeles County Holiday Program. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 9: Generation X (Fox made-for-TV movie) taped from KTTV in Los Angeles on 2/20/1996 with commercials, also has the opening to Fox 11 News at 10:00; episode of Ellen taped from KABC in Los Angeles on 1/3/1996 with commercials; episode of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman taped from KCBS in Los Angeles on 1/20/1996 with commercials; part one of Gulliver's Travels (NBC miniseries) taped from KNBC in Los Angeles on 2/4/1996 with commercials; partial episode of Touched by an Angel taped from KCBS on 1/27/1996 with commercials; part two of Gulliver's Travels taped from KNBC on 2/5/1996 with commercials, also has the opening to the Channel 4 News at 11:00. Sony T-160.

TAPE 10: Moses (TNT miniseries) taped from TNT in April 1996 (encore presentation) with commercials; episode of Taz-Mania taped from KTTV in April 1996 with commercials; episode of Blossom taped from KTLA in Los Angeles in April 1996 with commercials; The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime (CBS made-for-TV movie) taped from KCBS on 9/18/1996 with commercials. Sony T-160. This one probably won't make it to YouTube though. The tape was positioned near the end when I got it, and while I was able to figure out what was on it while rewinding it little by little, my VCR would make a lot of clunking sounds while rewinding or fast-forwarding this tape.

Some other tapes I bought from this sale did similar things while rewinding and fast-forwarding, so I was only able to look at part of some of them. One had broadcasts of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas taped from WBNS in Columbus in 1987. Another had a Three Tenors Christmas concert special on PBS taped from WVIZ in Cleveland. Another had a rebroadcast of the Masterpiece Theatre miniseries A Tale of Two Cities taped from WOSU in Columbus in December 1989.
 
Scott2013 said:
This afternoon I found three recorded VHS tapes at what's generally an unlikely place--a local Salvation Army Family Store.

TAPE 1: Several episodes of Murphy Brown (summer reruns from the first season) taped from WJW in June and July 1989 minus most commercials; episode of Married with Children (summer rerun) taped from WOIO on 7/2/1989 with commercials

TAPE 2: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus 119th Edition (CBS special) taped from WJW sometime in May 1989 minus commercials; episode of Murphy Brown taped from WJW in May 1989 minus commercials; episode of China Beach (second season finale) taped from WEWS on 5/3/1989 with commercials; Emmylou Harris performance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson taped from WKYC sometime in 1989; Late Night with David Letterman interview with Courteney Cox taped from WKYC sometime in 1989; Good Morning America segment on cheap fashions with Kim Alexis taped from WEWS sometime in 1989; GMA interview with Paula Abdul taped from WEWS sometime in 1989

TAPE 3: Miss Universe 1997 taped from WOIO on 5/16/1997 with commercials, along with first three minutes of CBS 19 News at 11 (with later Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson and Eric Greene filling in for Denise Dufala)
Click to expand...

I sued to have that China Beach episode(second season finale) and on the back end of it(SLP, so 6 hour tape), was the Bulls-Cavs game 5 first round series. It also had footage of the Sonics-Lakers game(second round game 1) during timeouts. The China Beach episode was from an ABC feed, but the 2 NBA games were CBS backhauls. I think the episode of China Beach (second season finale) was a few days before the NBA games on the tape. 5/3 and 5/7 1989.
 
The other home recorded tape from the aforementioned Ebay lot of NFL Films VHS and football stuff:

1/20/1985 NFL Films Super Bowl highlights broadcast on ESPN, has studio intershows and bumpers, most commercials, covered Super Bowls 12-18 then...
1/26/1986 Super Bowl 19 NFL Films highlights with ESPN presentation
1/26/1986 Super Bowl 20 ESPN Preview Special

This marks the earliest ESPN stuff I've found, though not the earliest sports by far, that goes to a 1979 boxing match which I covered back last September.

To answer the question from earlier, I only really bid on large home recorded football or college basketball lots, or if something looks to be really old so I can get some use of the commercials.
 
Nice find! My earliest ESPN aircheck is half of SportsCenter and a boxing match (repeat of course) taped Christmas Eve 1986 with commercials. Hope to find earlier airchecks (especially since I just found Showtime and HBO clips from 1981 and 1982) but you never know. Haven't even uploaded anything in a while except for two MTV clips from 1985 found last month. Too busy with college, life, and converting previous tapes to DVD so I can make some $$$! Of course 'selling as blank tapes.'
 
Went to a church sale this morning (about 5 minutes driving distance from my apartment), and came back with 5 tapes and one (and a half) duds. Good items overall, this on top of the 21 tapes I found last Saturday at several sales.

Tape 1 - 'Far & Away' (1992) part 1 taped off KAPP/ABC 3/12/1995 with commercials; part 2 of 'Far & Away', Northwest Nightcast, Nightline, Rush Limbaugh, Married...with Children and 1:05AM sign off taped off KAPP/ABC 3/13-14/1995 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 2 - End of The Insider and episode of Dancing with the Stars taped off KAPP/ABC 9/30/2008 with commercials. Maxell EX T-120
Tape 3 - 'Heartbreak Ridge' (1987) taped off KNDO-23 Yakima sometime in late 1997 with commercials (local airing in SLP mode - will try and get a month when I go through the rest of the ads); partial broadcast of 'Dick Tracy' (1990) taped off KAPP/ABC Valentine's Day 1993 with commercials (SP mode). Maxell T-120
Tape 4 - All this had was a half hour of Mickey's Christmas Carol taped off KIMA/CBS 12/13/1991 with commercials, the rest got the 'bulk erase' treatment sadly. Scotch T-120
 
This past Friday and Saturday were the days of the Seville Yard Sales with hundreds of homes participating. I missed out on it last year, but I came back this year and left with some decent finds.

Barn sale (just before arriving in the town of Seville--one keeper, two duds)
TAPE 1: Charlie Chan's Secret (1936) and partial episode of The Twilight Zone taped from WPIX in New York City (back when it was available on cable as a superstation) in September 1988 with commercials; Charlie Chan at the Olympics (1937) taped from WVIA in Scranton in September 1988, includes an underwriting credit and the Late Night Movie opening; The Golden Eye (1948) taped from WPIX in September 1988 with commercials. Konica T-120.

Yard sale #1
TAPE 2: Most of a broadcast of Geraldo at Large, episode of Seinfeld and most of an episode of American Idol taped from WJW in Cleveland on 3/9/2006 with commercials; partial episode of The O.C. taped from WJW on 4/6/2006 with a few commercials. Unknown brand T-120 (no label or case).

TAPE 3: Hodgepodge of various TLC programs taped in June and July 2001--The Greatest, Monster Machines, Junkyard Wars, Big Stuff, etc.--some of these had commercials intact, but most did not. Maxell T-120.

Yard sale #2
TAPE 4: Garth Brooks: Tryin' to Rope the World (NBC special) taped from WKYC in Cleveland on 12/13/1995 with commercials, starts with the end of Dateline NBC and ends with the first couple minutes of Christmas in Washington. Kodak T-120.

TAPE 5: Garth Brooks: The Hits: Live from Texas Stadium (NBC special) taped from WKYC on 1/18/1995 with commercials (I found this once before last year, but this one has all the commercial breaks intact, whereas the last one only had two); The Eagles: Hell Freezes Over (PBS special) taped from WNEO/WEAO in Akron in March 1995 with pledge breaks (I found this once before taped from WVIZ in Cleveland). Scotch T-120.

Also at this sale, I did find a tape of NFL on NBC coverage of the Cleveland Browns' playoff game against the New York Jets taped from WKYC on 1/3/1987 with commercials, but the picture was extremely fuzzy and the VCR clunked a lot when rewinding the tape, so I didn't bother with this one. Tape was a Lynx T-120.

Yard sale #3 (only picked up one tape out of several available because a few of them looked pretty beaten up)
TAPE 6: A Cry in the Dark (1988) taped from HBO circa 1989; The Jerk (1979) taped from Cinemax circa 1989; Kickboxer (1989) and start of Witchtrap (1989) taped from Cinemax in December 1990 with promos in between. Kodak T-120.
 
Today I had to go up to Wenatchee for a dr's appointment, and stopped by the Veteran's Warehouse Thrift Store in downtown on the way out. In fact, I arrived just in time because they are closing their doors TOMORROW! They had 'store closing - 75% off' all over the windows and it was reported in the local newspaper as well. The place is huge and it's sad they are closing - three floors of second-hand heaven. There were a huge number of VHS tapes at the store as well, 98% retail of course. But there were 8 home-recorded tapes there that I picked up. Two were duds (movies without commercials), but here's what was on the rest:

Tape 1 - 'The Land Before Time' (1988) copied from rental tape; 'House of Dark Shadows' (1970) and 'Night of Dark Shadows' (1971) taped off TNT 7/13/1990 with commercials; part of 'Razorback' (1984) and part of 'Trick or Treats' (1982) taped off USA Up All Night early morning 1/14/1990 with commercials. Sony ES-HG T-120
Tape 2 - 'Scream' (1996) taped off unknown pay-TV channel circa 1999; Friends rerun and partial Simpsons rerun taped off KCPQ-13 Tacoma in late November 1998 with commercials; late night aircheck of KCPQ-13 Tacoma taped 11/19-20/1998 with commercials: partial episode of Stargate SG-1, episodes of Cops, LAPD: Life on the Beat, Q13 Reports at Ten late-night repeat, infomercial for Straight Shootin' Golf/Kevin Trudeau, and about an hour of 'A Star is Born' (1937). Maxell T-120
Tape 3 - 'Main Event' (1979) and 'The Empire Strikes Back' (1980) taped off HBO 2/1/1986 with a partial intershow (most cut out); 'The In-Laws' (1979) taped off HBO 3/3/1986 with well over 10 minutes of promos afterwards. Scotch T-120
Tape 4 - 'Milk Money' (1994) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Clear & Present Danger' (1994) taped off Viewer's Choice PPV in April 1995 with several minutes of promos after the movie. Gemini T-120
Tape 5 - 'The World is Not Enough' (1999) copied from rental tape, after rental tape ends there's one partial episode and one full episode of In the House, full loops of ABC World News Now, World News This Morning and about 10 minutes of Good Morning Northwest taped off KXLY-4/ABC Spokane early AM 5/22/2000 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 6 - Episodes of Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint and Numb3rs taped off KIRO/CBS 2/27/2009 with commercials; part of Highland Heartbeat taped off KSPS/PBS in February or March 2009 with at least one pledge break and a promo break afterwards; two syndicated reruns of Boston Legal and start of a CSI: NY rerun taped off KSTW-11 in February or March 2009 with commercials. Memorex HG T-120 (which actually dated back to the late 1980s but was recorded over many, many times)

Remember, while Yakima is just 60 miles away, they do NOT serve Wenatchee and do not come in on cable or translators. Instead, Seattle and Spokane stations are on cable. Historically, Spokane stations piped in translators to Wenatchee, Cashmere, Leavenworth and other parts of NCW. But Wenatchee is actually considered part of the SEATTLE market even though there's a huge mountain range blocking their signals. (In fact, an FM scan today near Downtown Wenatchee found nothing from Seattle, but I did hear a few Tri-Cities/Pendleton FMs outside of the locals.) It's basically a big media black hole, and the only major network to have a station *in* Wenatchee was Fox in the late 1980s, through KCWT-27 (now defunct).

Another odd note: There was a box of E-180 and E-120 tapes there as well! Several were older (~mid 1980s, marked with Alice reruns and movies) and one had David Letterman episodes on it from the late '90s or early '00s. I don't have a PAL/NTSC 'worldwide' VCR so I had to leave them. There were several retail tapes mixed in with the BBFC 12 and 15 ratings on them as well, so those E-180s were obviously taped in the UK...and who knows, maybe I could have found some BBC continuity and promos if I had the right VCR!
 
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"Remember, while Yakima is just 60 miles away, they do NOT serve Wenatchee and do not come in on cable or translators. Instead, Seattle and Spokane stations are on cable. Historically, Spokane stations piped in translators to Wenatchee, Cashmere, Leavenworth and other parts of NCW. But Wenatchee is actually considered part of the SEATTLE market even though there's a huge mountain range blocking their signals."

Interestingly, my last two visits to Wenatchee both had the full boat of Seattle stations, but no Spokane. This was the Super 8-downtown Wenatchee. Perhaps they have a separate feed, but I'm not sure. Previously, Wenatchee had a mix of Seattle and Spokane, KING and KCPQ, and then the rest Spokane. This particular hotel is total Seattle. I wonder if there is a major cable sea-change happening, or it is just at the whim of the individual hotels...

Go down 60 miles or so and Ellensburg still carries Yak/Tri. Weird.
 
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Yes. My mother had a dr's appointment over there in January, (I was too busy to go - working). They stayed at the Comfort Inn downtown and were able to get a majority of the Seattle stations. She got to see some of the recent news set revamps at 11:00, I know that. It is such a weird place - nothing on FM from Seattle due to mountains but cable offers everything from SEA...even JoeTV and KONG!!
Spectrum offers 2/4/7/28 Spokane in addition to Seattle. KHQ got dropped a year or two ago and I don't think they've ever carried KSKN. LocalTel only carries 4/7 from Spokane, rest are Seattle. In fact KONG is on channel 2.
 
More tapes found today at an estate sale! There were a couple duds mixed in (movies without promos) and one was actually erased.

Tape 1 - 4hr, 45min CNN aircheck taped 9/21/1998 with commercials (releasing of Clinton Testimony tapes); about 20 minutes of ABC News coverage afterwards (special report interrupting programming); 15-minute clip of an expanded edition of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather taped off KIMA/CBS 9/21/1998 with commercials; partial broadcast of People's 20th Birthday taped off KAPP/ABC 3/7/1994 minus commercials; ends with about 10 minutes of Lillehammer Winter Olympics coverage taped off KIMA/CBS minus commercials (SP mode). TDK T-120
Tape 2 - Episode of Beverly Hills 90210 taped off KCYU-LP/Fox 2/17/1999 with commercials; end credits for Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/9/1999 with commercials; end credits for Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/10/1999 with commercials; end credits for Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/11/1999 with commercials; end of The View and episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/12/1999 with commercials (perhaps due to sports or breaking news? No Port Charles); end of Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/15/1999 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 3 - 'Elvis on Tour' (1972) taped off TBS in late 1987 minus commercials; Today clip taped in late 1987 (Bryant Gumbel with an Elvis tribute band); a few clips of A Current Affair (w/ Maury Povich pre-talk show) taped off an unknown station minus commercials, on Elvis Presley, taped around 1989; partial CBS Sports Special broadcast of the World Figure Skating Championships in Budapest, taped 3/27/1988 with most commercials pulled out, likely off KIMA; Ricky Nelson special minus commercials; compilation of musical performances from the 1988 Academy Awards (4/11/1988); ends with clip of Oprah Winfrey taped in April 1988 (on treating depression), and a Barbara Walters interview with Oprah around the same time. Memorex T-120
Tape 4 - This tape contains a bunch of clips on the Northridge Earthquake, taped in January 1994 - A Current Affair, Hard Copy, and NBC Nightly News clips taped 1/17/1994 minus commercials (ACA/Hard Copy aired on KIMA, the latter obviously comes from KNDO), Inside Edition clip taped off KAPP-35 1/17/1994 with commercials; American Journal clip taped off KAPP-35 1/17/1994; The Great Quake of '94 (news special) taped off KNDO minus commercials; most of Day One: California Earthquake taped 1/17/1994 off KAPP/ABC with some commercials, CBS This Morning clip off KIMA, etc. TDK T-120
 
crainbebo said:
More tapes found today at an estate sale! There were a couple duds mixed in (movies without promos) and one was actually erased.

Tape 1 - 4hr, 45min CNN aircheck taped 9/21/1998 with commercials (releasing of Clinton Testimony tapes); about 20 minutes of ABC News coverage afterwards (special report interrupting programming); 15-minute clip of an expanded edition of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather taped off KIMA/CBS 9/21/1998 with commercials; partial broadcast of People's 20th Birthday taped off KAPP/ABC 3/7/1994 minus commercials; ends with about 10 minutes of Lillehammer Winter Olympics coverage taped off KIMA/CBS minus commercials (SP mode). TDK T-120
Tape 2 - Episode of Beverly Hills 90210 taped off KCYU-LP/Fox 2/17/1999 with commercials; end credits for Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/9/1999 with commercials; end credits for Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/10/1999 with commercials; end credits for Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/11/1999 with commercials; end of The View and episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/12/1999 with commercials (perhaps due to sports or breaking news? No Port Charles); end of Port Charles and full episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC 2/15/1999 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 3 - 'Elvis on Tour' (1972) taped off TBS in late 1987 minus commercials; Today clip taped in late 1987 (Bryant Gumbel with an Elvis tribute band); a few clips of A Current Affair (w/ Maury Povich pre-talk show) taped off an unknown station minus commercials, on Elvis Presley, taped around 1989; partial CBS Sports Special broadcast of the World Figure Skating Championships in Budapest, taped 3/27/1988 with most commercials pulled out, likely off KIMA; Ricky Nelson special minus commercials; compilation of musical performances from the 1988 Academy Awards (4/11/1988); ends with clip of Oprah Winfrey taped in April 1988 (on treating depression), and a Barbara Walters interview with Oprah around the same time. Memorex T-120
Tape 4 - This tape contains a bunch of clips on the Northridge Earthquake, taped in January 1994 - A Current Affair, Hard Copy, and NBC Nightly News clips taped 1/17/1994 minus commercials (ACA/Hard Copy aired on KIMA, the latter obviously comes from KNDO), Inside Edition clip taped off KAPP-35 1/17/1994 with commercials; American Journal clip taped off KAPP-35 1/17/1994; The Great Quake of '94 (news special) taped off KNDO minus commercials; most of Day One: California Earthquake taped 1/17/1994 off KAPP/ABC with some commercials, CBS This Morning clip off KIMA, etc. TDK T-120
Click to expand...

I wonder if this was the Ricky Nelson special found in Tape 3. I have a recording of that as well when it was rebroadcast on the Disney Channel in 1988 during a free preview weekend.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3899950/?ref_=nv_sr_2

I also have that CNN coverage of Bill Clinton's testimony tapes.
 
Yeah, I could see where the commercials were paused out, so it was likely the original Discovery Channel broadcast. That's really disappointing. I have never found any DSC programming that old before. There were a bunch of Beta tapes being sold out of Arizona that had early Discovery Channel on them, along with WGN-taped/cable-taped movies and whatnot, but the 10-tape lot I saw went all the way up to almost $40. Too much for too little. Betas are in high demand by collectors nowadays. Big lots can go for $100 or even more. Just saw an 8-tape Beta lot that sold for $210 tonight!!
Oh well, about four dozen tapes going up to eBay this week. Time to clean house.
 
Some finds from a garage sale in Brunswick yesterday--four keepers out of five total tapes.

TAPE 1: Most of an episode of The Amazing Race and partial episode of Judging Amy taped from WOIO on 12/14/2004 with commercials; last hour of The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (made-for-TV movie) and part of Batman (1989) taped from TNT on December 5-6, 2004 with commercials; part of the fourth quarter of Cleveland Browns vs. New England Patriots, Subway Postgame Show and start of CBS Sports Spectacular taped from WOIO on 12/5/2004 with commercials; few minutes of Love, Lust & Marriage: Why We Stray and Why We Stray (ABC special hosted by John Stossel) taped from WEWS on 8/30/1998 with a few commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 2: Partial episode of Full House, episodes of Doogie Howser M.D., The Simpsons, Roseanne and partial episode of Legend taped from WUAB on 5/16/1995 with commercials; episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and first few minutes of part one of The Secret Of... (UPN miniseries hosted by Lindsay Wagner and Blair Underwood) taped from WUAB on 5/22/1995 with commercials; part of Needful Things (1993) and part of Consenting Adults (1992) taped from Showtime in January 1995 with 13 minutes of promos in between. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 3: Grumpier Old Men (1995), Jumanji (1995) and Goldeneye (1995) taped from SpectraVision sometime in 1996 with commercials and promos in between the movies. My understanding based on what little I've found out about this network was that it was a TV service used in hotels, so this is definitely a rarity. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 4: Five and a half hours of CNN coverage of Princess Diana's funeral and burial taped on 9/6/1997, some commercial breaks are found during the post-funeral coverage; partial episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine taped from WUAB sometime in summer 1997 with a few commercials. TDK T-120.
 
Scott,
did you see my PM regarding a VHS lot out of Aurora that was for sale? It's on OfferUp. Mix of older and newer tapes and some retail mixed in.
 


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