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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

Something similar happened to me earlier this year, with a photo full of Betas in the online listing, but at the sale itself, non for sale. Though oddly, the organizers mentioned that the family actually kept them as opposed to throwing them out. Still, there are so many folks that don't see the "nostalgia" value in them. Prices keep going up on eBay slowly but surely as the supply gradually dwindles and fewer archives are discovered as the original owners of these tapes keep getting smaller. For the first time in a couple months, I just searched another lot of tapes. This hunt comprised of 13 VHS tapes courtesy of the 'Bay from a seller based in suburban Philadelphia. 7 of them are labelled "Beauty and the Beast", not for the 1991 Disney movie, but for the late 1980s series starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. It seems like the seller knows his stuff, mentioning how some have commercials and also that another tape has an episode of Morning Stretch with Joanie Greggains followed by episodes of As The World Turns and Guiding Light on them from the late '80s or early '90s. Generally speaking, I was pleased with the results, with just two tapes that didn't have commercials, with one of them still with rare content that was worth keeping. There were also a couple out of market recordings as well.

TAPE 1: Most of the first five episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman off KYW/CBS in January 1993 with commercials. Each episode is missing their closing credits. I've already found the first three of those off of KDBC back in 2017.

TAPE 2: Starts with about two-thirds of a 1990 episode of Morning Stretch with Joanie Greggins off of KYW circa August 1991 with commercials, followed by episodes of One Life To Live and Guiding Light off WPVI/ABC and WCAU/CBS on 8/9/1991 with commercials, then it cuts back to about three-fourths of One Life To Live off WPVI/ABC on 7/18/1991 with commercials, then wrapping up with another episode of Guiding Light from the same day off WCAU/CBS with commercials.

TAPE 3: Begins with three episodes of Morning Stretch off KYW on 2/28, 3/1, and 3/2/1990 with commercials, followed by about the last half of Guiding Light off WCAU/CBS on 2/23/190 with commercials, then episodes of One Life To Live, Guiding Light, and Knots Landing off WPVI/ABC & WCAU/CBS on 2/22/1990 with commercials, then wraps up with approximately the last half of Falcon Crest off WCAU/CBS with commercials, along with the first few minutes of the WCAU 11 PM News that includes a story on Trump.

TAPE 4: Jane Fonda's Workout (1982) copied from another tape or rental, followed by two episodes of Morning Stretch circa 1983 with no commercials or closing plugs/credits. Despite the lack of ads and the dreaded credit crunch, that post-disco electrofunk and striped aerobics apparel is definitely a nice find compared to the later '80s neon and synths that predominate on so many "classic" aerobics/fitness videos that you find. Prior to this, my only episode of Morning Stretch was on a tape that aired on the morning following the Challenger disaster off KDKA.

TAPE 5: Two episodes of Beauty and the Beast (BATB) from December 1987 off WIVB, the first episode without commercials, the second with commercials. Interestingly, the episode with ads appeared to be a locally pre-empted broadcast that aired on 12/23 based on one of the local ads as well as the network promos. There was no CBS voiceover promos found during the closing credits.

TAPE 6: Episodes of BATB from 5/5, 5/12, 5/19, and 5/26/1989 off WCAU/CBS with commercials, followed by the last 15 minutes of the Dallas season finale off WCAU/CBS on 5/19/1989 with some commercials, and finally the 8th season finale of Falcon Crest off WCAU/CBS from the same night with commercials that features a CBS special report on the Tiananmen Square protests between the intro and the episode.

TAPE 7: Six episodes of BATB from 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26, 3/4, and 3/11/1988 off WCAU/CBS. The first episode is complete with commercials and closing credits, the next three with the commercials, but missing the closing, and the last two scoped with no commercials nor closing credits.

TAPE 8: Two episodes of BATB off KPIX/CBS from August 1988, the first episode scoped, the second episode from 8/26/88 with commercials.

TAPE 9: Six episodes of BATB off WCAU/CBS from 4/1, 4/8, 6/10, 6/17, 7/1, and August 1988. The first episode is fully complete with commercials and credits, the next four the commercials but no closing, the the final episode scoped.

TAPE 10: Three episodes of BATB off WCAU/CBS from 12/12, 12/13, and 12/20/1989 with commercials and closing credits. The first of these was a two-hour episode to promote the delayed season premiere due to the show's sagging ratings at the time.

Two tapes I place in the sell pile consisted of soaps from the 2000s, with one tape with January 2001 episodes of All My Children, One Life To Live, and Guiding Light, as well as a broadcast of Au Pair II off Fox Family in April 2001 with commercials. The other honorable mention consisted of three consecutive episodes of both Guiding Light and One Life To Live from June 23-25, 2008 off KYW and WPVI with commercials, with the GL episodes also including the intros to The Price Is Right. This was certainly twilight time for these soaps as it wouldn't be long before GL's seven+ decade run since the days of radio would be over. Still, the next few weeks are great time to check for sales before they roll up for the winter. Pre-Clinton era stuff is still out there, but its getting harder to find those at a cheap price. And its nice to find episodes of a rather forgotten fantasy drama that's very underrated compared to that cartoon.
 
pannoni1 said:
Something similar happened to me earlier this year, with a photo full of Betas in the online listing, but at the sale itself, non for sale. Though oddly, the organizers mentioned that the family actually kept them as opposed to throwing them out. Still, there are so many folks that don't see the "nostalgia" value in them. Prices keep going up on eBay slowly but surely as the supply gradually dwindles and fewer archives are discovered as the original owners of these tapes keep getting smaller. For the first time in a couple months, I just searched another lot of tapes. This hunt comprised of 13 VHS tapes courtesy of the 'Bay from a seller based in suburban Philadelphia. 7 of them are labelled "Beauty and the Beast", not for the 1991 Disney movie, but for the late 1980s series starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. It seems like the seller knows his stuff, mentioning how some have commercials and also that another tape has an episode of Morning Stretch with Joanie Greggains followed by episodes of As The World Turns and Guiding Light on them from the late '80s or early '90s. Generally speaking, I was pleased with the results, with just two tapes that didn't have commercials, with one of them still with rare content that was worth keeping. There were also a couple out of market recordings as well.

TAPE 1: Most of the first five episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman off KYW/CBS in January 1993 with commercials. Each episode is missing their closing credits. I've already found the first three of those off of KDBC back in 2017.

TAPE 2: Starts with about two-thirds of a 1990 episode of Morning Stretch with Joanie Greggins off of KYW circa August 1991 with commercials, followed by episodes of One Life To Live and Guiding Light off WPVI/ABC and WCAU/CBS on 8/9/1991 with commercials, then it cuts back to about three-fourths of One Life To Live off WPVI/ABC on 7/18/1991 with commercials, then wrapping up with another episode of Guiding Light from the same day off WCAU/CBS with commercials.

TAPE 3: Begins with three episodes of Morning Stretch off KYW on 2/28, 3/1, and 3/2/1990 with commercials, followed by about the last half of Guiding Light off WCAU/CBS on 2/23/190 with commercials, then episodes of One Life To Live, Guiding Light, and Knots Landing off WPVI/ABC & WCAU/CBS on 2/22/1990 with commercials, then wraps up with approximately the last half of Falcon Crest off WCAU/CBS with commercials, along with the first few minutes of the WCAU 11 PM News that includes a story on Trump.

TAPE 4: Jane Fonda's Workout (1982) copied from another tape or rental, followed by two episodes of Morning Stretch circa 1983 with no commercials or closing plugs/credits. Despite the lack of ads and the dreaded credit crunch, that post-disco electrofunk and striped aerobics apparel is definitely a nice find compared to the later '80s neon and synths that predominate on so many "classic" aerobics/fitness videos that you find. Prior to this, my only episode of Morning Stretch was on a tape that aired on the morning following the Challenger disaster off KDKA.

TAPE 5: Two episodes of Beauty and the Beast (BATB) from December 1987 off WIVB, the first episode without commercials, the second with commercials. Interestingly, the episode with ads appeared to be a locally pre-empted broadcast that aired on 12/23 based on one of the local ads as well as the network promos. There was no CBS voiceover promos found during the closing credits.

TAPE 6: Episodes of BATB from 5/5, 5/12, 5/19, and 5/26/1989 off WCAU/CBS with commercials, followed by the last 15 minutes of the Dallas season finale off WCAU/CBS on 5/19/1989 with some commercials, and finally the 8th season finale of Falcon Crest off WCAU/CBS from the same night with commercials that features a CBS special report on the Tiananmen Square protests between the intro and the episode.

TAPE 7: Six episodes of BATB from 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26, 3/4, and 3/11/1988 off WCAU/CBS. The first episode is complete with commercials and closing credits, the next three with the commercials, but missing the closing, and the last two scoped with no commercials nor closing credits.

TAPE 8: Two episodes of BATB off KPIX/CBS from August 1988, the first episode scoped, the second episode from 8/26/88 with commercials.

TAPE 9: Six episodes of BATB off WCAU/CBS from 4/1, 4/8, 6/10, 6/17, 7/1, and August 1988. The first episode is fully complete with commercials and credits, the next four the commercials but no closing, the the final episode scoped.

TAPE 10: Three episodes of BATB off WCAU/CBS from 12/12, 12/13, and 12/20/1989 with commercials and closing credits. The first of these was a two-hour episode to promote the delayed season premiere due to the show's sagging ratings at the time.

Two tapes I place in the sell pile consisted of soaps from the 2000s, with one tape with January 2001 episodes of All My Children, One Life To Live, and Guiding Light, as well as a broadcast of Au Pair II off Fox Family in April 2001 with commercials. The other honorable mention consisted of three consecutive episodes of both Guiding Light and One Life To Live from June 23-25, 2008 off KYW and WPVI with commercials, with the GL episodes also including the intros to The Price Is Right. This was certainly twilight time for these soaps as it wouldn't be long before GL's seven+ decade run since the days of radio would be over. Still, the next few weeks are great time to check for sales before they roll up for the winter. Pre-Clinton era stuff is still out there, but its getting harder to find those at a cheap price. And its nice to find episodes of a rather forgotten fantasy drama that's very underrated compared to that cartoon.
Click to expand...

WCPX/WKMG aired Guiding Light in the mid-to-late 1990s and well into the 2000s before TPIR too!
 
Nice finds on the soaps and Morning Stretch broadcasts. My life is very busy at the moment with a heavy homework load and the possibility of going back to (real) work soon. I don't think I've pulled a tape off in 4 or 5 days, only whatever's cued up in the Amazon Drive, ex-YouTube to go to Internet Archive.
There is an estate sale I'm checking out tomorrow after class, it's about 2 miles NW of Ellensburg. Might go somewhere on Saturday, but I'm spending most of the day helping a family member with reorganizing.
 
This weekend, I got skunked again at the sales - except for only one find - haven't looked at it yet but it's a little piece of my childhood apparently. At a big yard sale in Yakima on Saturday was a blank tape that was marked with Magic School Bus and Bear in the Big Blue House! There were a few others that also had Bear on them as well. Her kids had long grown up and she adored the show - and so did her little kids.
Hoping for a nice finish to the 2021 estate sale/garage sale season - otherwise, another trip to Wenatchee is tentative for this fall, before Blewett Pass becomes a winter wonderland!
 
Going through this last round of finds was a bit of a slow go this time, but here's what I ended up finding on tapes within the last couple of weeks.

Latest "donations" from my mom's friend--one tape, which is supposed to contain movies recorded from Preview on WCLQ, had snapped off one of the reels of the cassette, so at some point, I'll see if I can piece it together:
TAPE 1: Christopher Columbus (1949) and America the Beautiful (short film) taped from the Disney Channel in October 1990 with promos. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 2: Episode of Prison Break and start of Fox 8 News at Ten taped from WJW on 9/6/2005 with commercials; last few minutes of The Amazing Race and first few minutes of Poker Royale: Comedians vs. Poker Pros taped from GSN circa 2005; partial broadcast of part five of North and South (1985 ABC miniseries) taped from the Family Channel on 2/10/1996 with commercials; part six of North and South taped from the Family Channel on 2/17/1996 with commercials. RCA T-120.


Garage sale in Parma, Ohio last Friday:
TAPE 3: The Christmas Wish (1998 CBS made-for-TV movie) and partial broadcast of Once Upon a Christmas (2000 PAX TV made-for-TV movie) taped from ABC Family on 11/21/2009 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 4: Eve's Christmas (made-for-TV movie), How Clean Is Your House, The Golden Girls, The Nanny, another Golden Girls, Providence, Suddenly Susan, Total Gym infomercial and partial Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra infomercial taped from Lifetime on December 6-7, 2004 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 5: One partial episode, one full episode and one partial episode of NCIS taped from USA on 10/31/2009 with commercials (NCIS Viewer's Choice Scare-a-thon). Maxell T-120.

TAPE 6: Sarah Brightman in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall taped from WVIZ in March 1999 with pledge breaks. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 7: Partial broadcast of Home by Christmas (2006 made-for-TV movie) and Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage (2008) taped from Lifetime in November 2010 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 8: End of Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser and Great Performances (Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Celebration) taped from WVIZ on 12/31/1998 with promos. Sony T-120.

TAPE 9: Partial broadcast of The Secret Gardens of Albuquerque taped from HGTV sometime in 2002 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 10: Prancer (1989) taped from WBNX in December 1995 with commercials; partial broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Garfield Christmas Special taped from WJW on 12/2/1992 with commercials; partial broadcast of Christmas Snow (1986 NBC made-for-TV movie) taped from WOIO in December 1992 with commercials. Polaroid T-120.


And, interestingly enough, a DVD+R found at an estate sale in North Royalton this past Wednesday. All of the recordings on this were copied from a Dish Network DVR.
-Episode of Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime recorded from Discovery HD Theater on 4/1/2006 with commercials--after the DVR recording ends, the menu screen appears for a few minutes, then cuts to a few minutes of Sunrise Earth on Discovery HD Theater recorded on 4/10/2006
-Episode of Jeremy Piven's Journey of a Lifetime recorded from Discovery HD Theater on 4/10/2006 with commercials
-Partial episode of Planet's Best Safaris recorded from Discovery HD Theater on 4/10/2006 with a couple of promos--little more than halfway through the episode, the Dish Network screensaver pops up for a good 15 minutes or so before cutting to a couple minutes of an unknown Indian movie on Gemini TV recorded on 4/10/2006
-Episode of Lost recorded from WEWS on 3/1/2006 with commercials


A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by an estate sale just outside of Medina at a place I had been to once before a couple years earlier. The majority of the merchandise was in the barn outside the house. When I went there the first time in 2019, the homeowner asked if I was looking for anything in particular. I had asked if she had any VHS tapes or movies and she led me into a storage area in the basement in the house that had a pretty good amount of them, many of them home-recorded. Believe it or not, I only ended up buying three tapes on that day, but I ended up finding some pretty good content, including local newscasts (WEWS in 1995 including Sports Sunday, WUAB in 1992 and 1997 including Sports Extra), some late night recordings and some content from WAKC in Akron (not the easiest to find content from that station).
Fast forward to this week and I see the same family is holding another barn sale at their house again today and tomorrow. Do I go back and reintroduce myself and ask if they still have the tapes in their basement? It's tempting to do, but I'm not really sure since most of the merchandise they were selling to begin with was in the barn outside.
 
A 70-mile trip to a Sunnyside, WA estate sale earlier today resulted in some great VHS recordings. Old fashioned 1930s home that had that musty smell, occasional cobwebs, and lots of dust everywhere. Also in the sale were two VCRs - an RCA unit from the 1980s that must have been the homeowner's first VCR based on the recordings - and an early '90s Signature 2000 Hi-Fi unit from Montgomery Ward.

Tape 1 - 'The Secret Garden' (1987) copied from rental tape; then cuts to part of 'Hickey & Boggs' (1972) taped off TNT early on 12/2/1996 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 2 - 'Love is Never Silent' (1985) taped off KRON-4 San Francisco/NBC on 12/9/1985 with commercials (my oldest Hallmark movie ever!); then cuts to part of an episode of America (short-lived newsmagazine/talk show with Sarah Purcell) taped off KGO-7 in October 1985 with commercials...my first find of this show! It then cuts over to an episode of Knight Rider taped off KRON/NBC on 11/1/1985 with commercials; then flips over to KGO/ABC for 'The Midnight Hour' (1985) with commercials. Certron T-120
Tape 3 - 'The Notebook' (2004) and 'Miss Congeniality' (2000) taped off ABC Family on 5/8/2010 with commercials. Maxell GX T-120
Tape 4 - Moody Blues Live at Red Rocks taped off KYVE/PBS in March 1995 with pledge breaks (current State Representative Curtis King, WA 14th District, is a guest). Blank after 1:25 in SLP Hifi. Memorex T-120
Tape 5 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which includes the film and a 50th anniversary retrospective) taped off KIMA/CBS on 2/20/1990 with commercials; part of the Heinz Southern 500 taped off ESPN on 9/3/1989 minus commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 6 - The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show 2 taped off KIMA/CBS on 11/24/1991 with commercials (I found this a few years ago but it was minus commercials); partial episode of Hard Copy taped off KIMA-29 on 11/22/1991 with commercials; partial episode of Law & Order taped off KNDO/NBC on 11/20/1991 with commercials; partial episode of Top Cops taped off KIMA/CBS on 9/26/1991 with commercials; part of the Street Justice pilot taped off K53CY on 9/25/1991 with commercials; part of 'Murder in Coweta County' (1982) taped off KSTW-11 on 3/17/1988 with commercials and open to The Ten O'Clock News. Scotch T-120 (runs 3:58)
Tape 7 - About a half-hour of home movies showing family members, a tour of the same home I walked through, and their flower garden; cuts to part of 'Best Friends' (1982) taped off KAPP/ABC on 4/4/1988 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 8 - 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981) taped off KAPP/ABC on 9/28/1986 with commercials; commercial break and part of KIMA NewsBeat at 11 taped sometime in September 1986; part of 'Northstar' (1986) and part of 'Condor' (1986) taped off KAPP/ABC on 8/10/1986 with commercials. Fuji T-120 approx. 3:45
Tape 9 - Episodes of All My Children and One Life to Live taped off KEZI-9 Eugene/ABC on 4/23/1998 with commercials. Polaroid T-120
Tape 10 - 'Miracle Landing' (1990) taped off KIMA/CBS on 6/18/1991 with commercials; 'Omen IV: The Awakening' (1991) taped off K53CY/Fox on 5/20/1991 with commercials; partial episode of Swamp Thing taped off USA Network on 10/5/1990 with commercials; part of Quantum Leap taped off KNDO/NBC on 5/10/1989 with commercials; part of 'The Billion Dollar Hobo' (1977) taped off CBN Cable on 10/17/1987 with commercials (already have this). Certron T-120 (I believe, based on the embossing of the tape cartridge)

In addition, I also purchased a used but complete set of Golden M*A*S*H trivia cards from 1984. I have never seen anything like this before, and it's definitely a collector's item.
 
Just finished up my latest hunt, this time from the original Queen City (Cincinnati). A nice mixture of 1980s and early '90s goodies. I won't go into detail with every tape, but among the finds included complete 11 o'clock newscasts from each of the big three: the 12/22/1981 edition by WCPO which also included the Bill dramatic special along with a 1976 episode of Alice from the CBS Late "Movie", the 5/22/1983 one by WKRC, and another from 3/17/1987 off WLWT that also included part of the Tonight Show, and also included a full episode of Hill Street Blues with commercials. Other finds (all with commercials/promos) included a Disney Channel morning block from New Year's Day 1991 including Mousercise, You and Me Kid, Donald Duck Presents, and part of Welcome to Pooh Corner, an early episode of Dateline NBC from October 1992, a number of pledge breaks off WCET from 1980 to 1986, a couple partial open captioned editions of ABC's World News Tonight from 1980 and 1981, George Burns Early Early Early Christmas Special from 11/16/1981, some decent promo brocks off HBO, Showtime, and The Movie Channel from 1982-85 (including a subscription promo break from May 1985 off HBO), an episode of The Golden Girls from January 1986 (albeit in a tape where the other episodes of GG are scoped), episodes of Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael from 7/23/1990 as well as a partial episode of the Marsha Warfield Show, the "An Enemy Among Us" special that was intended for the CBS Schoolbreak and part of the Miss Teen USA pageant from 7/21/1987, much of the 1988 CMA Awards, and the 1980 rebroadcast of the 1978 Goldie Hawn special off WCPO/CBS. Sign-offs from WKRC and WCET from 1981 were also found, with the WKRC one using "This Is My Country" as the closing song. The oldest recording I found was Mikhail Baryshnikov on Broadway from 4/24/1980 off WKRC/ABC with many commercials by IBM, while the newest find in terms of recording was the 90th birthday special for Bob Hope from 5/14/1993, which had the first commercial break scoped, but the rest intact. The closest thing to "out of market' recordings were a couple tapes from July 1989 off WOR, including season-old reruns of Hunter and a couple of movies. Local NYC advertisements were still present much like WGN was still doing at the time for cable providers that didn't add inserts.

Although there were no game shows, soaps, or OTA cartoons found (save for one break from the USA Cartoon Express from March 1985), full newscasts from the 1980s that aren't from a top twenty market are still nice to find, and there were also a few late movies with lots of local commercials thrown in the mix.
 
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pannoni1 said:
Just finished up my latest hunt, this time from the original Queen City (Cincinnati). A nice mixture of 1980s and early '90s goodies. I won't go into detail with every tape, but among the finds included complete 11 o'clock newscasts from each of the big three: the 12/22/1981 edition by WCPO which also included the Bill dramatic special along with a 1976 episode of Alice from the CBS Late "Movie", the 5/22/1983 one by WKRC, and another from 3/17/1987 off WLWT that also included part of the Tonight Show, and also included a full episode of Hill Street Blues with commercials. Other finds (all with commercials/promos) included a Disney Channel morning block from New Year's Day 1991 including Mousercise, You and Me Kid, Donald Duck Presents, and part of Welcome to Pooh Corner, an early episode of Dateline NBC from October 1992, a number of pledge breaks off WCET from 1980 to 1986, a couple partial open captioned editions of ABC's World News Tonight from 1980 and 1981, George Burns Early Early Early Christmas Special from 11/16/1981, some decent promo brocks off HBO, Showtime, and The Movie Channel from 1982-85 (including a subscription promo break from May 1985 off HBO), an episode of The Golden Girls from January 1986 (albeit in a tape where the other episodes of GG are scoped), episodes of Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael from 7/23/1990 as well as a partial episode of the Marsha Warfield Show, the "An Enemy Among Us" special that was intended for the CBS Schoolbreak and part of the Miss Teen USA pageant from 7/21/1987, much of the 1988 CMA Awards, and the 1980 rebroadcast of the 1978 Goldie Hawn special off WCPO/CBS. Sign-offs from WKRC and WCET from 1981 were also found, with the WKRC one using "This Is My Country" as the closing song. The oldest recording I found was Mikhail Baryshnikov on Broadway from 4/24/1980 off WKRC/ABC with many commercials by IBM, while the newest find in terms of recording was the 90th birthday special for Bob Hope from 5/14/1993, which had the first commercial break scoped, but the rest intact. The closest thing to "out of market' recordings were a couple tapes from July 1989 off WOR, including season-old reruns of Hunter and a couple of movies. Local NYC advertisements were still present much like WGN was still doing at the time for cable providers that didn't add inserts.

Although there were no game shows, soaps, or OTA cartoons found (save for one break from the USA Cartoon Express from March 1985), full newscasts from the 1980s that aren't from a top twenty market are still nice to find, and there were also a few late movies with lots of local commercials thrown in the mix.
Click to expand...


Great that you got Dateline from the early days. Keep looking for Dateline from the 90s and early to mid 2000s! Before they turned it into a reality show trying to catch predators.
 
pannoni1 said:
Just finished up my latest hunt, this time from the original Queen City (Cincinnati). A nice mixture of 1980s and early '90s goodies. I won't go into detail with every tape, but among the finds included complete 11 o'clock newscasts from each of the big three: the 12/22/1981 edition by WCPO which also included the Bill dramatic special along with a 1976 episode of Alice from the CBS Late "Movie", the 5/22/1983 one by WKRC, and another from 3/17/1987 off WLWT that also included part of the Tonight Show, and also included a full episode of Hill Street Blues with commercials. Other finds (all with commercials/promos) included a Disney Channel morning block from New Year's Day 1991 including Mousercise, You and Me Kid, Donald Duck Presents, and part of Welcome to Pooh Corner, an early episode of Dateline NBC from October 1992, a number of pledge breaks off WCET from 1980 to 1986, a couple partial open captioned editions of ABC's World News Tonight from 1980 and 1981, George Burns Early Early Early Christmas Special from 11/16/1981, some decent promo brocks off HBO, Showtime, and The Movie Channel from 1982-85 (including a subscription promo break from May 1985 off HBO), an episode of The Golden Girls from January 1986 (albeit in a tape where the other episodes of GG are scoped), episodes of Donahue and Sally Jessy Raphael from 7/23/1990 as well as a partial episode of the Marsha Warfield Show, the "An Enemy Among Us" special that was intended for the CBS Schoolbreak and part of the Miss Teen USA pageant from 7/21/1987, much of the 1988 CMA Awards, and the 1980 rebroadcast of the 1978 Goldie Hawn special off WCPO/CBS. Sign-offs from WKRC and WCET from 1981 were also found, with the WKRC one using "This Is My Country" as the closing song. The oldest recording I found was Mikhail Baryshnikov on Broadway from 4/24/1980 off WKRC/ABC with many commercials by IBM, while the newest find in terms of recording was the 90th birthday special for Bob Hope from 5/14/1993, which had the first commercial break scoped, but the rest intact. The closest thing to "out of market' recordings were a couple tapes from July 1989 off WOR, including season-old reruns of Hunter and a couple of movies. Local NYC advertisements were still present much like WGN was still doing at the time for cable providers that didn't add inserts.

Although there were no game shows, soaps, or OTA cartoons found (save for one break from the USA Cartoon Express from March 1985), full newscasts from the 1980s that aren't from a top twenty market are still nice to find, and there were also a few late movies with lots of local commercials thrown in the mix.
Click to expand...
Lots of pledge breaks from WCET 48 from Cincinnati, Ohio, that's a bunch of breaks, and for "Mikhail Baryshnikov on Broadway" or "Baryshnikov on Broadway" is a documentary that aired on Great Performances on December 12, 1986 part of the PBS December 1986 Pledge Campaign!
 
No tapes this weekend at three estate sales in town. However, I am putting up an eBay lot this weekend (+ praying that it will NOT be lost in shipment like the last one!)
And I just purchased for $25 + shipping, a dozen Beta tapes, all L-250, from Great Falls, MT. They are the 1-hour B-II / 1 1/2 hour B-III tapes, so they are all short tapes, but the L-500s with vintage MTV and 1988 Calgary Olympics got off before I could snag them. They all look very old, mostly early Super Avilyn TDKs, older than the Great Falls VHS tapes I found a few years ago, and hopefully they were recorded in Montana too (the seller does not have a player to check). I should be able to get just as much for the VHS tapes, so they should 'zero-out' in due time.
 
crainbebo said:
A 70-mile trip to a Sunnyside, WA estate sale earlier today resulted in some great VHS recordings. Old fashioned 1930s home that had that musty smell, occasional cobwebs, and lots of dust everywhere. Also in the sale were two VCRs - an RCA unit from the 1980s that must have been the homeowner's first VCR based on the recordings - and an early '90s Signature 2000 Hi-Fi unit from Montgomery Ward.

Tape 1 - 'The Secret Garden' (1987) copied from rental tape; then cuts to part of 'Hickey & Boggs' (1972) taped off TNT early on 12/2/1996 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 2 - 'Love is Never Silent' (1985) taped off KRON-4 San Francisco/NBC on 12/9/1985 with commercials (my oldest Hallmark movie ever!); then cuts to part of an episode of America (short-lived newsmagazine/talk show with Sarah Purcell) taped off KGO-7 in October 1985 with commercials...my first find of this show! It then cuts over to an episode of Knight Rider taped off KRON/NBC on 11/1/1985 with commercials; then flips over to KGO/ABC for 'The Midnight Hour' (1985) with commercials. Certron T-120
Tape 3 - 'The Notebook' (2004) and 'Miss Congeniality' (2000) taped off ABC Family on 5/8/2010 with commercials. Maxell GX T-120
Tape 4 - Moody Blues Live at Red Rocks taped off KYVE/PBS in March 1995 with pledge breaks (current State Representative Curtis King, WA 14th District, is a guest). Blank after 1:25 in SLP Hifi. Memorex T-120
Tape 5 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (which includes the film and a 50th anniversary retrospective) taped off KIMA/CBS on 2/20/1990 with commercials; part of the Heinz Southern 500 taped off ESPN on 9/3/1989 minus commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 6 - The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show 2 taped off KIMA/CBS on 11/24/1991 with commercials (I found this a few years ago but it was minus commercials); partial episode of Hard Copy taped off KIMA-29 on 11/22/1991 with commercials; partial episode of Law & Order taped off KNDO/NBC on 11/20/1991 with commercials; partial episode of Top Cops taped off KIMA/CBS on 9/26/1991 with commercials; part of the Street Justice pilot taped off K53CY on 9/25/1991 with commercials; part of 'Murder in Coweta County' (1982) taped off KSTW-11 on 3/17/1988 with commercials and open to The Ten O'Clock News. Scotch T-120 (runs 3:58)
Tape 7 - About a half-hour of home movies showing family members, a tour of the same home I walked through, and their flower garden; cuts to part of 'Best Friends' (1982) taped off KAPP/ABC on 4/4/1988 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 8 - 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981) taped off KAPP/ABC on 9/28/1986 with commercials; commercial break and part of KIMA NewsBeat at 11 taped sometime in September 1986; part of 'Northstar' (1986) and part of 'Condor' (1986) taped off KAPP/ABC on 8/10/1986 with commercials. Fuji T-120 approx. 3:45
Tape 9 - Episodes of All My Children and One Life to Live taped off KEZI-9 Eugene/ABC on 4/23/1998 with commercials. Polaroid T-120
Tape 10 - 'Miracle Landing' (1990) taped off KIMA/CBS on 6/18/1991 with commercials; 'Omen IV: The Awakening' (1991) taped off K53CY/Fox on 5/20/1991 with commercials; partial episode of Swamp Thing taped off USA Network on 10/5/1990 with commercials; part of Quantum Leap taped off KNDO/NBC on 5/10/1989 with commercials; part of 'The Billion Dollar Hobo' (1977) taped off CBN Cable on 10/17/1987 with commercials (already have this). Certron T-120 (I believe, based on the embossing of the tape cartridge)

In addition, I also purchased a used but complete set of Golden M*A*S*H trivia cards from 1984. I have never seen anything like this before, and it's definitely a collector's item.
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I actually have a VHS copy of Best Friends from that same airing, but different affiliate.
 
Here's the awesome results of that Betamax lot from Great Falls. All of the tapes are in the L-250 tape format, 60 minutes on B-II and 90 on B-III. Nothing in Beta 3, all recordings were in B-II.

Tape 1 (Sony) - Starts with KRTV MTN News and KFBB News 5 clips from 9/18/1982!! This was the day that the Anaconda Copper Stack was demolished. Also on this tape: Toni Basil's 'Mickey' music video taped off MTV; segment on the making of the HBO in Space intro and some promos taped off HBO circa September or October 1982; then cuts to the last 30 minutes of 'Star Wars' (1977) off HBO, I assume.
Tape 2 (Sears) - Several minutes of Ron Hays' Music Image copied from a Laserdisc; The Magic of David Copperfield taped off KREM-2 Spokane/CBS on Christmas Eve 1980 with commercials (my oldest find from Spokane!)
Tape 3 (TDK) - Marie Osmond at Church Street Station taped off TNN on 11/22/1989 with commercials.
Tape 4 (Sears) - Clip of The Week in Review taped off Superstation WTBS on 6/26/1983 (officially now my oldest find from (W)TBS!!); STS-8 Challenger launch (first night launch of a space shuttle) and a west coast edition of Nightline taped off KXLY/ABC on 8/30-31/1983 with commercials, sign-off, and several minutes of a Group W Cable bulletin board crawl that followed, featuring beautiful music from KOOZ-106.3 Great Falls (now KQDI on 106.1, Q106 with rock music).
Tape 5 (TDK) - Two full episodes and one partial episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series taped off Nickelodeon in October 1985 with commercials.
Tape 6 (TDK) - Merrill Osmond: What I Like... taped off TNN on 10/29/1988 with commercials.
Tape 7 (TDK) - Original broadcast of Luke & Laura's wedding on General Hospital, taped off KXLY/ABC on 11/16/1981 with commercials! I am so happy to finally have this in my collection! For some reason, ends with color bars and a KXLY still ID. Not sure what happened. It's now my oldest ABC soap.
Tape 8 (TDK) - Let's Get Physical with Olivia Newton-John taped off KHQ-6 Spokane in June 1982 with commercials (strange, as this special had already aired in February on ABC.)
Tape 9 (Sears) - From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga taped off KUED/PBS in December 1983 with a partial sign-off at the end.
Tape 10 (TDK) - The Michelob Light Grand Bahamas 200 Powerboat Race taped off KHQ-6 Spokane in January 1982 with commercials.
Tape 11 (Sears) - Skyfire: The Reno Air Races taped off KRTV-3 in October 1990 with commercials.
 
crainbebo said:
Here's the awesome results of that Betamax lot from Great Falls. All of the tapes are in the L-250 tape format, 60 minutes on B-II and 90 on B-III. Nothing in Beta 3, all recordings were in B-II.

Tape 1 (Sony) - Starts with KRTV MTN News and KFBB News 5 clips from 9/18/1982!! This was the day that the Anaconda Copper Stack was demolished. Also on this tape: Toni Basil's 'Mickey' music video taped off MTV; segment on the making of the HBO in Space intro and some promos taped off HBO circa September or October 1982; then cuts to the last 30 minutes of 'Star Wars' (1977) off HBO, I assume.
Tape 2 (Sears) - Several minutes of Ron Hays' Music Image copied from a Laserdisc; The Magic of David Copperfield taped off KREM-2 Spokane/CBS on Christmas Eve 1980 with commercials (my oldest find from Spokane!)
Tape 3 (TDK) - Marie Osmond at Church Street Station taped off TNN on 11/22/1989 with commercials.
Tape 4 (Sears) - Clip of The Week in Review taped off Superstation WTBS on 6/26/1983 (officially now my oldest find from (W)TBS!!); STS-8 Challenger launch (first night launch of a space shuttle) and a west coast edition of Nightline taped off KXLY/ABC on 8/30-31/1983 with commercials, sign-off, and several minutes of a Group W Cable bulletin board crawl that followed, featuring beautiful music from KOOZ-106.3 Great Falls (now KQDI on 106.1, Q106 with rock music).
Tape 5 (TDK) - Two full episodes and one partial episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series taped off Nickelodeon in October 1985 with commercials.
Tape 6 (TDK) - Merrill Osmond: What I Like... taped off TNN on 10/29/1988 with commercials.
Tape 7 (TDK) - Original broadcast of Luke & Laura's wedding on General Hospital, taped off KXLY/ABC on 11/16/1981 with commercials! I am so happy to finally have this in my collection! For some reason, ends with color bars and a KXLY still ID. Not sure what happened. It's now my oldest ABC soap.
Tape 8 (TDK) - Let's Get Physical with Olivia Newton-John taped off KHQ-6 Spokane in June 1982 with commercials (strange, as this special had already aired in February on ABC.)
Tape 9 (Sears) - From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga taped off KUED/PBS in December 1983 with a partial sign-off at the end.
Tape 10 (TDK) - The Michelob Light Grand Bahamas 200 Powerboat Race taped off KHQ-6 Spokane in January 1982 with commercials.
Tape 11 (Sears) - Skyfire: The Reno Air Races taped off KRTV-3 in October 1990 with commercials.
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The making of the HBO in Space intro is already on youtube. And i am glsd you found some fall 1982 stuff from HBO! It is VERY hard to come by and HBO from 1982-83 is few and far between on youtube!
 
I have a copy of the 1988 College Football National Championship with West Virginia and Notre Dame. Early that season, analyst Beano Cook said that WVU would be in that game, based on the talents of QB Major Harris, whose jersey will be retired this Saturday.
 
The HBO premiere of "Star Wars" was actually on February 1, 1983, and I have in my collection a promo block that also contained Star Wars as well as the making of the "In Space" logo from five days after that. That seller has another lot of Betas, but of a more typical mixed variety with various lengths on them, as well as a retail copy of The Virgin Tour of Madonna. I guess the recorder grew tired of the MTV sound around 1987-88 and "went country". Still, great finds there "VHSGooodies", and honestly, it seems like the Charles & Diana wedding is ten times more common than the Luke & Laura one from what I've witnessed. I'll probably pass though since earlier this week, I had two lengthy phone calls from the same seller that I purchased all those Betas back in February 2019 that included Star Searches, specials, and some 1984 Olympics coverage. I specifically asked for what was on each tape, and focused mostly on the made-for-TV movies , some specials, along with some primetime/news programming and even some figure skating and 1988 Winter Olympics coverage (we're heading into that time of year). Asking for "C-NE" labels was done so I could be assured that most, if not all would have commercials on them, mostly from the Pittsburgh market, but perhaps a few from Johnstown or Wheeling/Steubenville, OH. I look to receive a little over 100, and this should set me in for Betas for awhile, and there could be surprise finds on them such as late newscasts since they tended to follow those primetime movies.
 
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