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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

I remember a few years ago, at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds flea market that's held every weekend during the warm weather months, I picked up a tape (a JVC T-120) that had the same issue as your Tape 2 with the tape being all chewed up at the beginning. I haven't converted much of it yet. For the most part, it's a random mishmash of various cable programs (a lot of them incomplete) taped from a DirecTV receiver in September 2007, with a lot of channel flipping throughout. Various programs from MTV2 (Sucker Free, Wild N Out), BET (BET Live, Rap City, 106 & Park, Booty Call [1997 film]), Disney Channel (That's So Raven and maybe something else), Nickelodeon (Drake and Josh), etc. I think they also recorded one or two songs from one of the hip-hop stations on XM Satellite Radio when DirecTV simulcast many of the commercial-free music stations from that service. Of all the music videos that were found on the tape, the only one I really recognized was "Crank That Soulja Boy" and I think that was the part of the tape that was the most damaged.

No finds on my end this week. I did hit a couple of estate sales within the last couple of days, but the only home-recorded tapes I spotted at those sales were family home movies and obviously not for sale.

I found out there used to be a thrift store in Parma Heights called Thrift Nation that apparently sold recorded VHS tapes according to one of the reviews of it I read on Yelp. Unfortunately, it closed in 2014. A shame, too, because nowadays I'm in that Cleveland suburb on a regular basis anyway DJing for an Internet radio station in that area every week.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/thrift-nation-cleveland
 
I found two more tapes today at an estate sale. This was a HOARDER'S HOUSE. Like walking into an episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive. Musty and smelly. Junk everywhere, goodies hidden. Whoever lived here according to some of the documents, worked at the Yakima Wal*Mart as one of the managers in the 2000s. The realtors bought the house at auction and before they can fix it up, they have to go through the house.
Note: I have fast-forwarded and rewound both of these tapes a couple of times in my external rewinder before I played them. There were tons of VHS, but 98% of them were retail and children's retail stuff. Not worth it.

Tape 1 - Most of an episode of The Morning Show with Mike & Juliet, and episodes of Tyra and Divorce Court (double-run) taped off KCYU-LD 41 in July 2009 with commercials; ends with last 10-15 minutes of a Wal*Mart optical training video before going blank. Maxell T-120
Tape 2 - 6 episodes of La Femme Nikita taped off USA Network in January-February 1999 with commercials (Seattle area), first two from 1/17 and 1/24/99. An oddball T-120 (Le Clic I think?) with no case, a YELLOW tape guard and a PINK cassette casing. Yes, I cleaned this one.
 
Rather spotty weekend for VHS hunting for me. First stop yesterday was the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds flea market in Berea. It was rather muddy that day following quite a bit of rain overnight. Very few vendors were there and only one was selling VHS tapes in a box, which were all retail tapes except for one tape of The Waterboy (1998) that appeared to be a bootleg, so I didn't bother picking it up. This place usually gets more crowded in the summertime, and I've had a bit of luck finding good tapes here in the past, so I'll be back.

Second stop was a yard sale in Parma Heights. I mentioned in my last post that I DJ at an Internet radio station in that suburb and this sale was actually held at the house where that station's studio is located in the basement. I managed to score two recorded VHS tapes from one of my colleagues there who lives at the house, but unfortunately, both turned out to be duds. One just had three movies--Fist Fighter (1989), Dollman (1991) and Aftershock (1990)--recorded from premium cable channels with no promos found in between. The other had an interesting find--all three parts of the 1983 NBC miniseries Chiefs, but they ended up being copied from rental tapes produced by New World Video.

Third stop was a thrift store called Value World just down US 42 just across the town border into Middleburg Heights. No pick-ups there, but the store does have a good-sized VHS section, more than you'd see at a Goodwill store nowadays. All retail tapes there as you can imagine. Something else this store has that most Goodwills don't is a good selection of old TVs (mostly CRT sets). All of them were connected to a converter box that was playing the Laff network (WEWS Channel 5.3) at the time. In the VHS section, I spotted two retail tapes that were stored in cases that were originally used for blank tapes (one for a Sony T-120 and one for an RCA T-120)--not exactly uncommon to find retail tapes placed in T-120 cases since the original cases must have gotten lost somewhere along the line.

Fast forward to earlier today when I stopped by an estate sale in Strongsville. Picked up only one tape there, but it had some pretty cool finds. Started with a Showtime presentation of So Fine (1981) taped from Showtime circa 1983 with a couple of promos beforehand. Next was a Showtime airing of Benji's Very Own Christmas Story (1978 ABC special) taped in December 1983. The rest of the tape contained four or five episodes of Against the Odds, a documentary series from Nickelodeon's early days hosted by the late Bill Bixby. Bad news is no commercials from these shows were found, but this was still pretty cool! Tape is a Fuji T-120.
 
I have seen those before, using a blank tape box to store retail movies. Happens more often than you think. I've even seen some examples at estate sales in the past. At least the majority of the sales, things are kept in the way they should be.
Next week I have even more opportunities for new tapes. My favorite estate sale folks (Dusty Puddle) are doing a sale off 40th next week with some blank tapes, and among the massive amount of non-video items for sale, a HUGE collection of 8-track tapes and a player! Then there's another estate/yard sale (private, not ran by a company) near 16th/Fruitvale next week with 450+ tapes including a couple dozen home-recorded. These sales have not been put up on Craigslist yet, but hey, the longer you spend going to their sales, the more friendly they get with you ;-)
 
Car trouble prevents me from getting out to 16th/Fruitvale. But I went to two other estate sales closer to home, the 40th Ave mobile home estate, and another one near 56th and Summitview. Ten tapes, nine kept, one dud. Pleased with some of these finds, including an unexpected Saturday morning cartoon!

First estate sale (near 56th)
Tape 1 - Nonstop aircheck of KAPP/ABC taped 9/21/1996 with commercials: Most of Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles, two episodes of Growing Pains, Feed Your Mind!, Arizona at Washington Huskies football and part of the WSU/Oregon game. Scotch T-120 (dating to mid-'80s). Too bad this tape didn't have 5 or 6 hours of cartoons on it, but I'll take anything I can get.
Tape 2 - End of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Reader's Digest World: Living Edens and first several minutes of 90 Minutes on 60 Minutes taped off KYVE/PBS 2/11/1998 with promos in between; partial coverage of the Nagano Winter Olympics taped off KIMA/CBS 2/10/1998 with commercials (includes freestyle skiing and figure skating); partial broadcast of 'Gone with the Wind' (1939) and part of the Ten O'Clock News taped off KSTW-11 11/18/1991 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 3 - 'Best Seller' (1987) taped off Cinemax circa April 1989 with a long Spring Preview segment, with host Martin Mull; cuts over to part of Classic MTV taped off MTV in July 1989 with commercials, and goes blank after about 2 hours of content. Memorex HG T-120
Tape 4 - Washington Huskies vs. Air Force taped off Fox Sports Northwest 9/18/1999 with commercials, followed by the Huskies/Colorado game taped off KAPP/ABC 9/25/1999 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 5 - Another copy (SP mode, so partial) of the Huskies/Arizona State game taped off Prime Sports NW 9/5/1992 with commercials, but also includes about 5 minutes of College Football Today and a couple of new commercial breaks prior to the game. I already found the whole game at an estate sale in September 2016. Maxell T-120

40th Ave estate sale
Tape 6 - Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians tribute special taped off KBYU-11 Provo UT/PBS in December 1995 with pledge break segments. First find from this station! Maxell T-120
Tape 7 - 'Sands of Iwo Jima' (1949) taped off TBS in February or March 1989 minus commercials; 'Gung Ho' (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; '4 for Texas' (1963) taped off TBS 3/11/1989 with one commercial break, rest pulled out. Memorex T-120
Tape 8 - JFK: In His Own Words and 'JFK' (1991) taped off HBO 1/2/1993 with promos in between. Sony T-120
Tape 9 - Both parts of Children in the Dust taped off KIMA/CBS 2/26/1995 and 2/28/1995 with commercials. Kodak T-120 which originally had the 1989 NBC miniseries 'Cross of Fire' on it. I now have both parts, so I can send my original part 2 tape (also from KIMA) to eBay.
 
Rather spotty weekend for VHS hunting for me. First stop yesterday was the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds flea market in Berea. It was rather muddy that day following quite a bit of rain overnight. Very few vendors were there and only one was selling VHS tapes in a box, which were all retail tapes except for one tape of The Waterboy (1998) that appeared to be a bootleg, so I didn't bother picking it up. This place usually gets more crowded in the summertime, and I've had a bit of luck finding good tapes here in the past, so I'll be back.

Second stop was a yard sale in Parma Heights. I mentioned in my last post that I DJ at an Internet radio station in that suburb and this sale was actually held at the house where that station's studio is located in the basement. I managed to score two recorded VHS tapes from one of my colleagues there who lives at the house, but unfortunately, both turned out to be duds. One just had three movies--Fist Fighter (1989), Dollman (1991) and Aftershock (1990)--recorded from premium cable channels with no promos found in between. The other had an interesting find--all three parts of the 1983 NBC miniseries Chiefs, but they ended up being copied from rental tapes produced by New World Video.

Third stop was a thrift store called Value World just down US 42 just across the town border into Middleburg Heights. No pick-ups there, but the store does have a good-sized VHS section, more than you'd see at a Goodwill store nowadays. All retail tapes there as you can imagine. Something else this store has that most Goodwills don't is a good selection of old TVs (mostly CRT sets). All of them were connected to a converter box that was playing the Laff network (WEWS Channel 5.3) at the time. In the VHS section, I spotted two retail tapes that were stored in cases that were originally used for blank tapes (one for a Sony T-120 and one for an RCA T-120)--not exactly uncommon to find retail tapes placed in T-120 cases since the original cases must have gotten lost somewhere along the line.

Fast forward to earlier today when I stopped by an estate sale in Strongsville. Picked up only one tape there, but it had some pretty cool finds. Started with a Showtime presentation of So Fine (1981) taped from Showtime circa 1983 with a couple of promos beforehand. Next was a Showtime airing of Benji's Very Own Christmas Story (1978 ABC special) taped in December 1983. The rest of the tape contained four or five episodes of Against the Odds, a documentary series from Nickelodeon's early days hosted by the late Bill Bixby. Bad news is no commercials from these shows were found, but this was still pretty cool! Tape is a Fuji T-120.


Chiefs was actually on CBS and one of my hometown men longtime Charlotte news. anchor Bob Inman played an anchorman in it.
 
MASSIVE haul this weekend from an estate sale in a mobile home park near Union Gap. This person had over 700 VHS tapes including dozens of blanks. Most of the 700+ were former video store stock, and I found some rental goodies as well. This includes the WCI Home Video release of 'Mister Roberts' (1979!!!) and Jeff Fahey's 'The Hit List' (1993), a hard to find suspense thriller. Did not find any rare horror mixed in, sadly. There are more tapes to come.

Tape 1 - 'Catching Out' (2002) and part of 'Diamonds and Rust' (2000), both documentaries, taped off Sundance Channel 11/15/2004 with promos in between; part of 'Elvis: The Early Years' and a Merrie Melodies cartoon in-between taped off TNT in the early morning hours of 1/8/1993 with commercials; 'Jailhouse Rock' (1957) taped off TNT 1/10/1993 with commercials; last half-hour of 'Elvis & the Colonel: The Untold Story' (1993) taped off KNDO/NBC the same night with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 2 - 'Death Wish II' (1982) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'The End' (1978) copied from rental; '10 to Midnight' (1983) copied from rental; clip of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson circa 1984 with Bruce Mahler; and a couple of awesome finds: the oldest 60 Minutes clip I've found taped off KIMA/CBS 4/8/1984 with commercials (includes partial interview with President Nixon); and my oldest clip of CNN, taped in early April 1984 on the Challenger's fifth mission (STS-41-C), with commercials. Memorex T-120
Tape 3 - 8 HOUR TAPE - 'Across 110th Street' (1972), 'No Man's Land' (1987) and 'Electra Glide in Blue' (1973) taped off Mystery Channel in January 2005 with several minutes of promos before; partial taping of 'Live Nude Girls Unite!' (2000) - a documentary about a San Francisco peep show, and part of 'Audition' (1999) taped off the Sundance Channel in April 2004 with promos; ends with part of 'The Invisible Man' (1933) and some promos taped off TCM circa 2000. TDK T-160
Tape 4 - 'Notorious' (1946) and part of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (1956) taped off Turner Classic Movies 10/2/2004 with promos; part of some documentary taped off Sundance Channel circa 2003-04; then cuts to a partial episode of All My Children taped off KAPP/ABC in March 1996 with commercials; partial episode of The Young & the Restless taped off KIMA/CBS 7/17/1992 with commercials (could be the 10th as well); episode of All My Children and part of One Life to Live taped off KAPP/ABC 7/17/1992 with commercials. Kodak T-120
Tape 5 - 'Man of the West' (1958) and part of 'Along Came Jones' (1945) taped off Turner Classic Movies 5/7/2004 with promos and intershow material; part of 'Illtown' (1998), 'The Clouded Yellow' (1951) and part of 'Da' (1988) taped off IFC in the early morning hours of 9/24/2002 with promos. Scotch T-120
Tape 6 - Part of 'In the Name of Love: A Texas Tragedy' (first 20 minutes accidentally erased) taped off KCYU-LP/Fox 9/12/1995 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 7 - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' (1975) taped off Showtime on 9/2/1984 with a few promos afterwrds. TDK T-160, the oldest 160 I've ever found!
Tape 8 - 'The Saint's Double Trouble' (1940) and part of 'Footsteps in the Dark' (1941) taped off Turner Classic Movies 3/29/2004 with promos; part of 'New Jack City' (1990) and part of 'Sabrina' (1995) taped off MoreMax sometime in 2003 with promos; part of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer taped off KOIN/CBS 12/15/1987 with commercials; A Muppet Family Christmas taped off KATU/ABC 12/16/1987 with commercials
Tape 9 - End of 'Dangerous Minds' (1995), 'Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator' (2002) and part of 'Beer' (1985) taped off Showtime in December 2004 with promos; follows with 30 minutes of an unknown erotic thriller taped-over by the Showtime stuff; then cuts to an old Selznick mystery movie, and part of 'The Happening' (1967) taped off the Mystery Channel on 3/23/2002 with promos; ends with part of an old '70s porno called 'California Cowgirls', in horrible quality. Chrome Master T-120
Tape 10 - Super Bowl XXXVIII taped off KCBS/CBS 2/1/2004 with commercials; also has the movie 'Daredevil' (2003) and a making of Scooby Doo on it, but I haven't gone up there yet, and I doubt there's any commercials or promos. JVC T-120
 
Tape 10, of course, includes the infamous halftime show "wardrobe malfunction" incident with Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. It would have been cool if that tape had also included any news reports regarding the backlash stemming from that performance because I remember it was mentioned on the news virtually every day for at least a month afterward (changes to FCC guidelines, networks' responses to such changes, reactions to the performance itself, etc.)

No finds for me this week. Coming up in a couple of weeks is the giant yard sale throughout the village of Seville. I usually come back with some goodies from there, the biggest haul from there probably being from when I first attended in 2014.

Hopefully one of these days I'll go back on eBay and pick out another VHS lot from a more distant out-of-market location. The seller from Colorado Springs you bought a lot from a few months ago has listed five more used blank VHS lots on their page. I wouldn't mind going for one of these knowing you ended up getting some real winners when you bought from that seller.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_od...A0.H0.Xblank+VHS.TRS0&_nkw=blank+VHS&_sacat=0
 
I'm afraid I no longer have the tape. I often have to get rid of many of these tapes after I go through them, as they take up a lot of space. Sorry I can't help you out.

It's okay :)
But I legit will pay someone 100 Dollars if they have a copy of "Lost Souls" taped off Fox Family Channel with commercials
 
Apparently what the old man did, for the majority of the tapes, was go to yard sales and thrift stores (when they still had blank tapes hiding on the shelves), buy them circa 2003-05, and tape over part of the content with TCM/IFC/etc. movies. Lots of oddball stuff so far. Then after those movies is whatever was taped over, from OTHER collections...so that's why I've gotten the gamut of 70s pornos to 1986 TV-movies taped over by 2004 stuff. More finds from this afternoon:

Tape 11 - End of 'The Slowdown' (2003), 'Heaven and Earth' (1990 - subtitled Asian film) and 'Go Fish' (1994) taped off Showcase (Showtime) in August 2004 with promos; part of 'Off Beat' (1986) taped off Showtime 10/24/1987 with promos. Memorex Pro T-120
Tape 12 - Tape marked 'Odz & Enz III' - Entertainment Tonight clip circa 1987 on Full Metal Jacket, with Leonard Maltin; clips of a 1987 episode of The Price is Right taped off KIMA/CBS minus commercials, where a Yakima contestant wins Clock Game (my oldest TPiR clip ever found!); multiple clips from the 59th Academy Awards minus commercials, including the Best Picture segment; multiple clips from the 58th Academy Awards minus commercials including Best Picture; last 10-15 minutes of 'The Gang's All Here' (1943) taped off American Movie Classics in November 1986 with Bob Dorian's conclusion segment and a schedule bumper; part of Inside the NFL taped off HBO 10/3/1986; ends with ESPN SportsCenter clip taped 10/3/1986. TDK T-120
Tape 13 - 'Tragic Hero' (1987 - with subtitles) and start of 'The Highwayman' (1999) taped off Showtime Extreme in July 2004 with promos; part of 'Mafia Princess' (1986) taped off KNDO/NBC 1/19/1986 with commercials; ends with a 5-minute clip of a Family Ties episode before the tape runs out. Panasonic T-120
Tape 14 - 'Samurai Rebellion' (1967 - with subtitles) taped off IFC on 6/13/2004 with promos; this is followed by a selection of shorts, 'Breaking Up with Maggie Moore', 'Blue City', 'Bean Cakes' and 'Touch Base'; partial episode of Diagnosis: Murder and full Hawaii Five-O taped off The Family Channel on 11/30/1997 with commercials; end of 'What the Deaf Man Heard' taped off CBS (presume KIMA) on 11/23/1997. Maxell T-120
Tape 15 - 'Wild Orchid' (1989) and part of 'The Nest' (1988) taped off The Movie Channel Xtra in May 2004; also has part of an old 1940s movie taped-over before the tape goes blank. Fuji T-120
Tape 16 - 'Hush!' (2001 - with subtitles) taped off Sundance Channel in June 2004 with promos; part of Danielle Steel's Crossings (Part III) taped off KAPP/ABC 2/25/1986 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120, but it's heavy and old.
Tape 17 - 'Adventures of a Blind Man' and part of 'A Room for Romeo Brass' (1999) taped off IFC in May 2005 with promos; ends with part of 'This Can't Be Love' (1994) taped off unknown CBS station minus commercials. Fuji AV Pro T-120
 
Even more from that lot. This should be the end of it. Mostly 2000s content in this one, hoped for much older since some of the tapes dated back to the late '80s.
Tape 18 - 'The Headhunter's Sister' (1997) and part of 'Jump Tomorrow' (2001) taped off IFC circa 2006 with promos (somebody recorded it in widescreen, so some info is cut off); partial recording of some classic movie with Gregory Peck (not To Kill a Mockingbird) taped off Encore Mystery; then cuts to part of the 78th Academy Awards and An Evening at the Academy Awards taped off KAPP/ABC 3/5/2006 with commercials; ends with a partial recording of Oprah Winfrey taped off KAPP-35 in May 1992 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 19 - 'If I Should Fall from Grace: The Shane MacGowen Story' (2001) and 'Lucky Break' (2001) taped off Sundance Channel in May 2004 with promos; end of 'Fatal Instinct' (1993) and multiple promos taped off Showtime 1/14/1995 (free preview weekend); end of 'Wild Texas Wind' (1991) and a few commercials taped off KNDO/NBC 9/23/1991. Scotch T-120
Tape 20 - 'The Falcon in Mexico' (1944), 'The Falcon and the Co-Eds' (1944) and most of 'The Miracle Woman' (1931) taped off Turner Classic Movies on 5/17/2004 with promos; end of 'The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack' (2000) and 'Waking the Dead' (2000) taped off Sundance Channel in January 2002 with intershow material. Maxell T-120
Tape 21 - 'Dear Fidel' (2001) and 'Blackboards' (2000) taped off Sundance Channel on 7/27/2004 with promos; end of 'Afterburn' (1992) and start of 'Proximity' (2001) taped off HBO2 in November 2002 with promos; partial broadcast of On the Record with Greta Van Sustran and a few minutes of The O'Reilly Factor taped off Fox News Channel in October 2002 with commercials. Memorex T-120
Tape 22 - 'The Color of Night' (1994), 'The Sea is Watching' (2002 - with subtitles) and 'La Cage aux Follies' (1978) taped off Love Stories in November 2004 with promos. Scotch T-120, taped over multiple late '80s movies
Tape 23 - 'The Cup' (1999) and part of 'The Apostle' (1997) taped off IFC on 8/21/2004 with promos and intershow content; partial broadcast of NewsNight taped off CNN on 8/13/2004 with commercials; most of 'Abandon' (2002) and part of 'Malone' (1987) taped off Showtime Extreme circa July 2004. Kodak XHG T-120
Tape 24 - 6 hours of coverage from the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton taped off CNN on 1/20/1993 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 25 - 'Tammy and the Bachelor' (1957), 'Tammy Tell Me True' (1961) and 'Tammy and the Doctor' (1963) taped off AMC 3/27/2005 with commercials. Sony T-160
Tape 26 - 'Children of Kosovo' (2000), 'If I Should Fall from Grace' (2001 - same movie as tape 19) and 'Derrida' (2002) taped off Sundance Channel on 8/23/2004 with promos. Maxell HGX T-120
 
Similar to Tape 25, one of the tapes I got from an eBay seller in Tennessee in the last couple months of 2017 had those three Tammy movies as well as Tammy and the Millionaire (1967) taped from AMC in December 2004 (between Christmas and New Year's Eve), also with commercials.

I thought The Fox Report with Shepard Smith aired before The O'Reilly Factor in the early 2000s. If anyone remembers this viral video of a famous blooper of Shep's from 2002, he mentions O'Reilly coming up next at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzV8wrnLfS4

The Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights will be holding a city-wide garage sale this Saturday, so I'll be checking that out. My mom grew up in that town and my aunt still lives there to this day. A flea market will be held at the local community center in addition to the sales all over the town. I found a town map of the sales with descriptions of items sold at many of them and I saw at least four descriptions that specifically mentioned VHS tapes. And then next weekend I'll be heading down south to the Seville yard sales.
 
Even more tapes!!! Tancara neighborhood (over 20 homes with multiple homes selling VHS tapes) plus a church sale and a moving sale delivered goodies.

Tancara house #1
Tape 1 - 'Undercover Blues' (1993) taped off unknown channel circa 1996-97 minus commercials; part of 'Backdraft' (1991) taped off unknown channel minus commercials; part of 'Beaches' (1988) taped off USA Network 5/12/1995 with commercials; part of 'Bedknobs & Broomsticks' (1971) taped off KAPP/ABC 3/22/1987 with commercials; 'The Dark Crystal' (1982) and part of KIMA NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 8/6/1987, all commercials except the ones at the end of the movie and after pulled out. Polaroid T-120
Tape 2 - Most of part 2 of the 10.5: Apocalpyse miniseries and about 12 minutes of KNDO Local News 11 at 11 taped off KNDO/NBC 5/23/2006 with commercials, in SP mode. Sony T-120
Tape 3 - Part of 'Moses' (1995) and a full repeat of the movie taped off the TNT premiere on 4/7/1996 with commercials (already have this in full from a Tennessee eBay lot in 2012, but these are the repeat broadcasts that followed with different ads); At the Ryman with Ricky Skaggs taped off TNN in April 1996 with commercials; partial episode of Christy taped off KIMA/CBS 5/5/1994 with commercials. Fuji AV-PRO T-120

Tancara house #2
Tape 4 - 'A League of Their Own' (1992) taped off HBO 8/7/1993 with promos prior to the movie; then a partial scrambled video/clear audio broadcast of the Pazienza-Honeyghan fight and Holyfield-Stewart taped off Viewer's Choice PPV on 6/26/1993; MSG Fight Night (including Telesco vs. Truesdale) taped off Prime Sports NW on 6/24/1993 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 5 - Ken Burns' Baseball (2nd Inning) taped off KYVE/PBS 9/19/1994 with a couple of promos; part of the 1993 FSU vs. Notre Dame college football game (considered the Game of the Century) taped off KNDO/NBC 11/13/1993 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 6 - Ken Burns' Baseball (5th/6th Innings) taped off KYVE/PBS 9/22 and 9/25/1994 (no promos), but begins with several minutes of an HBO intershow circa 1992. Memorex T-120 circa mid '80s
Tape 7 - 'Kickboxer' (1989) taped off HBO on 8/24/1990 with promos before the movie. Master T-120

Tancara house #3
Tape 8 - 'The Luck of the Irish' (2001) taped off Disney Channel 3/9/2001 with promos; partial episode of The Wonder Years, Growing Pains and part of Doogie Howser M.D. taped off KAPP/ABC 9/12/1990 with commercials; National Geographic Explorer: Crocodiles, Here Be Dragons taped off TBS in September 1990 minus commercials; partial episode of Twin Peaks taped off KAPP/ABC 4/19/1990 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 9 - Most of 'The Delta Force' (1986) taped off USA Network in June 2002 with commercials; Ultimate Fighting Championship (Traven vs. Mir) taped off Fox Sports Net NW in June 2002 with commercials; partial episode of Change of Heart, rerun of Cops, Jenny Jones, and over 2 hours of Shop at Home's 'Sports Collectibles' show taped off KCYU-LP 68 5/21/22-2002 with commercials (my first find of Change of Heart with Lynne Koplitz instead of Chris Jagger)
Tape 10 - Partial episode of the George Michael Sports Machine taped off KNDO-23 1/7/2001 with commercials; episode of You Gotta See This! taped off Fox Sports Net in July 2001 with commercials (on MLB injuries); most of 'Excalibur' (1981) and first 1/2 hour of 'Knights of the Round Table' (1953) taped off Turner Classic Movies in July 2001 with promos. RCA T-120
Tape 11 - Episode of Melrose Place and season premiere of Ally McBeal taped off KCYU-LP/Fox on 9/14/1998 with commercials, in SP mode. Memorex T-120

Church sale
Tape 12 - Just in Time for Christmas (Lutheran Church syndicated special) taped off KNDO-23 12/27/1998 with commercials; last hour of 'To Dance with the White Dog' (1993) taped off KIMA/CBS 12/5/1993 with Hallmark ads, the local break, and the first two minutes of the CBS Sunday Night News. Maxell T-120

Moving sale
Tape 13 - Partial episode of 20/20, KAPP/KVEW Local News at 11 and part of Nightline taped off KAPP/ABC on 9/28/2007 with commercials; partial broadcast of Meet the Press taped off KNDO/NBC on 11/6/1994 with commercials (guest Senator Bob Dole). Unknown brand T-120 with no case.
 
The Broadview Heights community garage sales turned out to be a success for me in finding new tapes. I picked up 12 from one sale. I left behind a bunch more in the box I found them in. Ten keepers in all.

TAPE 1: Broadcast of 20/20 taped from WEWS on 12/24/1999 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 2: Two games between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox (first two games in a three-game series at US Cellular Field) taped from FSN Ohio on September 20 and 21, 2005 with commercials, second game is incomplete as the tape runs out during the eighth inning. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 3: Monday Night Sadness (local special on Art Modell's proposal to move the Browns to Baltimore) and most of Monday Night Football (Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) taped from WEWS on 11/13/1995 with commercials, although several are cut out during the second half, tape ends with a few random clips from that night's News Channel 5 at 11:00 after the game. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 4: Episode of Cash Explosion Double Play (Ohio Lottery game show) taped from WEWS on 5/12/2001 with commercials; episode of The District taped from WOIO on 5/12/2001 with commercials; another episode of The District taped from WOIO on 5/19/2001 with commercials; Pearl Harbor: Two Hours That Changed the World (ABC News special hosted by the late David Brinkley) taped from WEWS on 5/26/2001 with commercials; episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 6/6/2001 with commercials, includes an ABC News Special Report with news on Timothy McVeigh's execution; most of an episode of Martha Stewart Living and first couple minutes of The View taped from WEWS on 6/11/2001 with commercials; partial episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 6/11/2001 with commercials. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 5: Episode of Bones and most of NBA on TNT coverage of Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat taped from TNT on 12/2/2010 with commercials; partial NFL on CBS broadcast of Cleveland Browns vs. New York Jets taped from WOIO on 11/14/2010 with commercials; partially taped-over episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 12/26/2002 with commercials; episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 12/27/2002 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 6: Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago White Sox (third game of the series from Tape 2) taped from FSN Ohio on 9/22/2005 with commercials; most of Cleveland Indians vs. Kansas City Royals taped from FSN Ohio on 9/23/2005 with commercials. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 7: Partial episode of Last Call with Carson Daly taped from WKYC on 5/7/2011 with commercials; episodes of That's So Raven, Teen Kids News and Sports Stars of Tomorrow taped from WEWS on 5/7/2011 with commercials--odd recording because 3/4 through the Raven episode, due to a technical problem with the station, the picture freezes but the audio keeps going throughout all of Teen Kids News and half of Sports Stars of Tomorrow, then the picture comes back during the rest of the latter show; partially taped-over Wonderful World of Disney presentation of Finding Nemo (2003) and first few minutes of News Channel 5 at 11:00 taped from WEWS on Thanksgiving 2005 with commercials; most of ABC Sports coverage of Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Stanford Cardinals taped from WEWS on 11/26/2005 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 8: Broadcast of Showtime Championship Boxing taped circa 1997; last few minutes of the final episode of Cheers taped from WKYC on 5/20/1993; partial episode of Suddenly Susan, episode of Seinfeld and partial episode of Fired Up taped from WKYC on 5/1/1997 with commercials; another Showtime Championship Boxing taped circa 1997. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 9: Martha Stewart's Christmas Dream (CBS special) and One Special Night (CBS made-for-TV movie) taped from WOIO on 12/6/2000 with commercials (I already have One Special Night on another tape, but now I have that night's Martha Stewart special as well); A One Tank Holiday Getaway (local special hosted by Neil Zurcher) taped from WJW on 12/9/2000 with commercials; episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 12/26/2000 with commercials; partial episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 12/27/2000 with commercials; episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 12/28/2000 with commercials; partial episode of Touched by an Angel taped from WOIO on 12/31/2000 with commercials. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 10: Fox 8 Celebrity All-Star Party (local special broadcast live from Shooters at the Flats the night before the 1997 MLB All-Star Game at Jacobs Field) taped from WJW on 7/7/1997 with commercials; Jerry Baker: Year Round Flower Care, Jerry Baker: Year Round Lawn Care and part of Jerry Baker: Year Round Tree, Shrub and Evergreen Care taped from WVIZ in March 1998 with pledge breaks; partially taped-over broadcast of Lord of the Dance taped from WVIZ on 8/23/1997 with pledge breaks (I already have the full show taped from WITF in Harrisburg); partial episode of All My Children taped from WEWS on 7/1/1997 with commercials. Polaroid T-120.

I did find an 11th tape with an episode of Biography on A&E taped circa 2001 with commercials, but it's going in the trash because it's too damaged for me to want to play back. The video and audio are sped up throughout the tape even though the VCR still shows the playback speed as SLP mode. Tape is a TDK T-120. The 12th tape turned out to be a home video, an old Scotch T-120 from the early to mid '80s.

Now to see what awaits me at the giant village-wide yard sale in Seville this Friday and/or Saturday.
 
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Well, I did go to the Seville village-wide yard sale and did find a few tapes, but more duds than keepers this time. Plus not as many sales had these tapes compared to years past. But first, yesterday, while out running some errands, I did stop by a barn sale just around the corner from my place and picked up two tapes--one keeper.

Barn sale
TAPE 1: Episode of Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes taped from WNEO/WEAO on 7/16/2001, has a scrolling weather alert for a severe thunderstorm warning in Medina County (my home county) in the middle of it; another episode of Murder Rooms and partial episode of Are You Being Served taped from WNEO/WEAO on 7/23/2001 with promos in between. Maxell T-120.

Now for the finds from Seville. Although I didn't find as much as in years past, I still enjoyed the trip because it's a neat little town and it's an overall cool event. Because of how small the town is and how many sales are around, many visitors park their cars in one of the public parking lots and walk around the town to the different sales.

Yard sale--one keeper out of four tapes purchased...The box I spotted these tapes in had more used blanks, but many of them were moldy, including four tapes that the guy said included footage of the 1985 Live Aid concert that he recorded. One of the tapes in the box was a T-120 tape inside a BASF E-180 case, which made me wonder if this guy had lived overseas at some point.
TAPE 2: Most of Game 4 of the 1996 NBA Finals taped from WKYC on 6/12/1996, some commercials are intact, others are not. BASF T-130 in SP mode, so the game is incomplete, tape runs out after the first few minutes of the fourth quarter.

Church rummage sale--just one used blank found, but many VHS tapes in general were scattered around...rather disorganized setup.
TAPE 3: Road to Zanibar (1941) taped from AMC circa 1995; Road to Morocco (1942) taped from AMC circa 1995; Caught in the Draft (1941) and partial episode of Family Portraits taped from AMC sometime in 1995 with a couple of promos in between. Kodak T-120.
 
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Sometimes I feel bad that I didn't grab that box of British E-180s at that Wenatchee thrift store a year ago. Someone would have been able to copy those off for me, or I could have saved up for a worldwide VCR that allows PAL viewing. I've found all that AFN stuff from Germany in NTSC, why not classic BBC1 and Channel 4 continuity, adverts, and who knows, a closedown? I remember one tape was marked 'Alice', and Channel 4 used to air Alice reruns in the UK circa mid-80s...

How many weeks in a row have I found blank tapes? On a roll! Estate sale today delivered 3 keepers and 3 duds.
Tape 1 - Part 1 of The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) and first few minutes of the George Michael Sports Machine taped off KNDO/NBC 11/3/1991 with commercials. Polaroid T-120
Tape 2 - 'Stella' (1990) taped off Showtime on 3/8/1992 with several minutes of free preview weekend stuff afterwards with Martin Mull and Bill Harris; 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Millennium' (1989) taped off HBO on 9/15/1990 with promos (another free preview weekend). Kodak T-120
Tape 3 - Rebroadcast of Lonesome Dove Part 1 taped off KIMA/CBS 1/20/1991 with commercials. Memorex T-120
 
Two tapes today at an estate sale off Summitview Ave. Rest of the tapes were retail.

Tape 1 - Tournament of Roses Parade and 1991 Rose Bowl (minus halftime) taped off KABC/ABC 1/1/1991 with commercials. I have the entire Rose Bowl taped off KAPP Yakima. Scotch T-120
Tape 2 - Tournament of Roses Parade coverage and 1992 Rose Bowl taped off KABC/ABC 1/1/1992 with commercials. I now have the whole game, I do have local KOMO postgame coverage on another tape. JVC T-120
 
Three tapes found at an estate sale in Copley yesterday. The basement of the house had a few other tapes that I didn't pick up, which were mostly crafting shows (Sewing with Nancy, The Joy of Quilting, etc.) and kids' shows (Blue's Clues, Jimmy Neutron, Dora the Explorer). Would have been nice if they had tapes of earlier Nick shows instead, like Rugrats, Doug, Hey Arnold, Rocko's Modern Life, etc.

TAPE 1: The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It (PBS documentary) taped from WVIZ circa 2000, flood watch messages appear on screen a couple of times during the show; partial recording of Dateline NBC: After the Gold Rush taped from WKYC on 3/3/2002 with commercials. RCA T-120.

TAPE 2: Partial broadcast of A Tribute to Victor Borge (PBS special) taped from WVIZ in March 2002 with pledge breaks; episodes of Frasier and Scrubs taped from WKYC on 2/26/2002 with commercials; coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics taped from CNBC and WKYC on 2/18/2002 with commercials, tape goes blank after about three hours of this. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 3: The Tiger Woods Story (1998 made-for-TV movie) taped from Fox Family in March 2001 with commercials. RCA T-120.
 
Three tapes found at an estate sale in Copley yesterday. The basement of the house had a few other tapes that I didn't pick up, which were mostly crafting shows (Sewing with Nancy, The Joy of Quilting, etc.) and kids' shows (Blue's Clues, Jimmy Neutron, Dora the Explorer). Would have been nice if they had tapes of earlier Nick shows instead, like Rugrats, Doug, Hey Arnold, Rocko's Modern Life, etc.

TAPE 1: The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It (PBS documentary) taped from WVIZ circa 2000, flood watch messages appear on screen a couple of times during the show; partial recording of Dateline NBC: After the Gold Rush taped from WKYC on 3/3/2002 with commercials. RCA T-120.

TAPE 2: Partial broadcast of A Tribute to Victor Borge (PBS special) taped from WVIZ in March 2002 with pledge breaks; episodes of Frasier and Scrubs taped from WKYC on 2/26/2002 with commercials; coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics taped from CNBC and WKYC on 2/18/2002 with commercials, tape goes blank after about three hours of this. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 3: The Tiger Woods Story (1998 made-for-TV movie) taped from Fox Family in March 2001 with commercials. RCA T-120.

Was this sale in Copley Ohio?
 


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