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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

pannoni1 said:
20 keepers from that sale in Eldersburg, MD about a half hour from me for $15. Decent mix of '80s and '90s, with some '00s and rental clunkers of course. Wish there was some daytime, comedy, music (outside a small amount of TNN), or sports/game shows, but a decent mix.

Tape 1: HBO and/or rental copies of El Diablo, Dakota, and Weekend In Bernie's, followed by about the last ten of minutes of Nightline, Entertainment Tonight, and the first five minutes of Into The Night with Rick Dees taped off WJZ on 8/6/1990 w/commercials

Tape 2: Never Say Never Again and The Right Stuff taped off HBO in 1984, with about 15 minutes of promos after the second movie

Tape 3: Magic Moments at Memorial Stadium taped off WMAR on 10/2/1991 with a few commercials, followed by most of Gone But Not Forgotten taped WMPT sometime in 1991 (lots of old Baltimore scenes discussed in this doc), then a WJZ tribute special on the late newscaster Jerry Turner on 1/4/88 (a rebroadcast of an earlier airing), followed by most of Happy Birthday Bo: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC off WMAR on 5/16/88 with some commercials. I've already got this special taped off another station.

Tape 4: The Wizard of Oz, taped off WBAL/CBS on 3/30/1984 with commercials. The tape was snapped at the beginning, so I won't be able to sell this unfortunately.

Tape 5: The Magic of David Copperfield specials X through XV, taped off WBAL each spring between 1988 to 1993. The 1988 and 1989 have all or most commercials zapped out, the 1990 special has some commercials, while the 1991 through 1993 specials are uncut, and at the end of the tape, it cuts over for a full WBAL newscast on 4/9/1991 (the same night as the 1991 special, with the 1992 and 1993 specials taped over that 1991 TV movie).

Tape 6: Numerous The Three Stooges shorts taped off WTTG in 1984 with lots of commercials, mostly taped in the spring of that year, but a few taped during the Christmas holidays with many toys/kids commercials prevalent there.

Tape 7: Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), taped off CBS/WBAL in December 1993 with commercials, followed by a jumble of a few 2000s shows afterwards

Tape 8: More Three Stooges episodes taped off WTTG in June/July 1984 with some commercials

Tape 9: Return To Lonesome Dove, pt. 3 taped off WBAL/CBS on 11/18/1993 with commercials (no intro), followed by a two-hour episode of Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman taped two nights later with commercials (ends before the closing). This makes my collection of RTLD mostly complete now.

Tape 10: One more batch of Three Stooges, taped off WTTG around September/October 1984 with some commercials

Tape 11: The Man Shot miniseries taped of TBS in July 1994 with commercials, followed by a partial presentation of the WGBH documentary on Apollo 13 from the same year.

Tape 12: The Magic of David Copperfield VI, taped off WBAL/CBS on 4/6/1984 with commercials, followed by two episodes of the Amazon River docuseries from the same year off WTBS with some commercials

Tape 13: Geronimo, Tombstone, and Grumpy Old Men taped off Viewer's Choice on 8/11/1994 with promos after each movie, especially the last film

Tape 14: The Magic of David Copperfield taped off WBAL/CBS in 1985 with no commercials, followed by scoped HBO airings of The Jazz Singer and Rascals & Robbers with no promos, then the PBS special UFO's: What's Going On from around the same year, followed by about a 15 minute block of TNN Block in March 1985 with a couple commercial breaks. It was quite prevalent that the country genre had really lagged the rock/pop genres in terms of video exposure at this time.

Tape 15: Five episodes of John Patrick's "How To Win At" series on various casino games, including craps, slots, blackjack, and roulette, taped off Action Pay-Per-View in April 1995 with promos after each episode.

Tape 16: Scarface and Sudden Impact taped off HBO on early 1985 with a few promos, followed by most of Knight Rider taped off WMAR/NBC on 1/24/86 with commercials, and then it cuts back to about five minutes of promos and part of Not Necessarily The News off HBO in early 1985.

Tape 17: Broken Arrow, Dead Man Walking, and Eye For An Eye taped of Request PPV in August 1996 with promos after each movie, especially the last one with about a 15 minute break

Tape 18: On Golden Pond copied from a rental, followed by The Magic of Copperfield VIII taped off WBAL/CBS in March 1986 with some commercials, followed by the Disney Sunday Movie (a shortened version due to a special report that included classic Winnie the Pooh and Chip 'n Dale) taped off WJZ/ABC on 3/16/1986 with commercials, then it cuts to the last 20 minutes of Hotel taped off WJZ/ABC on 4/2/86 with a couple commercial breaks.

Tape 19: Talk about a waste of practicality: Over three hours of nothing but promo crawls off Comcast Home Theater PPV on 11/8/1996. The same loop over and over again about 25 times! Interestingly, some of my '00s finds that I passed on included over two hours of TV Guide crawls from October 2006. Sorry, but that font just doesn't feel "retro" yet on those listings (the same one that a lot of news stations use today)

Tape 20: Western Union and How the West Was Won taped off rentals (what's with all these western movies that I've been finding lately?), followed by Miami Vice taped off WMAR/NBC on 3/17/1989 with commercials, then it cuts to most of the WBAL 11 PM News on 3/6/1989. Its interesting that of all of the Baltimore newscasts that I've found over the years, the six that are at least half complete have all come from Channel 11, and it seems that the set/theme changes happened more frequently than the other stations.
Click to expand...

I think there's another copy of the '84 Wizard of Oz airing from another affiliate, so I don't think it's a total loss, anyway.
 
Going back to 'collections from friends', it just came up during my work shift today (through a brief conversation on old technology with a customer) that one of my co-workers has too many VHS's in her house! The husband has hundreds of tapes that he rarely watches and the wife's been hounding him to get rid of them AND the three VCRs that occupy parts of the home. Some of them, she said, were recorded off TV. She did mention Star Trek.
I asked her later if she was going to organize a yard sale to get rid of those tapes and everything else she didn't want. She said they cleaned out the storage and are going to try and organize a sale this spring. They used to live in northern Snohomish County before moving here, so anything taped off TV locally would be KCPQ (for the Star Trek's), KSTW, KIRO, etc. Being here in Ellensburg with a lot of ex-Seattle natives, that's likely to happen a lot this year, at least on this side of Manastash. I'd assume many of the old home-recorded blanks laying around here are from wet and rainy Western Washington rather than the Yakima translators! Albeit there are some, but not very many, long-time locals in Ellensburg, but even then, pre-SyndEx, 4/5/7/9 Seattle were in the clear on cable. If I was in that situation, would I rather watch primetime programming on the low-budget 'local' or the high-quality Seattle station?

I'll be putting an eBay lot up hopefully by Wednesday 2/19, probably close to 30 tapes. A couple of separate tapes will go up too, featuring a WSU bowl game and a couple of Election 88 compilations.
 
On that note, these tapes were given to me by a friend of my mom's. She told him about my VHS collecting hobby at a Christmas party she attended at his house in December and he said he had a bunch of old tapes he wanted to clear out of his house. Two months later, here's what I ended up receiving from him. Little background information--he and my mom both worked in the Parma City School District way back in the day and, more recently, was a principal at one of our local Catholic schools--he's now retired.

TAPE 1: Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials of 2007 taped from WOIO on 2/2/2007 with commercials; most of The Rains Came (1939) taped from AMC in October 1991 with promos afterward; first few minutes of Mirror Mirror (1979) taped from WKYC (Channel 3 Theatre in the late night hours) circa 1988 with a few commercials beforehand. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 2: Partial broadcast of part six of The Winds of War (1983 ABC miniseries) taped from WEWS on 9/14/1986 with a few commercials; partial episode of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and partial episode of Perfect Strangers taped from WEWS on 4/29/1987 with commercials; partial broadcast of Entertainment Tonight taped from WKYC on 4/28/1987 with commercials; partial broadcast of A View to a Kill (1985) taped from HBO in July 1986 with promos afterward; partial broadcast of A Capitol Fourth, Ellis Island, episode of You Bet Your Life and most of a broadcast of John McLaughlin's One on One (with the late Richard Lugar) taped from WNEO/WEAO on 7/4/1986 with promos. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 3: Partial NFL on CBS broadcast of Kansas City Chiefs vs. Dallas Cowboys, broadcast of 60 Minutes and most of the season finale of Survivor taped from WOIO on 12/11/2005 with commercials, several instances of channel surfing during the Survivor episode, so there are also parts of 19 Action News at Ten on WUAB, Fox 8 News at Ten on WJW, Grey's Anatomy on WEWS, Crossing Jordan on WKYC, News Channel 5 at 11:00 on WEWS and Channel 3 News at 11 on WKYC from that night. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 4: The Seekers (1979) taped from TNT on 11/22/1992 with commercials; The Barbara Walters Special on WEWS on 11/24/1992 with commercials. BASF T-130.

TAPE 5: Partial broadcast of Fox 8 News at Five, Fox 8 News at Six, Geraldo at Large, episodes of Seinfeld, American Idol and House taped from WJW on 4/25/2006 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 6: No Down Payment (1957) taped from Fox Movie Channel in January 2003 with commercials and promos afterward. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 7: End of 60 Minutes and episode of The Amazing Race taped from WOIO on 11/5/2006 with commercials, cable box then switches to end of Desperate Housewives, episode of Brothers and Sisters, broadcast of News Channel 5 at 11:00 and partial broadcast of Toyota Sports Sunday on WEWS on 11/5/2006 with commercials, cable box turns off halfway through Sports Sunday, so the rest of the tape is nothing but black screen. Kodak T-160.

TAPE 8: Haywire (1980) taped from Cinemax in March 1988 with promos beforehand; Three Came Home (1950) taped from Cinemax in March 1988; Seconds (1966) taped from Cinemax in April 1988 with promos afterward. Kodak T-120.

TAPE 9: First few minutes of CSI season finale taped from WOIO on 5/19/2005 with a few commercials beforehand; partial broadcast of Entertainment Tonight, episode of The Biggest Loser and partial episode of Medium on WKYC on 12/14/2006 with commercials. TDK T-160.

TAPE 10: Partial episode of Survivor and partial broadcast of 19 Action News at 11 on WOIO on 9/21/2003 with commercials, cable box shuts off 20 minutes into the newscast, so the rest of the tape is black screen--this time in SP mode. TDK T-120.

TAPE 11: Episode of American Idol Rewind, two episodes of Cops, episode of America's Most Wanted, broadcast of Fox 8 News at Ten and first few minutes of Mad TV on WJW on 11/18/2006 with commercials; reverts to a few minutes of an episode of Extreme Dodgeball taped from GSN circa 2006 before the tape goes blank. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 12: Partial broadcast of Entertainment Tonight and pilot episode of The Weakest Link taped from WKYC on 4/16/2001 with commercials. BASF T-160.

TAPE 13: The Simple Truth: A Concert for Kurdish Refugees, various music videos and start of an episode of MTV Unplugged with Poison taped from MTV on 5/12/1991--no commercials shown during this time--I'll list the music videos in order below. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 14: Part one of Empire Falls (HBO miniseries) and partial broadcast of Point of Origin (2002) taped from HBO2 on 5/28/2005 with promos; partial broadcast of part two of Empire Falls taped from HBO on 5/29/2005 with promos beforehand. TDK T-160.

TAPE 15: Partial episode of Wanda at Large, episode of Boston Public (Dennis Miller guest stars), broadcast of Fox 8 News at Ten and partial episode of Dharma & Greg taped from WJW on 10/31/2003 with commercials. TDK T-160.

TAPE 16: Partial broadcast of 60 Minutes and episode of The Amazing Race taped from WOIO on 9/24/2006 with commercials; partial broadcast of part two of North and South (1985 ABC miniseries) taped from the Family Channel on 1/10/1996 with commercials--I already have this same recording from the eBay I lot I purchased from Tennessee in 2017. BASF T-160.

TAPE 17: Episode of Academic Challenge (with teams from Normandy, Ashland and Washington high schools) taped from WEWS in February 1988 with commercials (just about all were for Ohio Edison); Tonight and Every Night (1945) taped from Cinemax in February 1988 with promos beforehand; Dragonwyck (1946) taped from Cinemax in June 1988 with promos beforehand; Malaya (1949) taped from the Movie Channel on 7/1/1988 with promos afterward. BASF T-120.

TAPE 18: The Miracle Woman (1931) taped from AMC in March 1998; episode of Siskel & Ebert and the Movies taped from WKYC in March 1998 with commercials. JVC T-120.

TAPE 19: Parts three and four of The Winds of War taped from WEWS on September 10 and 12, 1986 with commercials. BASF T-120.

TAPE 20: A Walton Wedding (CBS made-for-TV movie) taped from WOIO on 2/12/1995 with commercials. GE T-120.

TAPE 21: Episodes of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy taped from WEWS on 5/3/1989 with commercials; episodes of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy (final match of Senior Tournament) taped from WEWS on 7/21/1989 with commercials; Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944) taped from WOIO (Cinema Nineteen) in July 1989 with commercials; China Sky (1945) taped from AMC circa 1989; episode of Jeopardy taped from WEWS on 9/6/1991 with commercials. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 22: The Snake Pit (1948) taped from Cinemax in August 1988 with promos before and after the movie; first few minutes of Missing (1982) taped from WCLQ (on the Preview pay TV network overnight--rare find!) circa 1983 with Feature Presentation intro and R rating bumper (although IMDB says it was rated PG?); Das Boot (1981) taped from WCLQ/Preview circa 1983; partial broadcast of The Morning Exchange (including an interview with a then-little-known Bryan Cranston promoting the premiere of Loving on ABC) taped from WEWS on 6/22/1983 with commercials. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 23: Partial broadcast of No Higher Love (1999 CBS made-for-TV movie), Dawn Anna (original broadcast of made-for-TV movie) and most of an episode of How Clean Is Your House taped from Lifetime on 1/15/2005 with commercials. Sony T-160.

Music videos from Tape #13:
Michael Jackson--Man in the Mirror
Salt N Pepa--Do You Want Me
Great White--Once Bitten Twice Shy
Extreme--More Than Words
Amy Grant--Baby Baby
Billy Idol--Dancing with Myself
Color Me Badd--I Wanna Sex You Up
Thunder--Dirty Love
Madonna--Vogue
 
A Morning Exchange from 1983, multiple Wheel's and Jeopardy episodes going to '87 and the first US episode of The Weakest Link? That man sure taped some great stuff and never realized it.
 
That episode of Academic Challenge is a great find there! It had a game board similar to Press Your Luck's. It's Academic in the '80s and well into the '90s similarly had just one sponsor in the D.C./Baltimore area: Giant Food. I managed to take a couple tapes while I was on my quiz bowl team in high school and it turned out to be a wise move as several years ago while contacting my school, there were no known tapes to be found, so they were inevitably tossed. That 1991 episode of Jeopardy! (from the first week with the popular "grid set") is also quite as a find as it's not currently in the J! Archive.

Sadly, just like a lot of radio airchecks, the commercials and VJ plugs were sadly paused out, but at least that's a decent mix of pop, hair metal, and even a little hip hop there. An interesting time that seems to embody that brief period caught in between decades before Nirvana hit later in '91, fully closing the door on the "80s world". Believe it or not, I actually have nearly an hour and a half of MTV from that same day that I found back in 2005 from one of my first lots, unscoped with ads!
 
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pannoni1 said:
20 keepers from that sale in Eldersburg, MD about a half hour from me for $15. Decent mix of '80s and '90s, with some '00s and rental clunkers of course. Wish there was some daytime, comedy, music (outside a small amount of TNN), or sports/game shows, but a decent mix.

Tape 1: HBO and/or rental copies of El Diablo, Dakota, and Weekend In Bernie's, followed by about the last ten of minutes of Nightline, Entertainment Tonight, and the first five minutes of Into The Night with Rick Dees taped off WJZ on 8/6/1990 w/commercials

Tape 2: Never Say Never Again and The Right Stuff taped off HBO in 1984, with about 15 minutes of promos after the second movie

Tape 3: Magic Moments at Memorial Stadium taped off WMAR on 10/2/1991 with a few commercials, followed by most of Gone But Not Forgotten taped WMPT sometime in 1991 (lots of old Baltimore scenes discussed in this doc), then a WJZ tribute special on the late newscaster Jerry Turner on 1/4/88 (a rebroadcast of an earlier airing), followed by most of Happy Birthday Bo: 50 Stars Salute Your 50 Years with NBC off WMAR on 5/16/88 with some commercials. I've already got this special taped off another station.

Tape 4: The Wizard of Oz, taped off WBAL/CBS on 3/30/1984 with commercials. The tape was snapped at the beginning, so I won't be able to sell this unfortunately.

Tape 5: The Magic of David Copperfield specials X through XV, taped off WBAL each spring between 1988 to 1993. The 1988 and 1989 have all or most commercials zapped out, the 1990 special has some commercials, while the 1991 through 1993 specials are uncut, and at the end of the tape, it cuts over for a full WBAL newscast on 4/9/1991 (the same night as the 1991 special, with the 1992 and 1993 specials taped over that 1991 TV movie).

Tape 6: Numerous The Three Stooges shorts taped off WTTG in 1984 with lots of commercials, mostly taped in the spring of that year, but a few taped during the Christmas holidays with many toys/kids commercials prevalent there.

Tape 7: Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), taped off CBS/WBAL in December 1993 with commercials, followed by a jumble of a few 2000s shows afterwards

Tape 8: More Three Stooges episodes taped off WTTG in June/July 1984 with some commercials

Tape 9: Return To Lonesome Dove, pt. 3 taped off WBAL/CBS on 11/18/1993 with commercials (no intro), followed by a two-hour episode of Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman taped two nights later with commercials (ends before the closing). This makes my collection of RTLD mostly complete now.

Tape 10: One more batch of Three Stooges, taped off WTTG around September/October 1984 with some commercials

Tape 11: The Man Shot miniseries taped of TBS in July 1994 with commercials, followed by a partial presentation of the WGBH documentary on Apollo 13 from the same year.

Tape 12: The Magic of David Copperfield VI, taped off WBAL/CBS on 4/6/1984 with commercials, followed by two episodes of the Amazon River docuseries from the same year off WTBS with some commercials

Tape 13: Geronimo, Tombstone, and Grumpy Old Men taped off Viewer's Choice on 8/11/1994 with promos after each movie, especially the last film

Tape 14: The Magic of David Copperfield taped off WBAL/CBS in 1985 with no commercials, followed by scoped HBO airings of The Jazz Singer and Rascals & Robbers with no promos, then the PBS special UFO's: What's Going On from around the same year, followed by about a 15 minute block of TNN Block in March 1985 with a couple commercial breaks. It was quite prevalent that the country genre had really lagged the rock/pop genres in terms of video exposure at this time.

Tape 15: Five episodes of John Patrick's "How To Win At" series on various casino games, including craps, slots, blackjack, and roulette, taped off Action Pay-Per-View in April 1995 with promos after each episode.

Tape 16: Scarface and Sudden Impact taped off HBO on early 1985 with a few promos, followed by most of Knight Rider taped off WMAR/NBC on 1/24/86 with commercials, and then it cuts back to about five minutes of promos and part of Not Necessarily The News off HBO in early 1985.

Tape 17: Broken Arrow, Dead Man Walking, and Eye For An Eye taped of Request PPV in August 1996 with promos after each movie, especially the last one with about a 15 minute break

Tape 18: On Golden Pond copied from a rental, followed by The Magic of Copperfield VIII taped off WBAL/CBS in March 1986 with some commercials, followed by the Disney Sunday Movie (a shortened version due to a special report that included classic Winnie the Pooh and Chip 'n Dale) taped off WJZ/ABC on 3/16/1986 with commercials, then it cuts to the last 20 minutes of Hotel taped off WJZ/ABC on 4/2/86 with a couple commercial breaks.

Tape 19: Talk about a waste of practicality: Over three hours of nothing but promo crawls off Comcast Home Theater PPV on 11/8/1996. The same loop over and over again about 25 times! Interestingly, some of my '00s finds that I passed on included over two hours of TV Guide crawls from October 2006. Sorry, but that font just doesn't feel "retro" yet on those listings (the same one that a lot of news stations use today)

Tape 20: Western Union and How the West Was Won taped off rentals (what's with all these western movies that I've been finding lately?), followed by Miami Vice taped off WMAR/NBC on 3/17/1989 with commercials, then it cuts to most of the WBAL 11 PM News on 3/6/1989. Its interesting that of all of the Baltimore newscasts that I've found over the years, the six that are at least half complete have all come from Channel 11, and it seems that the set/theme changes happened more frequently than the other stations.
Click to expand...

Was wondering if you could upload Magic Moments at Memorial Stadium taped off WMAR on 10/2/1991 to youtube if you have it was interested in watching it Im assuming this is from the old Baltimore orioles stadium. Also would be interested in watching the Copperfield stuff, thanks.
 
I have only gone through 10 of 25 tapes I got today down at that massive estate sale in West Yakima. I'll try to finish the rest next week. There were oodles and oodles of retail movies and Disney movies (thus the 'several hundred') but there were also 60 or 70 home-recorded tapes, and I didn't take them all as some were home movies, exercise videos, or things I already have on tape. A big mix of markets, some local, some from Seattle, some from Spokane and even a Denver tape from the big dish.

Tape 1 - Part 1, 2 and 3 of Lonesome Dove taped off the KIMA/CBS rebroadcast on 1/20, 1/22 and 1/23/1991 with commercials (found the 1/20 broadcast last year); ends with a partial episode of This Old House taped off KYVE/PBS circa 1989 or 1990; and a clip of a PBS documentary on China, circa late '80s. Maxell T-120
Tape 2 - Part 2 of A Woman of Independent Needs taped off KING/NBC on 2/20/1995 with commercials (already have this from KNDO, but obviously local content is different); part 2 of "The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps" (1994) taped off KIRO/CBS on 10/4/1994 with commercials, in SP mode with fuzzy off-air picture; partial broadcast of Rainbow Express (local public affairs program) taped off KOMO-4 in October 1991 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 3 - Segment of CNN Headline News taped at 10pm PT on 9/28/1998; special episode of Investigative Reports (on JonBenet Ramsey), Law & Order, the overnight movie 'Man in the Wilderness' (1971), All Creatures Great & Small and half of A&E Classroom (on John Paul Jones) taped off A&E 9/28-29/1998 with commercials...except for one break at the start of Investigative Reports. Scotch T-120
Tape 4 - 'Bonanza: The Return' (1993) and first few minutes of KING 5 News at 11 taped off KING/NBC on 11/28/1993 with commercials, in SP mode. Scotch T-120
Tape 5 - 'Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit' (1993) taped off Showtime on 4/22/1995 with plenty of promo material (Free Preview Weekend); partial broadcast of 'A Walton Wedding' (1995), Colorado 7 News at 10 and part of Inside Edition Weekend taped off KMGH/CBS on 2/12/1995 with commercials (off the Denver Six C-Band feed, Satcom C1 tp 2, and just months before the affiliation swap). Scotch T-120
Tape 6 - Starts with a home movie, the 60th wedding anniversary party for the couple who owned the home, taped in May 1999, then cuts to Lillehammer Olympics coverage taped off TNT on 2/22/1994 with commercials (local ads for Wenatchee WA); more Lillehammer Olympics coverage taped off KIRO/CBS on 2/18/1994 with commercials; part of 'Bustin' Loose' (1981) taped off TBS on 2/26/1994 with commercials; episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KHQ/NBC in March 1994 with commercials; end of Lillehammer coverage and start of KIRO NewsChannel 7 at 11 taped off KIRO/CBS on 2/23/1994 with commercials. Panasonic T-120 dating to mid '80s
Tape 7 - William O. Douglas documentary special and start of Learning in America taped off KYVE/PBS on 4/11/1989 with promos; most of the series finale of Miami Vice and part of USA Tonight taped off KNDO/NBC on 5/21/1989 with commercials; part of Guts & Glory part 1 taped off KIMA/CBS on 5/1/1989 with commercials; full broadcast of Guts & Glory part 2 and first several minutes of KIMA NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 5/2/1989 with commercials (I previously found the last 30 minutes of part 2.); last 20 minutes of Evergreen part 1 and some of USA Tonight taped off KNDO/NBC on 6/12/1988 with commercials.
Tape 8 - 'Hart to Hart: Secrets of the Hart' (1995) taped off KING/NBC on 3/6/1995 with commercials; part of 'Stella' (1990) taped off USA Network in September 1994 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 9 - 'A Christmas Carol' (1984) taped off KIMA/CBS 12/23/1986 with some commercials; Disney's Christmas on Ice taped off KIMA/CBS 12/21/1990 with commercials; part of Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (part 2) taped off KNDO/NBC 12/8/1986 with commercials; A Charlie Brown Christmas and Frosty the Snowman taped off KIMA/CBS 12/12/1986 with commercials (a broadcast that I already have); How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Twas the Night Before Christmas taped off KIMA/CBS 12/17/1986 with commercials. Sony T-120
Tape 10 - CBS News/Time 100: Person of the Century and first 2-3 minutes of KIMA News at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 12/27/1999 with commercials, and an hour and a half of a Pope John Paul II documentary from PBS, before the tape goes blank. TDK T-120
 
crainbebo said:
I have only gone through 10 of 25 tapes I got today down at that massive estate sale in West Yakima. I'll try to finish the rest next week. There were oodles and oodles of retail movies and Disney movies (thus the 'several hundred') but there were also 60 or 70 home-recorded tapes, and I didn't take them all as some were home movies, exercise videos, or things I already have on tape. A big mix of markets, some local, some from Seattle, some from Spokane and even a Denver tape from the big dish.

Tape 1 - Part 1, 2 and 3 of Lonesome Dove taped off the KIMA/CBS rebroadcast on 1/20, 1/22 and 1/23/1991 with commercials (found the 1/20 broadcast last year); ends with a partial episode of This Old House taped off KYVE/PBS circa 1989 or 1990; and a clip of a PBS documentary on China, circa late '80s. Maxell T-120
Tape 2 - Part 2 of A Woman of Independent Needs taped off KING/NBC on 2/20/1995 with commercials (already have this from KNDO, but obviously local content is different); part 2 of "The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps" (1994) taped off KIRO/CBS on 10/4/1994 with commercials, in SP mode with fuzzy off-air picture; partial broadcast of Rainbow Express (local public affairs program) taped off KOMO-4 in October 1991 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 3 - Segment of CNN Headline News taped at 10pm PT on 9/28/1998; special episode of Investigative Reports (on JonBenet Ramsey), Law & Order, the overnight movie 'Man in the Wilderness' (1971), All Creatures Great & Small and half of A&E Classroom (on John Paul Jones) taped off A&E 9/28-29/1998 with commercials...except for one break at the start of Investigative Reports. Scotch T-120
Tape 4 - 'Bonanza: The Return' (1993) and first few minutes of KING 5 News at 11 taped off KING/NBC on 11/28/1993 with commercials, in SP mode. Scotch T-120
Tape 5 - 'Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit' (1993) taped off Showtime on 4/22/1995 with plenty of promo material (Free Preview Weekend); partial broadcast of 'A Walton Wedding' (1995), Colorado 7 News at 10 and part of Inside Edition Weekend taped off KMGH/CBS on 2/12/1995 with commercials (off the Denver Six C-Band feed, Satcom C1 tp 2, and just months before the affiliation swap). Scotch T-120
Tape 6 - Starts with a home movie, the 60th wedding anniversary party for the couple who owned the home, taped in May 1999, then cuts to Lillehammer Olympics coverage taped off TNT on 2/22/1994 with commercials (local ads for Wenatchee WA); more Lillehammer Olympics coverage taped off KIRO/CBS on 2/18/1994 with commercials; part of 'Bustin' Loose' (1981) taped off TBS on 2/26/1994 with commercials; episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KHQ/NBC in March 1994 with commercials; end of Lillehammer coverage and start of KIRO NewsChannel 7 at 11 taped off KIRO/CBS on 2/23/1994 with commercials. Panasonic T-120 dating to mid '80s
Tape 7 - William O. Douglas documentary special and start of Learning in America taped off KYVE/PBS on 4/11/1989 with promos; most of the series finale of Miami Vice and part of USA Tonight taped off KNDO/NBC on 5/21/1989 with commercials; part of Guts & Glory part 1 taped off KIMA/CBS on 5/1/1989 with commercials; full broadcast of Guts & Glory part 2 and first several minutes of KIMA NewsBeat at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 5/2/1989 with commercials (I previously found the last 30 minutes of part 2.); last 20 minutes of Evergreen part 1 and some of USA Tonight taped off KNDO/NBC on 6/12/1988 with commercials.
Tape 8 - 'Hart to Hart: Secrets of the Hart' (1995) taped off KING/NBC on 3/6/1995 with commercials; part of 'Stella' (1990) taped off USA Network in September 1994 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 9 - 'A Christmas Carol' (1984) taped off KIMA/CBS 12/23/1986 with some commercials; Disney's Christmas on Ice taped off KIMA/CBS 12/21/1990 with commercials; part of Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (part 2) taped off KNDO/NBC 12/8/1986 with commercials; A Charlie Brown Christmas and Frosty the Snowman taped off KIMA/CBS 12/12/1986 with commercials (a broadcast that I already have); How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Twas the Night Before Christmas taped off KIMA/CBS 12/17/1986 with commercials. Sony T-120
Tape 10 - CBS News/Time 100: Person of the Century and first 2-3 minutes of KIMA News at 11 taped off KIMA/CBS 12/27/1999 with commercials, and an hour and a half of a Pope John Paul II documentary from PBS, before the tape goes blank. TDK T-120
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I think I might have that same airing of Sister Act 2 from Showtime. I'll check and see.
 
Finished them all yesterday and this morning. Going to be a while before I get rid of all of these. More fantastic finds!

Tape 11 - 'Far & Away' (1992) taped off KOMO/ABC on 3/12/1995 and 3/13/1995 with commercials (already have this from KAPP, but local ads are different, the 3/13 also includes the first minute of KOMO News 4 at 11); partial 2-hour series finale of In the Heat of the Night (Give Me Your Life) and start of Eye to Eye with Connie Chung taped off KIRO/CBS on 7/28/1994 with commercials; ends with a couple minutes of a KING 5 News broadcast taped in 1993 or 1994, and an even-shorter clip of Primetime Live taped off KOMO/ABC circa 1993. Scotch T-120
Tape 12 - Pride & Prejudice taped off The Biography Channel circa 2001, minus commercials; last 20 minutes of 'Sarah, Plain & Tall: Winter's End' (1999) and part of an NYPD Blue rerun taped off KIMA/CBS 11/21/1999 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 13 - 'Sarah, Plain & Tall' (1991) taped off Hallmark Channel circa 2002 minus commercials; partial broadcast of Philly and partial broadcast of KAPP Local News at 11 taped off KAPP/ABC on 3/19/2002 with commercials; part of Dead by Sunset part 1 taped off KNDO/NBC 11/19/1995 with commercials (already have this). Magnavox T-120 dating back to late '80s
Tape 14 - 'The Sound of Music' (1965) taped off KNDO/NBC on 12/18/1987 with commercials; The Waltons Homecoming taped off KIMA/CBS on Christmas Eve 1987 with commercials; episode of The Real Ghostbusters taped off KAPP/ABC on 12/26/1987 with commercials (first Saturday morning cartoon find from this lot), ends with an American Medical Association film and some commercials taped off KIMA-29 circa October 1987 (following an unknown classic movie). Maxell T-120
Tape 15 - Victory at Sea documentary episodes, Job Find and midnight sign-off taped off KYVE-47 sometime in 1995 with pledge breaks, after 20-30 minutes of static the tape reverts to about 45 minutes of the pilot of Courthouse taped off KIMA/CBS on 9/13/1995 with commercials, the picture is mostly in B&W, and the tape runs out before the end of the program. Maxell T-120
Tape 16 - 'Maverick' (1992) taped off KING/NBC on 11/24/1996 with commercials; episode of Walker, Texas Ranger, Colorado Lotto Drawing and part of News 4 Tonight taped off KCNC/CBS on 2/3/1996 with commercials (off C-Band feed, Satcom C1, tp 6) Scotch T-120
Tape 17 - 'Gandhi' (1982) taped off KIMA/CBS on two nights, 11/25/1987 and 11/26/1987 (Thanksgiving) with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 18 - American Experience FDR (all 4 parts) taped off KYVE/PBS in October 1994 with pledge breaks originating from KCTS (not the original broadcast); partial episode of Murder, She Wrote taped off KIMA/CBS on 10/16/1994 with commercials. Maxell HGX-Gold T-120
Tape 19 - 'Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit' (1987) taped off TBS on 2/21/1994 with commercials (already have this from a recording made on 10/24/93). Fuji T-120
Tape 20 - Partial episode of Sanford & Son, 'The Shadow Riders' (1982), 'Shalako' (1968) and part of 'The Burning Hills' (1956) taped off TBS on 2/13-14/1992 with commercials; partial broadcast of Vanishing Giants (syndicated special) taped off KOMO-4 in November or December 1990 with commercials; part of 'On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story' (1990) and 11PM news open taped off KING/NBC on 11/5/1990 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 21 - Part 2 of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All taped off KIMA/CBS on 5/3/1994 with commercials; episode of Dateline NBC taped off KNDO/NBC 5/17/1994 with commercials; partial broadcast of Northwest Nightcast and Nightline taped off KAPP-35 5/17/1994 with commercials (on the local news, it features a story about a Kennewick dentist's movie-viewing system); Good Morning America taped off KAPP/ABC 5/18/1994 with commercials (on location in Alaska); partial broadcast of "Tears & Laughter: The Joan & Melissa Rivers Story" (1994) taped off KNDO/NBC on 5/15/1994 with commercials. Maxell XL-HIFI T-120 (albeit not in Hi-Fi)
Tape 22 - "Terms of Endearment" (1983) taped off TBS 1/31/1995 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 23 - Both parts of Texas taped off KAPP/ABC on 4/16 and 4/17/1995 with commercials. Magnavox T-120
Tape 24 - 'St. Helens' (1981) taped off KOMO-4 in October 1995 with commercials; end of 'The Colony' (1995) taped off USA on 9/13/1995 with a few commercials; partial broadcast of 'Derby' (1995) taped off KOMO/ABC on 6/17/1995 with commercials (in SP mode); end of 'Absence of Malice' and a commercial break taped off TBS around 1993. KMC T-120
Tape 25 - Part 8 of Baseball taped off KYVE/PBS on 9/27/1994 with a couple promos; part 9 of Baseball, Masters of Illusion, Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler and sign-off taped off KYVE/PBS on 9/28/1994 with promos. Scotch EXG-PRO T-120. This was formerly a prerecorded tape from Weyerhaeuser, probably a safety or promotional video. There was no Weyerhaeuser content anywhere on the tape.
 
crainbebo said:
Finished them all yesterday and this morning. Going to be a while before I get rid of all of these. More fantastic finds!

Tape 11 - 'Far & Away' (1992) taped off KOMO/ABC on 3/12/1995 and 3/13/1995 with commercials (already have this from KAPP, but local ads are different, the 3/13 also includes the first minute of KOMO News 4 at 11); partial 2-hour series finale of In the Heat of the Night (Give Me Your Life) and start of Eye to Eye with Connie Chung taped off KIRO/CBS on 7/28/1994 with commercials; ends with a couple minutes of a KING 5 News broadcast taped in 1993 or 1994, and an even-shorter clip of Primetime Live taped off KOMO/ABC circa 1993. Scotch T-120
Tape 12 - Pride & Prejudice taped off The Biography Channel circa 2001, minus commercials; last 20 minutes of 'Sarah, Plain & Tall: Winter's End' (1999) and part of an NYPD Blue rerun taped off KIMA/CBS 11/21/1999 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 13 - 'Sarah, Plain & Tall' (1991) taped off Hallmark Channel circa 2002 minus commercials; partial broadcast of Philly and partial broadcast of KAPP Local News at 11 taped off KAPP/ABC on 3/19/2002 with commercials; part of Dead by Sunset part 1 taped off KNDO/NBC 11/19/1995 with commercials (already have this). Magnavox T-120 dating back to late '80s
Tape 14 - 'The Sound of Music' (1965) taped off KNDO/NBC on 12/18/1987 with commercials; The Waltons Homecoming taped off KIMA/CBS on Christmas Eve 1987 with commercials; episode of The Real Ghostbusters taped off KAPP/ABC on 12/26/1987 with commercials (first Saturday morning cartoon find from this lot), ends with an American Medical Association film and some commercials taped off KIMA-29 circa October 1987 (following an unknown classic movie). Maxell T-120
Tape 15 - Victory at Sea documentary episodes, Job Find and midnight sign-off taped off KYVE-47 sometime in 1995 with pledge breaks, after 20-30 minutes of static the tape reverts to about 45 minutes of the pilot of Courthouse taped off KIMA/CBS on 9/13/1995 with commercials, the picture is mostly in B&W, and the tape runs out before the end of the program. Maxell T-120
Tape 16 - 'Maverick' (1992) taped off KING/NBC on 11/24/1996 with commercials; episode of Walker, Texas Ranger, Colorado Lotto Drawing and part of News 4 Tonight taped off KCNC/CBS on 2/3/1996 with commercials (off C-Band feed, Satcom C1, tp 6) Scotch T-120
Tape 17 - 'Gandhi' (1982) taped off KIMA/CBS on two nights, 11/25/1987 and 11/26/1987 (Thanksgiving) with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 18 - American Experience FDR (all 4 parts) taped off KYVE/PBS in October 1994 with pledge breaks originating from KCTS (not the original broadcast); partial episode of Murder, She Wrote taped off KIMA/CBS on 10/16/1994 with commercials. Maxell HGX-Gold T-120
Tape 19 - 'Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit' (1987) taped off TBS on 2/21/1994 with commercials (already have this from a recording made on 10/24/93). Fuji T-120
Tape 20 - Partial episode of Sanford & Son, 'The Shadow Riders' (1982), 'Shalako' (1968) and part of 'The Burning Hills' (1956) taped off TBS on 2/13-14/1992 with commercials; partial broadcast of Vanishing Giants (syndicated special) taped off KOMO-4 in November or December 1990 with commercials; part of 'On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story' (1990) and 11PM news open taped off KING/NBC on 11/5/1990 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 21 - Part 2 of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All taped off KIMA/CBS on 5/3/1994 with commercials; episode of Dateline NBC taped off KNDO/NBC 5/17/1994 with commercials; partial broadcast of Northwest Nightcast and Nightline taped off KAPP-35 5/17/1994 with commercials (on the local news, it features a story about a Kennewick dentist's movie-viewing system); Good Morning America taped off KAPP/ABC 5/18/1994 with commercials (on location in Alaska); partial broadcast of "Tears & Laughter: The Joan & Melissa Rivers Story" (1994) taped off KNDO/NBC on 5/15/1994 with commercials. Maxell XL-HIFI T-120 (albeit not in Hi-Fi)
Tape 22 - "Terms of Endearment" (1983) taped off TBS 1/31/1995 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 23 - Both parts of Texas taped off KAPP/ABC on 4/16 and 4/17/1995 with commercials. Magnavox T-120
Tape 24 - 'St. Helens' (1981) taped off KOMO-4 in October 1995 with commercials; end of 'The Colony' (1995) taped off USA on 9/13/1995 with a few commercials; partial broadcast of 'Derby' (1995) taped off KOMO/ABC on 6/17/1995 with commercials (in SP mode); end of 'Absence of Malice' and a commercial break taped off TBS around 1993. KMC T-120
Tape 25 - Part 8 of Baseball taped off KYVE/PBS on 9/27/1994 with a couple promos; part 9 of Baseball, Masters of Illusion, Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler and sign-off taped off KYVE/PBS on 9/28/1994 with promos. Scotch EXG-PRO T-120. This was formerly a prerecorded tape from Weyerhaeuser, probably a safety or promotional video. There was no Weyerhaeuser content anywhere on the tape.
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I know this sounds like a tall order, but you should consider uploading the full broadcasts to archive.org.
 
Searched ten more Beta tapes today, kept 4. All were Fuji L-500's with the L-500 in orange.

TAPE 1: The CBS Late Movie presentations of The Avengers ('60s series) and about three-fourths of Return of the Saint, recorded off WNAC/CBS on 5/30/1980 with commercials. I found a similar pairing taped off the same channel on 1/18/1980 last fall and have posted those commercials.

TAPE 2: An episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos taped off WGBH in December 1980, followed by about half of the WNAC 4 O'Clock Movie presentation of The Pajama Game and the first few minutes of the WNAC 6 PM News on 12/5/1980 with commercials.

TAPE 3: An rerun of The New Avengers (1978, the first CBS Late Movie series that was new to the US), followed by a rebroadcast of the WNAC 11 PM News, reflection, and sign-off on 10/3/1980 with commercials. Interestingly, I've got the newscast from just eight nights later from the same station that I found back in 2016.

TAPE 4: Vermont Public TV's Northern Railroads (1995) and part of The Best of Austin City Limits, taped off WGBH on 8/10/1996 with pledge breaks.

The other tapes contained two hours of E! from early 2001, featuring the Joan & Melissa Rivers Fashion Show and E! True Hollywood Story on Adam West with commercials, another with an A&E special from around 1999 on Cleopatra's World with only a few commercials, and four more contained more episodes of Carl Sagan's Cosmos taped of WGBH in 1980. The later is already in full on YouTube and readily available on DVD.

I know you haven't bought much from eBay lately, but I highly recommend this lot for you, crainbebo. The labels show a ton of what appears to be '80s high school sports, with two tapes labeled "March 1986 AAU Tournament, Yakima". Another says "Summer 1985 Tournaments (Yakima, Ellensburg, and Columbia Cup)", and one more says "1985 Basketball Awards, March 1985 AAU Tournament, Yakima". Seller is about an hour away, and over half of the tapes don't have any labels visible. Two more tapes appear to contain a pair of early season college basketball games from late 1987.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-48-...seWeb&_trksid=p2047675.c100012.m1985#shpCntId
 
Did a little research on that Ebay lot, it looks like women's basketball actually, mainly because UNC did not play those teams on those dates in 1987, it would make more sense given the other tapes in the lot, looks like a parent who had a daughter who played AAU, high school, and then college ball and he/she kept tapes of the games.

Btw, do those original airings of Cosmos have any different music than the DVD releases? They have a lot of copyrighted music on the soundtrack for a documentary series, I have the original soundtrack on vinyl and its quite awesome.
 
Just got in that lot I mentioned two posts above, and from what I've been finding so far, its mostly home recorded women's/girl's basketball, with some softball. Many tapes come from Pasco High School girls basketball games with a school mascot of "The Bulldogs", or "The Doggettes", from the 1984-85, 1985-86, and 1986-87 seasons. The 1985 and 1987 yearbooks of that school have been posted on Classmates.com, and based on one tape's label, the recorder did this for his daughter named Tanya, who played for the varsity girls BB team for Pasco for three years. The video quality on some of the earlier recordings is a little green-tinged, but its great on the 1987 ones I've been finding so far, and one game I'm listening even has periodic score/time voiceover updates, and the camera work is pretty good for an amateur. Most of the time, the timeouts/stoppages/halftime have been edited out, but it does allow for a faster pace of action. Many games list the opponent and the date by the same voiceover at the start of each game. Given that these were almost certainly not broadcast on TV, these are certainly some unique finds worth keeping, especially those with identifiable dates. A nice time capsule for that school in southeast Washington, especially when it comes to be class reunion time. The 1984-85 team finished a strong 16-4, while the 1986-87 team finished a mediocre 9-11, so its an interesting historical curiosity for essentially an average team in a small market. One tape from 1986 had a brief clip from the sports segment from a local news station (Yakima market). The oldest tape featured some junior high girls BB games from 1983 as shown.

Another tape featured a softball game from 1986 from the same school, along with a season-end awards summary held at the school. Another thing that screams 1980s: the loud sound the camcorder makes everytime it zooms in and out!

Also, those college games are indeed from the University of North Carolina, and the family of the featured person was a five-year student, and one tape I found from early 1992 (her graduation year, of which a tape of the 1992 UNC commencement is also in this lot) even features some non-game behind the scenes footage of the UNC clubhouse. One tape even features a November 1987 exhibition game against the Soviet Women's Basketball Nationals team, complete with Genesis "Land of Confusion" playing over the sound system during warm-ups. The arena was literally 95% empty, so it shows why most women's sports outside of tennis, figure skating and golf wasn't ready for TV. Women's college basketball was seldom broadcast outside of the tournaments in those days, except for a few games in a few markets on a local/regional sports cable channel.

A couple tapes did have some PBS stuff from the early '90s (Sewing with Nancy and Painting With Color among a couple others, and even included the first couple minutes of a 1992 Sesame Street episode), but it was mostly home recorded stuff. I am going to keep and record some of those HS sports tapes. Many of these young players would potentially be among the first generation of WNBA players when the league formed in 1996, with the players in their late 20s at the time should they had qualified. Still beats all those personal home videos that literally take place in the home.
 
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Great to hear that this lot was of some merit...out of curiosity were any of the taped UNC games broadcasts, or all home videorecorded like the high school sports?

I occasionally come across home videos at thrift stores and most of the time its just wedding anniversaries, birthday parties, sometimes weddings and the quality is subpar at best. The weirdest thing I ever found home video wise was one of those RotoRooter pipe clog videos that were apparently popular in the 1980s, frustrating because it recorded over part of an early 80s episode of Wide World of Sports.
 
So far, all home videorecorded. Keep in mind that like I said, women's basketball was still not yet a big thing like it is now since the WNBA hadn't yet come into existence. On anverage, there's about an hour's worth of content for each game, and this means that most stoppages (out of bounds, timeouts, fouls, halftime) were cut to fit into more content. Most of the game intros are intact, and it does up the tempo of these recordings. The camera work is very good, with minimal bouncy moments and relatively smooth transitions down the court, and there's even occasional jump shots at the scoreboard toward the end of the game, especially when the game is close. That said, a lot of the earlier recordings (1983-1985) have more of a two-strip color feel with the blues rather weak. And some of the UNC games are road games, providing a chance to see some rare footage from this era for teams like UCF and Radford.

Just found a Walla Walla vs. Pasco game was recorded on my birthday (2/22/1985), so that's certainly a keeper there.
 
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Yep, Pasco is the Bulldogs. Ellensburg HS is also Bulldogs. Their football team is terrible nowadays in Pasco - last couple years they've struggled to win 2 games in a season. This year Girls Basketball went 15-7 but lost in districts to Chiawana in a loser-out.
These broadcasts were not on television of course, but the stations no doubt brought a cameraman to film a few minutes for the 11:00 news later. They still do. KNDU now has their SWX subchannel network to air full football and basketball games, most being Tri-Cities and a few Yakima proper teams (West Valley, Davis, Eisenhower), also occasionally Sunnyside or Prosser. Never have I seen an Ellensburg, Zillah, Toppenish or Kiona-Benton game on SWX. Last time I was at an SWX football game, they had about 4 or 5 camera operators, two on the roof of the press box filming the long shots, and two announcers who originate from Spokane IIRC. It's still 480i stretch-o-vision just because we're a tiny market...

Meanwhile, I have opened up VHSgoodiesWA4. This is my new channel for videos because my old channel has too many videos to continue new uploads. My old channel will continue operating but will be 'locked' re new videos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNhErYgPPkYB3YHajq9XPtQ

Went to an estate sale last Saturday here in Ellensburg with TWO BETA MACHINES and *NO* Beta tapes to be found....AARGH! And no VHS tapes either. Was a cool sale nevertheless. Picked up the 1930 Washington State Normal School commencement program for $5.00 there! (Which is now our current CWU) Also grabbed a few postcards and old magazines. The place was filled with outdoorsman stuff, tools, a painted portrait of President Reagan, and cool furniture.

Later this month, if we aren't all quarantined due to COVID 19, I will be making a trip out to Tri-Cities and/or Spokane to visit some thrift stores and hunt for more tapes. My original plan was to head west and hit some of the Goodwill Outlets in Everett and Seattle. Not worth the risk.
 
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Sometime in the not too distant future, as the weather warms up, I wouldn't mind taking a road trip out to Treasures Flea Market in Niles, Ohio, not far from Youngstown. I went out there four years ago and came home with at least 20 tapes (some were duds though) and left plenty more behind. I remember one of the vendors I bought from charged only 10 cents apiece for her tapes and a few more had sold used blanks in their booths as well. Ended up finding quite a bit of local content from the much smaller (compared to Cleveland) market of Youngstown, in addition to some surprises in the form of some small amounts of content from much more distant markets. Would be cool to find early footage of W62BT/WYFX or, better yet, footage from Foxnet, which some cable companies in that area carried to make up for the absence of a Fox affiliate in Youngstown prior to the launch of W62BT in 1998 (although others carried WJW in Cleveland or WPGH in Pittsburgh). Even better yet, it would be cool to find content from WBWO, the WB 100+ affiliate in Wheeling/Steubenville, which many Youngstown area cable companies carried prior to the launch of WBCB in 2004.

And then, there's this place in that same general region--a HUGE indoor and outdoor flea market that seems to be pretty well known here in Ohio and in the neighboring states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
https://rogersohio.com/
 
Finished searching through that SE Washington lot, and as it turned out, I managed to snatch nine tapes with commercial content on them, in addition to nearly 20 other games with the invaluable HS/college basketball games on them.

Tape 1: Four home recorded girls basketball games featuring the Pasco Bulldogs from February 1985 (all with dates marked on them), followed by the last five minutes of ESPN SportsCenter and the first five minutes of Gymnastics: America's Golden Heroes, recorded off ESPN on 1/30/1985 with a few commercials. ESPN was still using its original "oval" logo at this time and would switch to its current one by July.

Tape 2: Two more home recorded Pasco HS girls BB games from December 1986, then a couple hours of snow/fuzz, and then it cuts to a little over an hour of MTV footage recorded on 12/14/1986 with commercials (VJ Martha Quinn, with a few local commercials from the SE Washington market as well). This reminds me a bit of the Colorado lot in 2018 where after awhile from a rental-dubbed movie, it jumped for about 70 minutes of MTV from late 1982. Santa pile, so it won't be recorded until the holidays, and it does feature the Monkees Christmas medley among the songs.

Tape 3: Most of a college Women's BB game between UNC and NC State, starting about four minutes in, off Prime Ticket Network (using the regional HTS feed) on 2/4/1992 with halftime and commercials, followed by about three-fourths of the Maury Povich Show and about two-thirds of Hard Copy on 2/7/92 off KEPR with commercials, followed by another partial episode of Hard Copy off KEPR on 2/5/92 with commercials.

Tape 4: Begins with some HGTV content from the early 2000s, then jumps back to the last ten minutes of Jenny Jones, followed by a full episode of Oprah Winfrey off KVEW on 3/12/1992 with commercials, followed by Maury Povich and the first segment of Hard Copy off KEPR from the same day with ads, then it cuts back to the last half of Maury Povich and about half of Hard Copy off KEPR on 2/20/1992 w/commercials.

Tape 5: Another broadcasted NCAA Women's Basketball game between Maryland and UNC off Muster Sports/WAAP on 2/8/1992 with a few commercials, but with the halftime mostly edited out

Tape 6: The Cheers finale including most of the Last Call pre-show off KNDU on 5/20/1993 with commercials (no closing), followed by part of Geraldo, Oprah Winfrey, and the opening to the KVEW 5 O'Clock News from the same day with commercials. I've already got most of the Cheers Finale off KTSM in El Paso, but there's about five minutes here that I don't have.

Tape 7: Movies dominate most blank tape lots, and as it turned out, this was the only tape out of about 40 that contained any. They all contain commercials though, and including Problem Child 3, off KNDU/NBC on 5/13/1995, followed by God Bless The Child (1988) off Lifetime on 5/14/1995, then it cuts to about ten minutes of CNN footage from January 1995 with commercials.

Tape 8: About 75 minutes of footage on the O.J. Simpson trial off E! in May 1995 with commercials, including a few exclusive talk/discussion segments. Rest of the tape is blank.

Tape 9: The last several minutes of the KEPR late news and a half hour of Headline News from September 1995 with commercials, followed by an episode of The Bold & The Beautiful from around the same time (Labor Day 1995), then another hour of O.J. Simpson trial footage off E! and the first ten minutes of Talk Soup in late August 1995, followed by part of an August 1995 episode of The Young & The Restless with commercials.

Of the remaining personally recorded tapes, I did manage to find the nearly complete 1987 Pasco HS graduation ceremony, and I always find these important due to the lifetime appreciation of these thanks to class reunions of course.

alexcarke236, I don't have any religious footage at this time and I rarely come across it (about once a year, and all I've found are a couple of Jimmy Swaggarts from the 1980s and a 1993 EWTN presentation of The Rosary. That said, we'll see how COVID-19 impacts yard sales and even eBay listings in terms of a boost or crater of listings. Of course, I've got plenty of tapes to record while Broadway remains dark, the sports world remains silent, and even shows like Jeopardy! will tape without an audience.
 


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