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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season. Any best finds of 2023 list?

For me lately I've been coming across a lot of Duke college basketball and WWF wrestling (unfortunately mostly late 1990s- mid 2000s, I wish it was more like 1980s and 1990s content...
 
chandler0201 said:
I hope everyone had a great Holiday Season. Any best finds of 2023 list?

For me lately I've been coming across a lot of Duke college basketball and WWF wrestling (unfortunately mostly late 1990s- mid 2000s, I wish it was more like 1980s and 1990s content...
Click to expand...

I am a duke fan, so can you post me your lists of those and other sporting events please?
 
As we start the new year, I realize I didn't log my latest finds from the last couple of months, going back to November.

Estate sale--Parma, OH
TAPE 1: Camille (1936) taped from WEWS (Movie 5) in May 1986 with commercials; partial broadcast of The Harder They Fall (1956) taped from SuperStation WTBS in December 1985 with commercials; The Mikado (1983 CBC made-for-TV movie), Today in France and partial broadcast of Shortstories taped from A&E in December 1985 with commercials. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 2: Partial broadcast of Peter, Paul & Mary 25th Anniversary Concert taped from WVIZ circa 1986; end of Star Trek and Marked Woman (1937) taped from WUAB in December 1986 with commercials; Die Fledermous and partial broadcast of Mark Russell Comedy Special taped from WVIZ in December 1986 with promos. TDK T-120.

Estate sale--Lodi, OH
TAPE 3: Partial broadcast of 60 Minutes taped from WJW on 12/10/1989 with commercials. EMX T-120.

Sometime in the next few days, I'll be receiving a 56-tape lot from an eBay seller in Sebring, Ohio. Sebring's in the Youngstown market, but tape labels seen in previous lots sold by this seller have indicated contents from more distant markets as well, New York City having been one of them. Should hopefully be an interesting grab bag of content heading my way.
 
Even before my eBay lot arrived yesterday, I managed to pick up some more tapes at a couple more local sales this past weekend. One of them was actually a liquidation sale at a production company studio just outside of Akron that I somehow never knew existed. This company had partnerships with various local businesses through the years, i.e. they created their commercials and other marketing/promotional videos, and at one point, they even had a partnership with the now-defunct WAKR/WAKC Channel 23 in Akron! More on that later.

Estate sale 1/4--Middleburg Heights, OH
TAPE 1: Visions of Canada taped from WNEO/WEAO in Akron in March 2010 with promos and pledge breaks; Nightly Business Report and Visions of Italy: Southern Style taped from WVIZ in Cleveland on 3/22/2010 with promos and pledge breaks. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 2: Hodgepodge of German programs from One and ZDF simulcast on German TV (I ran into similar programs from this channel at another sale three years ago)--Die Flippers, Kein Schoner Land, a partial broadcast of an unknown/unidentifiable variety show, Lustige Musikanten on Tour and a partial broadcast of Immer Wieder Sonntags, all recorded in or around June 2003. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 3: This tape starts with a smattering of short clips from random shows taped circa 2001--That Darn Cat (1997) on the Disney Channel, The King of Queens on WOIO, The Weakest Link on WKYC, Everybody Loves Raymond on WOIO and The Drew Carey Show on WEWS; partial broadcast of Pick-Up Summer (1980), Babes Ahoy (a.k.a. Going Overboard) (1989) and Eat and Run (1986) taped from USA in October 1991 with commercials--all presentations from USA Up All Night with Rhonda Shear. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 4: More USA Up All Night with Rhonda Shear--Jocks (1986), The Van (1977) and Fatso (1980) taped from USA in October 1991 with commercials. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 5: More USA Up All Night, this time with Gilbert Gottfried hosting and guest appearances by Betty (the band)--Hot Splash (1988), Dialing for Dingbats (1989) and The World's Greatest Lover (1977) taped from USA in October 1991 with commercials. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 6: Various presentations of Laurel and Hardy movies--Utopia (1950) taped from WOR in Secaucus in January 1987 with commercials; Saps at Sea (1940) taped from WOR in January 1987 with commercials; Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) taped from WOR in January 1987 with commercials; Me and My Pal (1933) taped from WOR in January 1987 minus commercials; Towed in a Hole (1932) taped from WOR in January 1987 minus commercials; Our Wife (1931) taped from WOR in January 1987 minus commercials. Fuji T-120.

This sale had many other tapes that I left behind, many of which had German handwriting on the labels. A couple of duds I picked up were rental dubs of German movies.


Just a day later was a giant sale inside the studio building of a Copley-based video production company called Creative Technology. My understanding is the company is in the process of moving to San Francisco and the building will be occupied by a new K-12 private school once the next school year starts.
Here I didn't see nearly as many VHS tapes as I did Betacam tapes, as well as a few U-matics, some of which, as I said earlier, were produced for or by WAKR-TV/WAKC. A couple of U-matics were labeled "Movie Greats Network" with movie titles written on the labels, some of which were crossed out and likely reused later. One was labeled "11PM Newswatch," as WAKR's news operation was branded as "Newswatch 23" at one point in the '70s. Also spotted were some quad tapes, at least one with WAKC's address written on the case, along with ABC's New York City address typewritten. Would have been cool to pick up some of those Betacam tapes if only I had a Betacam VCR for those (which they did a couple of for sale at the studio, but I clearly don't have enough room to store one of those giant things, nor did I want to shell out $400 for it). Not sure if they had a U-matic VCR in that building somewhere that I might have missed, but they did have a machine for quad tapes.

But I did pick up a few interesting VHS tapes, and left some behind as well, so here's what I ended up finding.

TAPE 7: This was a rather strange tape, as it consisted of mostly incomplete video projects that appeared to have been dubbed from worktapes or Betacam tapes--partial Diebold promotional video from 1995, a short commercial reel consisting of ads for Ohio Edison, Marquette Savings Bank and First Energy ranging in year from 1995-1997, and a partial Schwartz Homes promotional video. 3M T-30.

TAPE 8: This one solely consisted of a First Energy marketing video, although part of it was taped over in the beginning--runs for 4 minutes and 45 seconds and is dated 11/11/1999 on the label. 3M T-30.

TAPE 9: End of Hollywood One on One, M*A*S*H, Colorado Business Review and partial broadcast of In Concert Country (Tanya Tucker and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band perform before the tape goes blank) taped from KUSA in Denver on 8/14/1994 with commercials. BASF T-120.

Still have to go through two more tapes from this studio facility. One of them appears to be a telecourse on geothermal heating and cooling--was created by KSU (Kent State University) Teleproductions and is labeled "Ohio Edison, Geothermal Heating and Cooling--September 17, 1996." Just about all of the other VHS tapes were similar to the first two in that they were short in length and professionally created. They did, however, have boxes full of VHS and Betamax tapes in another room that had typewritten labels with numeric codes. The representative I spoke with said those in particular were unused and that the codes on the labels were done for logging purposes, but the company never got around to using them.
 
Scott! Why didn't you pick those U-MATIC or Betacam tapes up?! Those were probably one-of-a-kind AND you could have donated them to the right people and organizations/museums...especially those 2in Quad tapes! Here in Yakima, KIMA threw out their video archives years ago (for the most part) which was a total shame.

Tape 9 was probably a C-Band recording, maybe a test recording (they probably didn't have intentions to record M*A*S*H and the Colorado Business Review unless the company was featured on the program). KUSA and other Denver TV stations were on C-Band for many years.
 
I scooped up eleven free tapes after work yesterday courtesy of Craigslist. The pickup location was just a mile from two of DC's stations, but there was one tape with out of market content.

TAPE 1: About seven minutes of footage from ABC World News Now from the very early morning of 9/11/2001, with a professional label with ABC News on the top. While the footage is already on the Internet Archive and the two commercials don't indicate any location station, this tape probably may still be worth a few bucks due to being recorded on the same day as a certain major catastrophic event unfolding just a few hours later.

TAPE 2: Starts with a couple various PBS shows circa 2000 on New Hampshire public television (the snow picture is barely discernable), then it jumps back to the last 20 minutes of The Dukes of Hazard off ATV (the regional Atlantic Canada cable network) circa March 1993 with commercials and the sign-off, followed by Simon & Simon off ATV from 1993 with very few commercials. My second furthest find of Canadian footage from the border itself.

TAPE 3: Begins with several minutes from an episode of Charlie Rose, followed by part of the late night rebroadcast of the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Asia Now, followed by a sign-off, then a 4 1/2 hour off-air segment, then a sign-on, followed by the first 15 minutes of Kidsongs off WETA/PBS on 7/25-26/94 with promos. Too bad there wasn't any overnight news service on PBS at the time, but its still my first ever find of a station going off the air and then signing on. The label said "Ilana +Boys 1985 + Redskins Superbowl", meaning that this was taped over at some point perhaps by both family movies and either Super Bowl XXII and XXVI, but I've already got the last two already.

TAPE 4: Miracle-Ear's 15-minute Hearing Loss & You video brochure from 1994 (or possibly 1995 as the outside cover date says). One of those "call for your free videos!"

TAPE 5: The Step (AKA "Introduction To Step Training" by Sports Step Inc.) workout video from 1989). This isn't online in full currently, but its a nice 32-minute piece of fitness nostalgia right as the aerobics period was waning and this next wave was beginning.

TAPE 6: Definitely the pick of the bunch, with the label stating "Cheers Season Finale (Do Not Erase)". It turns out to be most of the 10th season finale from 5/14/1992 with commercials (begins a couple minutes after the first commercial break), followed by LA Law bar the closing from that same night off WRC/NBC with commercials, then it jumps to the intro to a Redskins postgame show circa 1990, then it jumps back to the last 20 minutes of the Arch Campbell Show from 1/4/1986 off WRC with commercials, including a promo for It's Academic. I've previously founded another Arch Campbell episode several years ago, and this one even includes a little bit of the then-trendy Go-Go Scene in the DC region (the term "DMV" was still decades away).

There were also several rental duds mixed in, including one E-240 PAL-recorded tape of The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. The seller mentioned that these came from someone else and that she has more blank tapes that she personally recorded and may also send out later. I also passed on the F.A.T. City: How Difficult Can It Be? 1989 educational video that's already online.

I've got a huge lot coming sometime next week out of Beverly Hills, with lots of labels indicating a wide array of ranges, from mid-80s TDKs to early '00s Sonys pictured, so who knows if there could be some rare shows given that these are coming from a celebrity mecca? Just stay tuned, and it will come in handy for these very cold days ahead.

That said, to Scott and anyone else reading this, NEVER pass up any quadruplex tapes you may come across. Sure, this could mean as little as promos for a movie that they're syndicating, but those tapes with the network written on them surely mean they were meant for broadcast, even if it isn't clear what it may be that's on them.
 
"ASN" was/is the Atlantic Canada cable channel. ATV was the branding for CTV Atlantic prior to the late '90s. That was probably taped off CKLT-TV in St John NB (formerly analog 9), which was carried in several Maine communities on cable, given the very weak signal from WENH earlier on the tape.
I had a Select Comfort 'free video' tape and have digitized it. Cheap tape, cheap EP speed.
 
For me, the oldest cable recording I found was HBO from 4/7/1979, with about 15 minutes of promos after a movie along with the first couple minutes of Sports Scene. Keep in mind this was five months before ESPN went on the air, so it was viable for HBO to include a sports department. Speaking of which, my oldest non-subscription cable find was a seven minute snippet of SportsCenter from 1/14/1982, and the commercial break was all promos and no third-party sponsors. Regarding other notable cable networks, my earliest find off (W)TBS was from part of a movie from 3/15/1982 with two commercial breaks intact, although I once found a Beta tape with snowy B&W video quality of a WTBS recording circa 1980, with the "Channel 17 Atlanta" bug present. My earliest find off the USA network was a tennis event from 4/3/1982, featuring partial coverage of the Citizen Cup Semifinals, my earliest MTV find dates from just before Christmas 1982, and my earliest Nickelodeon find is from a circa 1984 broadcast of You Can't Do That On Television based on the brief snippet of the bumper visible, albeit with the commercials zapped. As it turns out, 1982 was definitely the year cable TV truly came of age, as TV Guide would introduce or expand its cable TV listings that year and many newspapers also introduced a section.

After checking that huge lot of 90 tapes from southern California, it turns out that it was another one of those lots where the picture present on eBay wasn't necessarily the tapes you'll receive, and I was a bit bummed out that there weren't any of the '80s TDK labels present. I was also disappointed that there were literally THIRTEEN copies of the exact same tape: a nine-minute corporate presentation video of Kathy Ireland, Inc. from 2003. There were also tapes ranging from a couple tapes with Lamps Plus ads from 2002-03, a couple of corporate meetings from the early 2000s, a tape with a family reunion in a mundane setting, tapes with news snippets from a local LA station lasting just a few minutes with the rest of the tape blank, a tape recorded off Playboy in 1997, and of course the usual rental/pay TV duds. But there were still a number of finds, including several tapes with Batman: The Animated Series episodes with commercials from 1992-93 that I had previously found in a lot from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last year that I have yet to convert, although I did save one tape that included the Making of Batman Returns special off KCBS from 1992 with the commercials intact. These were recorded off KTTV so some of the ads are different, but I'm placing those in the sell pile since I prefer keeping smaller markets (if it isn't my home market), and these were in SP mode instead of EP, so there weren't as many episodes. I also found several tapes recorded off Cartoon Network in the early-mid 2000s with ads (I don't collect material made past 1999, but Zillenials/Gen Z would likely enjoy these) taken of shows ranging from Sylvester & Tweety reruns, Dexter's Laboratory, as well as a couple tapes with Adult Swim shows.

I won't list every find like I do, but keepers ranged from several first season episodes of Animaniacs from December 1993/January 1994 off KTTV with commercials, 90 minutes of footage off C-SPAN II from 1989 with DC Mayor Marion Barry discussing about drugs and violence in Washington which was partially taped over by an air show in Van Nuys, CA from that same year and ended up being my only find from the 1980s in that lot despite SoCal being an early adopter of the VCR, six episodes of Pokémon from November/December 1999 with commercials off KTLA, including the Viridian City badge episode and first two episodes of the Indigo League tournament, an edited, 30-minutes broadcast of the Dick Cavett Show from 1971 with John Lennon and Yoko Ono off VH1 in June 1996 with commercials, over three hours worth of coverage form the PGA's 1997 Nissan Open off USA and CBS from 1997 with ads, the NBC News special Tycoon along with the KNBC 11 PM News from 5/26/1995 with commercials, and episode of Babylon 5 off KCOP from April 1995 with ads that also included my earliest find off the Sci-Fi channel, a broadcast of the 1981 movie Scanners from also around April 1995, two parts of the Dinosaur documentary series hosted by Walter Cronkite off A&E in September 1991 with commercials (early '80s tape stock with the "Tested and inspected for quality" notice), two tapes with an episode of Wings off The Discovery Channel in early 1990 with ads, and most of Donahue along with the first several minutes of the KNBC 5 PM News from 12/26/1990 with commercials.

Surprisingly, no sitcom episodes were found outside of a few closing segments prior to those cartoon finds despite the seller being located near those studios, and the lack of music and game show finds were also a bit disappointing despite being in the loop, but I'll just take what I can, and I've got another free lot of tapes from DC coming this week.
 
Oldest cable find here (with promos/ads) is a Muppet Movie recording from Showtime in May 1981. A partial clip of Week in Review from June 1983 marks my oldest from WTBS so far. I've only gotten as old as 1986 on WGN, 1985 on USA Network (and that was a brief clip), and 1984 for ESPN (with the old oval logo). But I have found 1983-84 Disney Channel more than once, and they all came from the same estate sale lot in 2017 that brought the 10/26/1979 KAPP broadcast of 'The Bible: In the Beginning' and part of the 11PM Actionews. That recording is still my oldest Yakima find.

Busy with life, but converting tapes as I go. Currently going through another Ellensburg tape from the October 2023 extravaganza. Has the Law & Order season finale taped off KNDO/NBC on 5/18/2000 with commercials. It also has "Mr. Magoo" from Disney (5/26/00) which I already have, classic Zoog era with lots of promos and music videos. Someday I will make a final list of those tapes, plus the other ones I found in Selah the week after. I have about 80 tapes from that Ellensburg lot, which included those early/mid-1979 recordings from Spokane that I have already mentioned. Found my oldest CBN find just recently - a late night broadcast of 'Nothing Sacred' (1937) with Fredric March, taped 10/12/1985 with commercials, just about all of them were 800 numbers, and very cheap/sleazy quality.
 
pannoni1 said:
my oldest non-subscription cable find
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Isn’t all cable, by its very nature, a subscription service?🧐🤣 (Couldn’t resist, I know what you mean.😉)
pannoni1 said:
I once found a Beta tape with snowy B&W video quality of a WTBS recording circa 1980, with the "Channel 17 Atlanta" bug present.
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Are you sure it wasn’t actually from the WTCG days? I don’t think the “17” bug was ever used after the change to WTBS in 1979, unless the tape was recorded OTA in Atlanta itself.

A “17” or “Super 17” bug was common during the WTCG incarnation, along with local Atlanta commercials on the cable feed.
 
After a bit of a delay, I finally came across more free tapes from the same DC Craigslist seller. 11 tapes were found in all, I kept the four tapes with pre-2000 content. Not much too extraordinary, but you can't complain when these are free, especially given that these will become increasingly harder to come by (and probably more expensive on secondary selling sites) as the years pass.

TAPE 1: At The Mercy Of A Stranger (1999), The CBS Wednesday Movie recorded off WUSA on 11/3/1999 with commercials, followed by about half of the CBS Sunday Movie Any A Bell off WUSA on 10/31/1999 with commercials, then it jumps to most of Antiques Roadshow (from College Park, MD) and the American Masters special on Hitchcok, Setznick, & The End Of Hollywood off WETA/PBS on 11/1/1999 with promos between the shows, followed by a Jack Lemmon Documentary and Newsnight Maryland from the same night off WMPT with promos between the programs. Late '90s FUJI T-120 in EP.

TAPE 2: ABC's Wide World Of Sports coverage of the Sudafed Skate America International Championships off WJLA on 11/19/1995 with commercials, followed by most of a certain movie off The Disney Channel circa January 1996 with no promos, then it continues on with coverage of the US Figure Skating Championships off WJLA/ABC on 1/20/1996 with most commercials. Mid-'90s FUJI T-120 in EP.

TAPE 3: Skates Of Gold off WJLA/ABC on 11/16/1995 with commercials, followed by Murder One from the same station on the same night with ads. Early '90s FUJI T-160 in EP (what a waste as more than half of this tape is blank)

TAPE 4: Features the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships exhibition performances off WJLA/ABC on 4/13/1996 with commercials, followed up by another movie off The Disney Channel with no promos. Mid-'90s TDK T-120 in EP mode.

Last week, I checked out a lot of 59 Beta tapes from a seller from Cleveland. As it turns out, NONE of the tapes I searched were from the Cleveland market and tended to focus along various points along the I-65 corridor from Indianapolis down to Mobile/Pensacola, along with a couple finds from the Champaign-Urbana, IL markets. Another 17 were kept and I also happened to return a little over half of them and I just got a partial refund from the purchase, partially due to some quality issues (mold, brittle tape that snaps easily) on quite a number of them, and I ended up manually opening up several of these tapes to get the mold off or to restore the track. That southern humidity in an uncontrolled environment can really hurt the quality of these.

TAPE 1: Rocky II (1979) off WTKI/CBS on 12/17/1983 with commercials, followed by the network television premiere of Star Wars off WTIKI/CBS on 2/26/1984 with no commercials, although the pre-movie special intro and part of the post-movie featurettes were intact. 1982-83 Sony L-830

TAPE 2: Pete's Dragon (1977) copies off a rental, followed by How The Grinch Stole Christmas taped off WTVF/CBS on 12/5/1984 with commercials. Mid-80s Scotch L-750

TAPE 3: An amateur recording of a live performance of the Hoosierette Chapter of the Sweet Adelines in a "Vaudeville Daze" performance from 8/11/1984. As you may expect, the cast was mostly over 40. Mid-80s Maxell L-750.

TAPE 4: Features an unknown movie copied off a rental (credits were mostly missing), then it cuts over for a religious message and sign-off off WCIA circa 1983, then it cuts over for most of Frosty The Snowman off WISH/CBS on 12/7/1985 with commercials, then it cuts back for about the first ten minutes of a WCIA 10 PM newscast from November 1983 with a few commercials. 1982-83 Sony L-750.

TAPE 5: Starman (1984) copied off a rental, then about 35 minutes worth of coverage from NBC's Today Show from 6/24/1985 off WSMV with commercials and a local newsbreak. Mid-80s Sony L-750

TAPE 6: Another rental movie that I can't recall at this time, then it jumps over for most of the WTBS Movie Matinee of The Incredible Mr. Limpet on 7/4/1985 with commercials. Mid-80s Scotch L-750

TAPE 7: Begins with rental copies of Fame (1980) and Knute Rockne- All American (194), followed by Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown and the opening credits to the unsold pilot Rita off WISH/CBS on 8/13/1986 with commercials. Mid-80s Polaroid L-750

TAPE 8: Begins with a "West Side Story" session feature as written on the label off an unknown station with no commercials, followed by Taps (1981) copied off a rental, followed by most of the premiere of Matlock off WAVE/NBC on 9/23/1986 with commercials. Maxell L-750 EX circa 1986

TAPE 9: Ordinary People (1980) and a Miles Davis concert recorded off an unknown pay TV network, followed by most of The Jazz Singer (1980) recorded off WDBR in October 1986 with commercials. Mid-80s Scotch L-750

TAPE 10: My pick of the lot, this kicks off with a full episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show from 11/18/1986 off WCIA with commercials, then it continues with another early episode of Oprah, a syndicated rerun of Magnum, P.I., the WCIA 5 PM News, and about the first 20 minutes of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather on 11/10/1986 with commercials. Mid-80s Polaroid L-750.

TAPE 11: Both parts of the Elvis and Me mini-series off WBKO/ABC on 2/7 and 2/8/1988 with commercials, with an ABC News special on the Iowa Caucus along with the first eight minutes of the WBKO 10 PM News following part two of the afformentioned mini-series. Nice to find a piece of a newscast from the Bowling Green, KY market. Mid-80s Scotch L-750

TAPE 12: The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) along with most of an episode of Perry Mason recorded off TBS on 5/2/1989 with commercials. Kodak L-750

TAPE 13: Begins with Dirty Dancing (1987) off WKRG/CBS on 2/9/1991 with commercials, then it jumps back for about the first 20 minutes of the WKRG 10 PM News on 1/15/1991 with some commercials, followed by over two hours worth of commercial-free primetime pre-empted footage of the Gulf War from CBS News from 1/16/1991. Late '80s Sony L-750 (The label said "Cartoons", but they were all taped over)

TAPE 14: Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) copied off a rental, followed by most of Life Goes On and about the first ten minutes of a rerun of the second season premiere of America's Funniest Home Videos off WBKO/ABC on 3/3/1991 with commercials. Unfortunately, the tape snapped near the beginning of Life Goes On, but that show seems to be hard to find despite airing for four years (it competed directly against 60 Minutes, so there's that) Mid-80s Scotch L-750

TAPE 15: Fatal Attraction (1987) copied from a rental, followed by part one of the CBS miniseries Unidentified Flying Bluegrass along with about the first 20 minutes of the WKRG 10 PM News on 5/26/1991 with commercials. Late '80s Polaroid L-750

TAPE 16: Begins with Murder In New Hampshire: The Pamela Smart Story recorded presumably off WALA/CBS on 9/24/1991 with no commercials, followed by the seasonal specials Frosty The Snowman and A Wish For Wings off WALA/CBS on 12/18/1991 with commercials, followed by Jake And The Fatman and part of the WALA 10 PM News off WALA/CBS on 10/7/1991 with commercials. Memorex L-750

TAPE 17: Caddyshack II (1988), The Commish, and about the first ten minutes of the WBKO 10 PM News off WBKO/ABC on 5/9/1992 with commercials. Unfortunately, the worn tape snapped shortly into The Commish as well as during the intro to the 10 PM News, and the tape wear leads to dropouts at times, but you still can't afford to miss another small market find. Mid-80s Scotch L-750.

I also purchased a lot of 10 Beta tapes earlier this week with very old tape stock that was part of a collection of about ten different lots from the same eBay seller, nykc vintage. It was another one of those diamond in the rough finds, and even that was somewhat limited: a 20-minute portion of The Tonight Show from 9/11/1978 with George Carlin guest hosting and Joe Garagiola and the band Travis & Shook featured, with a partial commercial break and a promo bumper intact. The rest were a mix of TV movies, miniseries, and network TV premiere movies with all the commercials sadly zapped, so I decided to return this lot, but I did dub that episode of the Tonight Show, my earliest find of NBC's late night extravaganza by three years, and unlikely to appear on Pluto's classic variety TV channel since it doesn't feature Johnny.

I'll probably be selling some of my tapes on eBay soon to take advantage of this still slow season before the spring yard sale rush really hits.
 
pannoni1 said:
TAPE 1: Rocky II (1979) off WTKI/CBS on 12/17/1983 with commercials, followed by the network television premiere of Star Wars off WTIKI/CBS on 2/26/1984 with no commercials, although the pre-movie special intro and part of the post-movie featurettes were intact. 1982-83 Sony L-830

TAPE 9: Ordinary People (1980) and a Miles Davis concert recorded off an unknown pay TV network, followed by most of The Jazz Singer (1980) recorded off WDBR in October 1986 with commercials. Mid-80s Scotch L-750
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I am guessing that you meant WTKR & WDRB?
 
I'll take the small market finds any day. A newscast from Bowling Green is much rarer than a newscast from Nashville, especially since Vanderbilt keeps the network archives. Sounds like a military relocation family to me, given the various markets represented over just a few years' time.
 
First finds of 2024 come from an estate sale in Selah yesterday.

Tape 1 - 'Mr. Baseball' (1992) taped off KSAZ/Fox 10 Phoenix on 7/2/1996 with commercials. TDK T-120 in SP
Tape 2 - 'Sphere' (1998), 'City of Angels' (1998) and 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' (1997) taped off HBO on 4/17/1999, but the promos originated at Cox Communications as it was their free preview weekend. Fuji T-120
Tape 3 - 'Family Business' (1989) taped off HBO on 12/2/1990 with promos after the movie. Kodak T-120 in SP

I have so many tapes to go through from last year (especially that crazy Ellensburg sale in October with the early-mid 1979 finds), it will be months before I can get a final inventory of what I have.
 
Do you ever find any screener VHS tapes (promotional videotapes movie studios put out in advance of new releases with the movie and promotional material on them)?
 
Yes, I do once in a while. I found a For Your Consideration tape a few years ago, but I can't remember which film it was...it's in storage. One of my favorite screener finds is the CBS/Fox 'Edward Scissorhands' preview tape, which has a lot of promotional material at the start for the video stores, including standees and posters.
I rarely pick up retail tapes anymore, except for the early Magnetic releases and rare horror films, mainly for resale. Last year I found the Magnetic release of "M*A*S*H" (1970) at an estate sale, copyrighted 1978 (which makes it a 2nd printing as it was one of the 50 initial Magnetic releases in 1977).
 
Haven't done an update on my VHS finds as of late. I went through all of the 56-tape eBay lot from Sebring, Ohio. Not the greatest content-wise, but some gems were found here and there. Most of these were recorded in the New York City market, with a few being from Youngstown and Canton.

TAPE 1: Twelve episodes of Knock It off taped from WABC-DT2 in 2014 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 2: Several episodes of Home with Lisa Quinn taped from WABC-DT2 in 2013, most without commercials, only one episode had them. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 3: The War Next Door, Manhattan AZ, La Femme Nikita, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and another episode of La Femme Nikita taped from USA on August 20-21, 2000 with commercials; Rankin File, Porn to Rock and VH1 Confidential taped from VH1 in August 2000 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 4: Home for the Holidays (1995), Holiday Inn (1942), The Pink Panther in a Pink Christmas and Consuming Passions (1988) taped from WPIX-DT3 in December 2011 with commercials; pilot episode of Celebrity Wife Swap and partial broadcast of Eyewitness News at 11 taped from WABC on 1/2/2012 with commercials. Maxell T-160.

TAPE 5: End of Family Guy, Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill taped from WPIX on 4/28/2008 with commercials; end of Family Guy, Beauty and the Geek and Reaper taped from WPIX on 4/29/2008 with commercials; America's Next Top Model, pilot episode of Farmer Wants a Wife and start of CW 11 News at Ten taped from WPIX on 4/30/2008 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 6: Jeopardy taped from WYTV in Youngstown in December 1984 with commercials; partial recording of Zapped (1982) copied from rental tape; Police Academy (1984) copied from rental tape; Cannery Row (1982) copied from rental tape. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 7: JAG, La Femme Nikita, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, another episode of La Femme Nikita, two Professional Education Institute infomercials with Carleton Sheets, Select Comfort infomercial, Making Money Secrets infomercial and partial Ronco Showtime Rotisserie and BBQ infomercial taped from USA on January 2-3, 2000 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 8: Unforgettable taped from WCBS on April 4 and 11, 2014 with commercials; Criminal Minds, 48 Hours, CBS 2 News at 11, CSI: Miami (syndicated) and partial episode of Criminal Minds (syndicated) taped from WCBS on April 19-20, 2014 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 9: Twelve full episodes and one partial episode of Knock It Off taped from WABC-DT2 in September and October 2013 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 10: End of America's Funniest Home Videos, three episodes of Revenge and start of Eyewitness News at 11 taped from WABC on 12/28/2014 with commercials; Forever taped from WABC on 2/3/2015 with commercials--have not finished watching this one due to deteriorating tape quality starting about 20 minutes into the episode. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 11: What Lies Beneath (2000) taped from HBO circa 2002; Devil in the Flesh 2, Oz season finale and partial broadcast of Dennis Miller Live taped from HBO on 2/24/2002 with promos. Sony T-120.

TAPE 12: End of To Catch a Predator, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit taped from WNBC on 2/20/2007 with commercials; Friday Night Lights, Deal or No Deal and Medium taped from WNBC on 2/21/2007 with commercials; end of The Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock and ER taped from WNBC on 2/22/2007 with commercials; end of Rules of Engagement and CSI: Miami taped from WCBS on 3/26/2007 with commercials. Fuji T-160.

TAPE 13: The Thin Man (1934), Zhivago: Behind the Camera with David Lean (1965), Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Nostradamus Says So (1953) and 100 Years at the Movies (1994) taped from TCM in October 2003 with promos; partial episode of Blind Date, EX-treme Dating, The 5th Wheel, another episode of EX-treme Dating and partial Ab King Pro infomercial taped from WWOR on 10/11/2003 with commercials. Fuji T-160.

TAPE 14: Elementary (encore presentation of the pilot episode) and two broadcasts of 48 Hours taped from WCBS on 11/17/2012 with commercials; Made in Jersey, NCIS and 48 Hours taped from WCBS on 11/24/2012 with commercials; partial episode of The Amazing Race taped from WCBS on 11/25/2012 with commercials. Maxell T-120 (appears to have taped over some Spanish programming on Telefutura).

TAPE 15: WCW Thunder taped from TBS Superstation in July 2000 with commercials; WCW Thunder taped from TBS Superstation on 8/23/2000 with commercials; partial broadcast of Hardball with Chris Matthews taped from CNBC on 8/30/2000 minus commercials; Rivera Live and most of The News with Brian Williams (Forrest Sawyer substitutes) taped from CNBC on 8/30/2000 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 16: Nova taped from WNET on 10/28/2003 with promos; partial episode of Nova taped from WNET on 11/4/2003; partial episode of Independent Lens taped from WNET on 10/28/2003. TDK T-120.

TAPE 17: Silk Stalkings taped from USA in June 2000 with commercials; partial broadcast of Theodore Rex (1995) and two episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. taped from TNT in June 2000 with commercials; Matt Houston taped from TNN in June 2000 with commercials; Moonlighting taped from Bravo in June 2000 with commercials; end of Friends or Lovers and episode of JAG taped from USA in June 2000 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 18: Mystery and The Woman Who Married Clark Gable taped from WNET in January 1995 with promos; The Firm (1993) taped from HBO in January 1995 with promos; Mystery and Messengers from Moscow taped from WNET in January 1995 with promos; New York: The Way It Was taped from WNET in January 1995 with promos. SKC T-160.

TAPE 19: Viper, Pacific Blue and JAG taped from USA on 11/12/1999 with commercials; Baywatch, Pacific Blue and JAG taped from USA on 11/15/1999 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 20: Home with Lisa Quinn taped from WABC-DT2 in September 2013 minus commercials; Knock It Off, Mirror Mirror and Steven and Chris taped from WABC-DT2 in September 2013 with commercials; four more episodes of Knock It Off taped from WABC-DT2 in September 2013 with commercials; Knock It Off, Mirror Mirror and most of Steven and Chris taped from WABC-DT2 in September 2013 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

Continuing in another post due to the character limit.
 
TAPE 21: Three episodes of Knock It Off taped from WABC-DT2 in September 2014 with commercials; end of News 4 New York at 11, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (with special guest Barbra Streisand) and Late Night with Seth Meyers taped from WNBC on September 15-16, 2014 with commercials; four more full episodes and one partial episode of Knock It Off taped from WABC-DT2 in September 2014 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 22: Three episodes of Chicago Fire taped from WNBC on 12/30/2014 with commercials; The Mysteries of Laura, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Chicago PD and first few minutes of News 4 New York at 11 taped from WNBC on 1/7/2015 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 23: Buffy the Vampire Slayer season premiere (the first episode on UPN!) and start of UPN 9 News at Ten taped from WWOR on 10/2/2001 with commercials; two episodes of Howard Stern (Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker are guests on the first episode) and episode of Wild On taped from E! on October 2-3, 2001 with commercials; two episodes of Howard Stern and episode of Wild On taped from E! on October 3-4, 2001 with commercials; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World and Psi Factor taped from TNT in October 2001 with commercials. Fuji T-160.

TAPE 24: Mixed Nuts (1994), Easy Money (1983), encore presentation of Mixed Nuts and encore presentation of Easy Money taped from WPIX-DT3 on December 31, 2012-January 1, 2013 with commercials. Fuji T-120.

TAPE 25: Praise the Lord taped from WDLI in Canton in April 1993 with promos; The Karate Kid (1984) taped from unknown premium channel in April 1993; two broadcasts of This Is Your Day taped from WDLI in April 1993; This Is Your Day and Praise the Lord taped from WDLI in April 1993 with promos; two more broadcasts of This Is Your Day taped from WDLI in April 1993; partial broadcast of Praise the Lord taped from WDLI in April 1993. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 26: Several episodes of Home with Lisa Quinn taped from WABC-DT2 in 2012, some with commercials and some without; also in the mix is the end of an episode of Animal Atlas and an episode of Mystery Hunters taped from WABC-DT2 in 2012 with commercials. Kodak T-120.

TAPE 27: More Live Well Network programs--Knock It Off (multiple episodes); Home with Lisa Quinn (multiple episodes), partial episode of Steven and Chris and two incomplete infomercials (Wen Hair Care and Tommie Copper) taped from WABC-DT2 in August 2013 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 28: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Goldbergs, Trophy Wife and Resurrection taped from WABC on April 1 and 8, 2014 with commercials, the latter prime time block ends with the start of Eyewitness News at 11:00. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 29: Cold Case and CSI: Miami taped from WCBS on 2/5/2006 with commercials; CSI: Miami taped from WCBS on 2/6/2006 with commercials; NCIS, Criminal Minds and Love Monkey taped from WCBS on 2/7/2006 with commercials; One Tree Hill, Beauty and the Geek and start of WB 11 News at Ten taped from WPIX on 2/8/2006 with commercials. Fuji T-160.

TAPE 30: Top of the World (1997), Six-Pack Annie (1975) and an episode of The Pink Panther taped from WPIX-DT3 in December 2012 with commercials. JVC T-120, all of this taped over some older Spanish programs.

TAPE 31: Several more episodes of Home with Lisa Quinn taped from WABC-DT2 in January 2013, some with commercials and some without, also includes an episode of Mystery Hunters taped from WABC-DT2 in January 2013 minus commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 32: WWF Sunday Night Heat, G vs. E, Pacific Blue, La Femme Nikita, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, another episode of La Femme Nikita and partial Kolbe's Pure Instinct infomercial taped from USA on October 3-4, 1999 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 33: Several more episodes of Knock It Off and Home with Lisa Quinn taped from WABC-DT2 in September 2013, some with commercials, some without. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 34: Partial episode of The Untouchables and partial episode of Dog tales taped from WCBS-DT2 in 2015 with commercials; five full episodes and one partial episode of The Untouchables taped from WCBS-DT2 in 2015 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 35: Criminal Minds and Extant taped from WCBS on 8/13/2014 with commercials; Criminal Minds and pilot episode of Stalker taped from WCBS on 10/1/2014 with commercials; Criminal Minds, Stalker and start of CBS 2 News at 11 taped from WCBS on 10/29/2014 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 36: The Mysteries of Laura, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Chicago PD taped from WNBC on 10/29/2014 and 12/10/2014 with commercials, the latter block ends with the first few minutes of News 4 New York at 11. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 37: Partial broadcast of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (special hour-long broadcast on the death of Nelson Mandela), Access Hollywood, The Sound of Music Live (I recorded the encore presentation of this on DVD from WKYC a few days later), News 4 New York at 11, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and partial broadcast of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon taped from WNBC on December 5-6, 2013 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 38: End of Better Off Ted and episode of Lost taped from WABC on 1/26/2010 with commercials; Castle taped from WABC on 2/1/2010 with commercials; two episodes of Lost taped from WABC on 2/2/2010 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 39: The Celebrity Apprentice and State of Affairs taped from WNBC on 1/26/2015 with commercials; The Celebrity Apprentice, State of Affairs and start of News 4 New York at 11 taped from WNBC on 2/2/2015 with commercials; partial episode of Parks and Recreation taped from WNBC on 2/3/2015 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 40: Two episodes of Bones taped from WNYW on 1/1/2015 with commercials; pilot episode of Backstrom taped from WNYW on 1/22/2015 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 41: End of Soul Train, The Twilight Zone (UPN version), two syndicated episodes of Smallville and start of Mets Preview Special taped from WPIX on 4/1/2006 with commercials; S.S. Doomtrooper (made-for-TV movie), Dog Soldiers (2002) and partial encore presentation of S.S. Doomtrooper taped from the Sci-Fi Channel on April 1-2, 2006 with commercials. Fuji T-160.

Found some more tapes locally at estate sales as well, which I'll get to in another post.
 


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