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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

Haven't updated my findings in a while. First here's what I found from that online lot from Goshen, Indiana. Local content found here is from Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, Lansing and South Bend.
TAPE 1: Most of an episode of Donahue taped from WWMT in March 1996 with commercials; partial Secrets to Making Money Now infomercial, AutoBike Classic infomercial and partial Secrets to Making Money Now infomercial (different one) taped from Mind Extension University in March 1996 with commercials; partial episode of Sisters and partial episode of Our Home taped from Lifetime on 3/5/1996 with commercials; Due South, Diagnosis Murder, Walker: Behind the Scenes with TV's Toughest Hero, News 3 at 11:00, Late Show with David Letterman and partial broadcast of The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder taped from WMMT on March 8-9, 1996 with commercials. Sony T-160.

TAPE 2: The Ed Sullivan All Star Comedy Special taped from the Family Channel in February 1996 with commercials; partial broadcast of New Visions of the Future: Prophecies III and partial episode of Law & Order taped from WOOD on 2/28/1996 with commercials; partial episode of Our Home taped from Lifetime in March 1996 minus commercials; partial episode of Biggers & Summers taped from Lifetime in March 1996 with commercials; tape then reverts back to the remainder of Law & Order and News 8 at 11:00 on WOOD on 2/28/1996 with commercials. Sony T-160.

TAPE 3: Denise Austin Fit & Lite and Denise Austin Daily Workout taped from Lifetime on 2/20/2006, 2/21/2006, 2/22/2006, 2/27/2006, 2/28/2006 and 3/3/2006 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 4: The Quick and the Dead (1987) taped from HBO in February 1998; Boomerang (1992) taped from HBO in February 1998; Waiting to Exhale (1995) and partial broadcast of Shelter (????) taped from HBO in February 1998 with promos. Kodak T-120.

TAPE 5: Beauty and the Beast (1991) copied from rental tape with opening previews included; partial episode of As the World Turns, Guiding Light, Oprah (decline of privacy in America), Donahue (death penalty debate) and News 3 at 6 taped from WMMT on 11/16/1992 with commercials, starting a few minutes into the local newscast is a lot of channel flipping from the second VCR used to copy the movie, going through stations in Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo, Lansing and South Bend with variable reception--lot of local news and national news obviously but also shows like Who's the Boss on WXMI and Night Court on WSYM, tape runs out a few minutes into Entertainment Tonight on WOOD. Polaroid T-120.

TAPE 6: The Sewing Connection with Shirley Adams, Sewing with Nancy, Quilt in a Day, The Embroidery Studio and Martha's Sewing Room taped from WNIT in September 1995 with promos; partial episode of Sesame Street, Shining Time Station, Your Organic Garden, The New Garden, Preschool Power, The Victory Garden and partial episode of Across Indiana taped from WNIT in September 1995 with promos. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 7: Rose Hill (1997 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie); Follow the Stars Home (2001 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie) and The Long Shot (2004 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie) taped from the Hallmark Channel on 4/1/2006 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 8: Partial episode of The Maury Povich Show, A Current Affair, Lansing Live, News Center 6 at Six, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, Entertainment Tonight, Hard Copy, Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, Mickey's Christmas Carol and partial broadcast of 48 Hours ("Behind the Seams") taped from WLNS on 12/21/1995 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 9: Partial episode of Our Home taped from Lifetime in April 1996 with commercials; partial broadcast of the 31st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards taped from WNDU (presumably) on 4/24/1996 minus commercials; partial episode of Martha's Sewing Room, Sewing with Nancy and Quilting for the '90s taped from WNIT in April 1996 with promos; another clip from the 31st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards taped from WNDU(?) on 4/24/1996; partial episode of Sew Creative with Donna Wilder taped from WNIT in April 1996; partial episode of Painting on Location with Bob Fagan taped from WNIT in April 1996; Crafts & Co., Gardening Naturally, Homebodies, The Home Pro and partial episode of Furniture on the Mend taped from TLC in April 1996 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 10: Partial broadcast of Disney's Greatest Hits on Ice, 48 Hours ("The Rage Over Welfare"), News Center 6 Nightcast, Late Show with David Letterman, The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder, Murphy Brown (syndicated) and partial broadcast of HSC Spree taped from WLNS on December 28-29, 1995 with commercials. Sony T-120, variable aerial signal.

TAPE 11: Off Season (2001 Showtime made-for-TV movie) and partial broadcast of A Carol Christmas (2003 Hallmark Hall of Fame movie) taped from the Hallmark Channel on 12/3/2006 with commercials; A Christmas Visitor (2002 made-for-TV movie) taped from the Hallmark Channel on 12/8/2006 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 12: Primal Fear (1996) and Sweet Nothing (1995) taped from HBO in January 1998 with promos; Dear God (1996) and partial broadcast of The Star Chamber (1983) taped from HBO in January 1998 with promos. Scotch T-120.

TAPE 13: End of Walker Texas Ranger, Meet the Santas (made-for-TV movie) and start of M*A*S*H taped from the Hallmark Channel on 12/17/2005 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 14: Sewing with Nancy, Quilting for the '90s, Strip Quilting with Kaye Wood and Sew Creative with Donna Wilder taped from WNIT on 4/3/1996 with promos; Handmade by Design taped from Lifetime in April 1996 with commercials; Home Matters, Start to Finish and Easy Does It taped from the Discovery Channel in April 1996 with commercials; Crafts & Co., Gardening Naturally, Homebodies, The Home Pro and partial episode of Furniture to Go taped from TLC in April 1996 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 15: Dennis Miller Live, HBO Comedy Half-Hour, Sudden Impact (1983), Inside the NFL, Whispers in the Dark (1992) and partial broadcast of Painted Hero (1996) taped from HBO on January 23-24, 1998 with promos. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 16: Learn to Play the Piano Lessons 1-4 copied from retail tapes; Super Dave: Daredevil for Hire, Fast Forward (local family movie review show) and partial episode of Harry and the Hendersons taped from WXMI in November 1992 with commercials, poor aerial signal. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 17: The Angel Doll (2002 made-for-TV movie) taped from Lifetime in December 2004 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120.

TAPE 18: The Sewing Connection with Shirley Adams, Sewing with Nancy, Quilting for the '90s, Strip Quilting with Kaye Wood and Sew Creative with Donna Wilder taped from WNIT in February 1996, no promos in between; end of Due South and partial episode of Diagnosis Murder taped from WWMT on 1/19/1996 with commercials; Of Mice and Men (1939) and most of The Hustler (1961) taped from AMC in February 1996 with promos. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 19: Down Periscope (1996) taped from HBO2 in January 1998; The Sweeper (1996) taped from HBO2 in January 1998; Executive Decision (1996) and partial broadcast of Drive (????) taped from HBO2 in January 1998 with promos. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 20: A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) taped from WGN on 12/28/1997 with commercials; ABC Sunday Night Movie presentation of I Love Trouble (1994) taped from WOTV on 12/28/1997 with commercials; Ghost Dad (1990) and partial episode of USA High taped from USA on 12/31/1997 with commercials; partial broadcast of Normal Life (1996) and partial broadcast of Mean Guns (1997) taped from HBO2 in December 1997 with promos. Sony T-160.

TAPE 21: Partial episode of The Sewing Connection with Shirley Adams, Sewing with Nancy, Quilt in a Day, The Embroidery Studio and Martha's Sewing Room taped from WNIT in September 1995 with promos. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 22: Aleene's Creative Living taped from TNN in March 1996 minus most commercials; Crafts & Co. taped from TLC in March 1996 minus most commercials; The Embroidery Studio taped from WKAR in March 1996; Quilting for the '90s taped from WKAR in March 1996, has a technical difficulties slide at the end; The Urban Peasant, Crafts & Co., Gardening Naturally and partial episode of Homebodies taped from TLC in March 1996 with commercials; Growing Up Funny taped from Lifetime on 4/20/1996 with commercials; Start to Finish and Easy Does It taped from the Discovery Channel in April 1996 minus commercials; Crafts & Co. and partial episode of Gardening Naturally taped from TLC in April 1996 minus most commercials. Maxell T-120.
 
Also found some tapes at an estate sale in Fairlawn, Ohio.
TAPE 1: Dancing with the Stars taped from WEWS on 9/16/2013 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 2: Dancing with the Stars taped from WEWS on 9/23/2013 with commercials; clip from News Channel 5 at 11 taped from WEWS circa 2011; partial episode of Dancing with the Stars and partial episode of Castle taped from WEWS on 9/26/2011 with commercials. Sony T-160.

TAPE 3: Parts one and two of The Men Who Killed Kennedy taped from the History Channel in October 2002 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 4: Parts three, four, five and six of The Men Who Killed, Kennedy, Dangerous Missions and one full episode and one partial episode of Heavy Metal taped from the History Channel in October 2002 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 5: Star Movie presentation of It's a Wonderful Life (1946) taped from WUAB in December 1986 with commercials; NBC Sunday Night Movie presentation of Trading Places (1983) taped from WKYC on 4/5/1987 minus commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 6: Clip from 20/20 taped from WEWS circa 1997; Buried Alive II (USA made-for-TV movie) and partial episode of Wings taped from USA on 2/4/1997 with commercials; partial broadcast of Super Bowl XXXI and partial episode of The X-Files taped from WJW on 1/26/1997 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 7: The Christmas List (1997 Family Channel made-for-TV movie) taped from ABC Family on 11/28/2008 minus most commercials; partial broadcast of My Mom's New Boyfriend (made-for-TV movie) taped from Lifetime on 11/8/2008 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 8: White Christmas (1954) taped from WBNX in December 1996 minus most commercials; partial broadcast of It's a Wonderful Life (1946) taped from WKYC on 12/21/1996 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 9: Head Over Heels (2001) taped from ABC Family in May 2007 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120.
 
I finally found a recorded VHS tape for the first time in months at a thrift store in Boise on Saturday. Two hours of CNN Headline News, taped 7/23/1995 with commercials, onto a Sony T-120 tape.

One find so far in all of 2025. I call that pathetic! Estate sales on Saturday in Ontario OR, Caldwell, and Boise netted zero tapes. The ladies running the Ontario sale (packed to the gills) said that they would bring out tapes on the next sale. (Strike 1) They told me that all of the recorded tapes had been thrown in the dumpster. (Strike 2)
Boise just isn't a great place to find tapes, it seems.

There is possible good news coming. May 17th is Idaho's Largest Garage Sale at Expo Idaho. 500+ vendors - and Dan and Laura, the auctioneers from Storage Wars, will be there to sign autographs. With 500 vendors there has to be SOMEONE willing to sell off their stash of used blanks from their basement. Also, possibly VHS tapes at a huge estate sale in two weeks west of Caldwell with TONS of vintage advertising and beer signs. Fingers crossed.
Potentially looking at a Craigslist lot right now in another state (if the seller is willing to ship) and may be joining the Facebook group "Sold as Dank", as well as scouring the FB Marketplace for tape lots.
 
It takes a bit more skill to find them, but I still managed to search another eBay lot these days, 30 tapes from a seller in rural NW Louisiana that happens to be in the same Shreveport market where I searched three lots of Betas from a different seller last fall. There were three outright duds as well as two retail tapes in the lot: 3 Sesame Street Stores: A Golden Book Video (1985) and Imperial Tombs Of China (1995) from the Memphis International Cultural Series. There were also 11 tapes with 2000s-early 10s content that still gives off that "too soon" vibe to me even though some classic hits radio stations are starting to add titles from that era, among them including PBR rodeo off VS. in 2009 and 2011, Santa season Hallmark movies from 2006 including Samantha: An American Girl, the 2003 CBS Made For TV Movie "Lucy", several Dancing With The Stars episodes, various TLC shows from 2003, and some CBS soaps from the '00s. Oddly among the '90s finds, there wasn't much from the middle of the decade. There was also one tape from the 1984 Summer Olympics that's going into the "farm the local commercials" pile as all of the footage was found in that Beta lot last December, in contrast to a different tape in this lot that has some "new to me footage". All tapes were in EP speed and contained commercials from what I kept, although the only tape I found scoped was from the Lonesome Dove miniseries off KSLA. There was a circa 1982 RCA VK 250 that had 2001 content sadly taped over '80s content after seeing presumably a split second of a sports show at the start of the tape before cutting over to NBC's post-9/11 Stars & Stripes Peacock, but thankfully it was nothing like that one lot a few weeks ago with tapeover overload.

crainbebo, speaking of demographics in mid-major markets like Boise, Shreveport is unlike most sunbelt markets in that its economy has struggled over the past few decades since the closure of a GM plant in the '90s and hurricane impacts by the Gulf draining the state's budget, and thus has a high proportion of natives compared to most neighboring states (especially TX). In fact, Jackson, MS is probably on a better trajectory than Shreveport is currently.

Still, it was appropriate to find a few game shows in this lot now that one of the legends, the great Mr. Wink Martindale, has passed on. He surely has posted a lot of rare game show pilots and episodes that most of us would never believe would see again.

TAPE 1: Parts two and three of the Napoleon & Josephine miniseries, taped off KTBS/ABC on 11/11 & 11/12/1987 with commercials, with part three missing the closing.

TAPE 2: Hulkmania 4 (1989) copied from rental, followed by Road House (1989) also copied from a rental, then it cuts for about the last ten minutes of Future Watch, CNN Showbiz This Week, Crossfire, CNN Sports Tonight, CNN Early Bird News, and the first few minutes of the CNN Morning News recorded off CNN in the pre-dawn hours of New Year's Day 1990 with commercials. The most interesting feature was the "A Look BACK at the 90's" segment on the Future Watch clip as if the space-time continuum was disturbed.

TAPE 3: Great tape! Starts off with War In The Gulf: Answering Children's Questions off KTBS/ABC on 1/26/1991 with commercials (this inspired Nick News after Linda Elderbee didn't like how it was presented), then it cuts to a partial episode of Wheel of Fortune (beginning during the second round), Father Dowling Mysteries, a double-run of the short-lived My Life And Times, and most of Primetime Live off KTBS/ABC on 5/23/1991 with commercials, then it jumps to about half of Home, Match Game (my first find of the Ross Shaefer version), and part of Loving, also taped off KTBS/ABC on 5/16/1991 with commercials. That news special pre-empted part of ABC's regular Saturday morning programming.

TAPE 4: Madeline (1998) copied from a rental, followed by the last half hour of the CBS Sunday Movie Cab To Canada along with the first segment of the KSLA 10 PM News on 11/29/1998 with commercials, followed by a little over half of the ABC Sunday Movie presentation of Rear Window taped off KTBS on 11/22/1998 with commercials

TAPE 5: Parts two and three of Alex Haley's Queenie taped off KTBS/ABC on 2/16 and 2/18/1993 with commercials (I've already got part 3), followed by about three-quarters of an episode of Live! With Regis and Kathie Lee off KTBS/ABC in May 1992 with commercials

TAPE 6: Just over six hours worth of footage from the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics off KTBS/ABC on 7/31/1984 with commercials. A little over an hour's worth of that coverage is from the overnight segment which I didn't find from that KGO-recorded lot last December, and there may even be a few commercial breaks here that were scoped out on that other lot.

TAPE 7: Approximately the last 35 minutes of Golf Talks Live and Arnold Palmer: Heart And Soul documentary recorded off The Golf Channel on 10/28/1998 with commercials

TAPE 8: 5 3/4 hours worth of coverage of the funeral of Princess Diana taped off CNN on 9/6/1997 with commercials. Although this is a common find, my only CNN coverage I've got of this is about a ten minute segment, so a lot of this is new to me (I've already got a good amount of coverage from each of the Big Three).

TAPE 9: Starts off with the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Follow The Stars Home taped off KSLA/CBS on 5/6/2001 with commercials, followed by the Wonderful World of Disney presentation of Shirley Temple: The Child Star, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and the fifth season finale of The Practice taped off KTBS/ABC on 5/13/2001 with commercials. I don't collect much '00s stuff, but non-celebrity Regis Millionaire is a win with me, especially after a prominent YouTuber with numerous episodes from that run were pulled.

TAPE 10: Rent A Cop (1988) taped off Cinemax in June 1989 with a few minutes of promos prior to the movie, followed by Fatal Attraction (1987) taped off HBO in June 1989 with a couple minutes of promos following the movie, then it jumps to about 30 minutes of footage from the Auburn-Alabama game off KSLA/CBS in 1986 with a couple commercial breaks.

TAPE 11: Starts off with a rerun of the 1990 NBC Movie presentation of Danielle Steele's Finer Things, taped off KTAL on 1/26/1992 with commercials (directly against a good chunk of Super Bowl XXVI on CBS), followed by the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie presentation of O, Pioneers! off KSLA/CBS on 2/1/1992 with ads, followed by Home and about the first 15 minutes of The Maury Povich Show off KTBS/ABC on 3/13/1992 with commercials

TAPE 12: The World of Anne Frank and part of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) taped off The Disney Channel in September 1992 with promos before and after the first feature, then it cuts to episodes of The Bold and The Beautiful, As The World Turns, and most of Guiding Light off KSLA/CBS on 9/8/1992 with commercials, followed by a partial sitcom block of Full House, Family Matters, and most of Roseanne off KTBS/ABC from the same day. It's interesting that I also found a good chunk of a CBS soap block off the same station from around the same time on that Beta lot last fall, but thankfully on different days. That was also a rare time that Family Matters followed Full House in its lineup after FH moved from Friday to Tuesday in September 1991.
 
crainbebo said:
I finally found a recorded VHS tape for the first time in months at a thrift store in Boise on Saturday. Two hours of CNN Headline News, taped 7/23/1995 with commercials, onto a Sony T-120 tape.

One find so far in all of 2025. I call that pathetic! Estate sales on Saturday in Ontario OR, Caldwell, and Boise netted zero tapes. The ladies running the Ontario sale (packed to the gills) said that they would bring out tapes on the next sale. (Strike 1) They told me that all of the recorded tapes had been thrown in the dumpster. (Strike 2)
Boise just isn't a great place to find tapes, it seems.

There is possible good news coming. May 17th is Idaho's Largest Garage Sale at Expo Idaho. 500+ vendors - and Dan and Laura, the auctioneers from Storage Wars, will be there to sign autographs. With 500 vendors there has to be SOMEONE willing to sell off their stash of used blanks from their basement. Also, possibly VHS tapes at a huge estate sale in two weeks west of Caldwell with TONS of vintage advertising and beer signs. Fingers crossed.
Potentially looking at a Craigslist lot right now in another state (if the seller is willing to ship) and may be joining the Facebook group "Sold as Dank", as well as scouring the FB Marketplace for tape lots.
Click to expand...

That was from my ninth birthday.
 
More findings on my end within the last few weeks.

Estate sale--Independence, OH
TAPE 1: Big Chuck and Lil John presentation of The Phantom of the Opera (1989) and partial broadcast of Night Flight taped from WJW on October 30-31, 1993 with commercials, as well as Big Chuck and Lil John skits and interstitials during the movie; partial broadcast of the NFL on NBC (Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) taped from WKYC on 10/24/1993 with commercials; partial final round of The Skills Challenge taped from WKYC on 10/17/1993 with commercials. Kodak T-120, rough quality throughout.

TAPE 2: The Ten Commandments (1956) and partial broadcast of News Channel 5 at 11:00 taped from WEWS on 4/4/2004 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 3: Turning Point and partial broadcast of News Channel 5 at 11:00 taped from WEWS on 12/15/1994 with commercials; partial broadcast of Cleveland Cavaliers vs. New Jersey Nets taped from WUAB on 12/14/1994 with commercials; partial broadcast of the NFL on NBC (Cleveland Browns vs. Kansas City Chiefs) taped from WKYC on 11/20/1994 with commercials; partial episode of Amen and partial episode of The Golden Girls taped from WKYC on 2/10/1990 with commercials. Memorex T-120.

TAPE 4: Cleveland Indians vs. Chicago White Sox, The Ten O'clock News and Revco Sports Extra taped from WUAB on 9/17/1996 with commercials. BASF T-120.

TAPE 5: The Cosby Show final episode taped from WKYC on 4/30/1992 with commercials; The Golden Girls final episode taped from WKYC on 5/9/1992 with commercials; partial broadcast of The Ten O'clock News taped from WUAB on 12/25/1992 minus commercials; partial episode of Donahue and partial broadcast of Newscenter 8 at 6:00 taped from WJW in January 1990 with commercials. KMC T-120.

Estate sale--Parma, OH (third and final round of finding tapes at this one I hit twice before in the last few months--all the Betas were gone by this point, but some VHS tapes still remained)
TAPE 6: Miscellaneous news clips on the murder on Theresa Andrews taped from various Cleveland TV stations (WKYC Channel 3 News, WEWS News Channel 5, WJW Fox 8 News, WUAB Hometeam 43 News at 10) as well as a partial broadcast of Prime Time on ABC with a feature on the case as well; Everybody Loves Raymond and Becker taped from WOIO on 10/23/2000 and 11/13/2000 with commercials; partial broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman taped from WOIO on November 21-22, 2000 minus commercials (Faith Hill interview and performance of "The Way You Love Me"). Sony T-160.

TAPE 7: Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943), Tarzan and the Amazons (1945), Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946), Tarzan and the Huntress (1947) and partial broadcast of Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948) taped from AMC on 6/7/1997 with promos. Sony T-120.

TAPE 8: Viva Las Vegas (1964), Clambake (1967) and Wild in the Country (1961) taped from TCM on August 16-17, 2007 with promos. Maxell T-120.

Also picked up a SpectraVision Entertainment Guide from December 1995 that had apparently been delivered to the Stouffer Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, containing listings for several major cable networks (ESPN, TNT, HBO, TBS and the Disney Channel) throughout the month.


Estate sale--Fairlawn, OH
TAPE 9: Two hours of coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial taped from CNN on 1/25/1995 with commercials. Panasonic T-120.

TAPE 10: Freddy's Nightmares taped from WWOR (when it was a superstation on cable) on 10/22/1988 with commercials. TDK T-120.

Did get a few duds out of this one as well, including a tape containing dubs of home movies from film prints, which then reverted to a recording of the Cleveland Browns in the 1988 AFC Divisional Playoffs against the Indianapolis Colts minus most commercials on WKYC (I already have the full game with commercials), a tape of Sopranos episodes on HBO without any promos in between and rental dubs of exercise videos from Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons.

I also picked up a prerecorded VHS release titled "Dazzling Dunks and Basketball Bloopers" specifically because I noticed what looked like remnants of masking tape where the open hole was where a recording tab would be. Sure enough, much of it had been taped over with home video footage of a group of guys on a fishing trip. Quite a rowdy bunch as well, as they were all drinking quite a bit when they were back at the rental house, and one guy thought it would be funny to show his *ahem* full moon on camera. Songs playing on the radio during scenes at the rental house (e.g. "Setting Me Up" by Highway 101 and "How Do I Turn You On" by Ronnie Milsap) hint that this footage was recorded around 1989, not long after the retail tape itself had been made.
Oh, and as for "Dazzling Dunks and Basketball Bloopers," the full tape in its original form can be seen here. You'll notice one of the clips in the middle of the video originates from a Cavaliers broadcast on WUAB. (Here's hoping the Cavs win it all this year!)

If all goes well, I plan on hitting three more estate sales before work tomorrow afternoon, so we shall see if anything more turns up there.
 
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I just searched a lot of 20 Betas from JJ's Bayou Marketplace, the same seller that I purchased a lot back in December and described on post #2284. The tape numbers in one lot were mostly in the 2300s on one lot and in the 1800s in another, and the corresponded mostly to recordings around July 1984 from the 2300s and April 1983 for the 1800s. A good chunk of the recordings were zapped out, but there were still a number of finds with the commercials or promos present. Most recordings were in BIII speed and were all Sony L-750s, with all OTA recordings taped off New Orleans stations (WDSU/NBC, WWL/CBS, WVUE/ABC, and WYES/PBS). Here are my keepers:

TAPE 1: A nearly full NBC Tuesday Night drama primetime block consisting of summer reruns of The A-Team, Riptide, and Remington Steele on 7/10/1984, followed by CBS reruns of Mannix and The Rockford Files from the next day, followed by a scoped airing of Jennifer Slept Here off NBC also on 7/11/1984. The drama block had all of the commercials intact for The A-Team, about half for Riptide, and only one break for Remington Steele.

TAPE 2: Two episodes of the documentary series Life Of Earth off WYES in early April 1983 with a few promos between the shows,
followed by over two hours worth of footage of coverage from WDSU, WWL, and WVUE on 4/7/1983 with a few commercials mostly covering the flooding in the New Orleans region (the biggest before Katrina), followed by about two-thirds of 20/20 (includes an Ann Landers interview) off WVUE/ABC on 4/7/1983 with no commercials

TAPE 3: The Paper Chase: The Second Year episode "Limits" taped off Showtime on 6/26/1984 with promos after the show, followed by a rerun of the 1982 special Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius from the next day with no promos, followed by another episode of The Paper Chase on 7/10/1984 with a few promos after show, followed by the "Judgment Day" episode of The Paper Chase off Showtime on 7/17/1984 with about six minutes of promos after the episode

TAPE 4: Starts off with the 1983 Gala Of Stars off WYES/PBS on 3/20/1983 with a pledge break, followed by the first segment of Sheena Easton: Act 1 off WDSU/NBC on 3/24/1983 with a couple commercials, then it jumps to the HBO special Sheena Easton: Live At The Palace in April 1983 with no promos, followed by about the first 12 minutes of Quarterflash: Live From The Old Lady Of Eddy off an unknown station circa spring 1983 with no commercials, then it wraps up with a seven minute clip of MTV circa Mother's Day 1983 with one bumper and no commercials

TAPE 5: The Mississippi taped off WWL/CBS on 4/15/1983 with two commercial breaks intact, followed by a 1975 episode of the British import Good Neighbors ("Backs to the Wall") off WYES/PBS in April 1983 with a couple promos, followed by another episode of The Mississippi off WWL/CBS on 4/29/1983 with one commercial break intact, then it wraps up with a 10 minute clip of an episode of Travellers World: Jamaica circa 1983 off an unknown station with no commercials

TAPE 6: Two episodes of The Avengers and two episodes of Combat taped off WGNO circa April 1983 with no commercials, followed by Tales of the Gold Monkey "A Distant Shout Of Thunder" taped off WVUE/ABC on 4/8/1983 with two commercial breaks intact

TAPE 7: Starts off with an episode of The Greeks (BBC documentary) taped off ARTS circa April 1983 with one commercial break, followed by a 14 minute clip of Travellers World from April 1983 off an unknown station with a few commercials, followed by an episode of Louisiana Legends with Gus Weill, Life on Earth: The Compulsive, LAst Chance Garage, and Over Easy off WYES in April 1983 with a few promos, followed by most of an episode of Ripley's Believe It Or Not! off WVUE/ABC on 4/17/1983 with commercials

TAPE 8: Lost of great public TV classics on this tape! Features episodes of Square Foot Gardening, The New Tech Times, The Computer Chronicles, The Great Outdoors Almanac, and the Do-It-Yourself Show taped off WYES in July 1984 with some promos, followed by Portrait Of America: Missouri taped off WTBS on 7/11/1984 with some commercials, then it wraps up with a 10 minute clip of WWL's PM Magazine in July 1984 with no commercials

TAPE 9: My pick of the lot, begins with three episodes of WDSU's At The Fair from late June/early July 1984 with some commercials, covering the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair, followed by CBS Crosswords off WWL on 7/4/1984 with commercials, followed by WDSU's special presentation of Happy Birthday America, clips from the WDSU and WWL 10 PM News, as well as over an hour's worth of coverage from INN Presents: Celebrate The Fourth taped off WGN also on Independence Day 1984 with some commercials

TAPE 10: One Night Stand: A Keyboard Event (181) and an episode of the Britcom Two's Company taped off A&E on 7/14/1985 with commercials, followed Branford and Wynton Marsalis All That Jazz special taped off WYES circa July 1985 with no promos, followed by a ten minute clip from the Tonight Show circa August 1985 with no commercials, followed by a six minute clip of WWL PM Magazine from around the same time with a few commercials
 
Five tapes found at an estate sale in southwest Boise on 4/26. Two were duds (2005 Comedy Central stand-up clips minus commercials).

Tape 1 - 'JFK' (1991) taped off unknown pay-TV channel (probably HBO); Sex Symbols and Rock After Hours taped off VH1 on 12/30/1992 with commercials (the 1st show has music videos featuring Cher, Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen, etc.). TDK T-120
Tape 2 - 'Grumpier Old Men' (1995) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; partial broadcasts of the Gillette Home Run Derby and the Stars vs. Stripes Celebrity Softball Game taped off ESPN on 7/8/1996 with commercials. Scotch T-120
A third tape has a KBCI recording of a Saints game from 2006. But the tape has no audio in a mono VCR and I am using my sole Hi-Fi VCR to copy said Hi-Fi tapes to DVD right now. I will check on that VCR soon. If there is no Hi-Fi audio either, it will be thrown out.

This weekend will be a doozy with Idaho's Largest Garage Sale at Expo Idaho (Idaho’s Largest Garage Sale | Garden City, ID), several neighborhood sales including the mountainous Avimor community near Eagle, and multiple estate sales. Dan and Laura Dotson (auctioneers) from Storage Wars will be at the first sale! There's a high chance I will find some well-awaited VHS tapes - and maybe a Beta too? Find out soon!

The same weekend (4/26) I went to a sale in Homedale that netted one of my BEST estate sale finds (outside of tapes) - a 3 ft. by 12 inch Krispy Kreme light-up sign!!! I paid $42 for the sign, and the sale also had many other beer signs and advertising signs, plus license plates, electronics and tools.
 
Last weekend's finds. Some came from an estate sale in Meridian on Saturday (in a trailer park), others from a mixed Craigslist lot located near Emmett. NO TAPES at Idaho's Largest Garage Sale, but it was so nice to meet Dan and Laura Dotson. They were down-to-earth people, genuinely interested in what I collect and whatnot. :) The rain put a kibosh on enjoying the sale itself, however. People were putting their tarps back up over the water-damaged books and water-damaged audio/stereo equipment. Yikes!

Meridian

Tape 1 - Unexpected out-of-state alert! 'Tango & Cash' (1989) taped off KABY-9 Aberdeen SD/ABC on 1/9/1994 with commercials. KABY was a satellite of KSFY Sioux Falls with local advertising. KSFY pulled the plug on this station in 2017, and the FCC canceled the license in 2018. KSFY now has a UHF translator on digital in Aberdeen and another in Watertown.
Tape 2 - 'K-9' (1990) and the first 12 minutes of News 4 at 10 taped off KXJB 4 Fargo/CBS on 7/17/1993 with commercials. Some interference issues at times. Sony T-120
Tape 3 - 'Miracle in the Woods' (1997) taped off KBCI/CBS on 10/26/1997 with commercials (found this movie from a KIMA broadcast in 2018). Sony T-160
Tape 4 - 'Lean on Me' (1989) taped off KABY/ABC on Independence Day 1993 with commercials in the 2nd half (first 2-3 breaks are zapped). Memorex T-120
Tape 5 - Most of 'Problem Child 2' (1991) taped off KSFY/ABC on 1/8/1994 with commercials. Interesting that this came from the main station in Sioux Falls and not Aberdeen...the day BEFORE ABC aired "Tango and Cash". Memorex T-120
Tape 6 - 'Support Your Local Sheriff!' (1969) taped off The Family Channel on 8/18/1996 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 7 - Michael Landon: Memories with Laughter and Love taped off KTHI-11 Fargo/NBC on 9/17/1991 with commercials, a broadcast I already have from KTVM Butte. Then cuts to a broadcast of The Classic Car Shop, Victory Garden and part of Market to Market taped off SDPB/PBS in September 1991 with promos, very poor B&W signal. I highly suspect this came from KDSD-16 in Aberdeen.
Tape 8 - 'Sarah, Plain and Tall' (1991) taped off Hallmark Channel in August 2009 with commercials. JVC T-120. Will be put up in mixed lot due to the recent age of the recording.

Emmett lot - also picked out a couple of rental films, first printing of "Sahara" with Humphrey Bogart, 1982 Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment release, and a Vestron tape of what I now know is the WORST Leslie Nielsen film ever made...it's called "Spaceship." Planning to resell that one. A lot of taping over and '00s/'10s recordings, some of which are going straight to a "Mer..." mixed lot soon.

Tape 1 - 'Air America' (1990) and the first 10 minutes of an X-Files rerun taped off KNIN-9 Caldwell on 6/10/2000 with commercials; cuts to a strange home video (paused?) showing the front yard of a house with a bunch of garage sale items on shelves in the driveway (how ironic!!); then cuts to part of 'Avenging Force' (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channel. Master T-120
Tape 2 - 'Crocodile Dundee' (1986), 'Mannequin' (1986) and 'Detective School Dropouts' (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channels, suspecting Showtime; 'Clue' (1985) taped off Showtime on 2/13/1988 with a few minutes of promos afterwards, then tape runs out. Sony T-120
Tape 3 - 'The Neverending Story III' (1994) taped off unknown station minus commercials; part of The Bachelor, Today's 6 News Live at 10, Nightline, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Extra!, an Investools infomercial, Montel Williams and a few minutes of ABC World News Now taped off KIVI/ABC on 10/8-9/2007 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 4 - Partial episode of The Biggest Loser taped off KTVB-DT/NBC on 3/27/2012 with commercials; episode of America's Next Top Model taped off KBOI-DT2/CW on 3/28/2012 with commercials; partial broadcast of The Green Hornet and The Big Valley taped off KTRV-DT2/MeTV on 3/17/2012 with commercials; repeat of The Unit taped off KNIN-DT in February 2012 with commercials. Rest of the tape was recorded static. Kodak T-120 heading straight to Mercari - it's too recent!
Tape 5 - 'The Santa Clause 2' (2002), Desperate Housewives, Idaho's 6 News at 10, George Michael Sports Machine (one of the last episodes he did, with co-host Lindsay Czarniak), Iceland Health infomercial, Beautiful Homes & Great Estates, Junk'd, and an SMC Marketing infomercial taped off KIVI/ABC on 12/17/2006 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 6 - 'Mr. Deeds' (2002) taped off KTRV/Fox on 11/27/2004 with most commercials included; then has the end of "Peter Pan" (1955) copied from rental tape, and "The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin" (1986) also copied from a rental tape with a bunch of trailers for other Just for Kids/Celebrity videotapes afterwards. Interesting trailers, a lot of foreign cartoons I've never heard of, and kid 'hosts' in short bumpers in between. TDK HS T-120
Tape 7 - 'Eraser' (1996) copied from rental tape; 'The Santa Clause' (1994) and 'The Big Green' (1995) taped off Disney Channel circa December 1996; partial episode of Sally Jessy Raphael taped off KBCI-2 in November 1996 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 8 - Another tape going "straight to a mixed lot" - starts with part of an unknown movie from This TV circa 2013; then cuts to an episode of Big Brother 16 taped off KBOI-DT/CBS on 8/21/2014 with commercials; cuts to 'Home of the Brave' (2006) taped off This TV circa 2013 with commercials; ends with a clip from a 1980s sci-fi film and a few minutes of an early 1986 WTBS broadcast of Bugs Bunny and Friends (too bad I didn't get more). Kodak T-120
Tape 9 - 'Jack' (1996) taped off KTRV-12 in January 2005 with some commercials; last several minutes of Egg: The Art Show and first part of Charlie Rose taped off KAID/PBS on 4/12/2002 with promos. Maxell T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 10 - The Making of My Fair Lady taped off Disney Channel circa 1995; 'Comes a Horseman' (1978) taped off TNT early on 3/9/1995 with commercials (Hollywood Nights broadcast); part of 'Jaws' (1975) taped off TBS on 1/22/1995 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 11 - 'Shallow Hal' (2001), two episodes of MasterMinds, Access Hollywood Weekend, repeats of Two and a Half Men ("Weekend in Bangkok with Two Olympic Gymnasts"), Everybody Loves Raymond, CSI: Miami, and part of 'Fright Night' (1985) taped off KNIN-9 on 6/28/2008 with commercials. BASF T-120, originally from the late '80s, long taped-over.
Tape 12 - Four episodes of Junkyard Wars taped off TLC on Thanksgiving 2001 with commercials; part of 'The Family Man' (2000) copied from rental tape at the end. Fuji T-120
Tape 13 - Classic PBS Kids on this tape: episodes of Wishbone and Zoom, plus the first half of Nightly Business Report, taped off KAID/PBS on 3/7/2000 with pledge breaks (Festival 2000). That's my 1st find of Zoom, which was an early part of childhood for me - and I believe my 2nd find of Wishbone. Sony T-160 in SP

A sale next week on the Boise Bench looks tempting, with three wooden holders in the entertainment center. Usually, that's code for "home-recorded VHS".
 
crainbebo said:
Last weekend's finds. Some came from an estate sale in Meridian on Saturday (in a trailer park), others from a mixed Craigslist lot located near Emmett. NO TAPES at Idaho's Largest Garage Sale, but it was so nice to meet Dan and Laura Dotson. They were down-to-earth people, genuinely interested in what I collect and whatnot. :) The rain put a kibosh on enjoying the sale itself, however. People were putting their tarps back up over the water-damaged books and water-damaged audio/stereo equipment. Yikes!

Meridian

Tape 1 - Unexpected out-of-state alert! 'Tango & Cash' (1989) taped off KABY-9 Aberdeen SD/ABC on 1/9/1994 with commercials. KABY was a satellite of KSFY Sioux Falls with local advertising. KSFY pulled the plug on this station in 2017, and the FCC canceled the license in 2018. KSFY now has a UHF translator on digital in Aberdeen and another in Watertown.
Tape 2 - 'K-9' (1990) and the first 12 minutes of News 4 at 10 taped off KXJB 4 Fargo/CBS on 7/17/1993 with commercials. Some interference issues at times. Sony T-120
Tape 3 - 'Miracle in the Woods' (1997) taped off KBCI/CBS on 10/26/1997 with commercials (found this movie from a KIMA broadcast in 2018). Sony T-160
Tape 4 - 'Lean on Me' (1989) taped off KABY/ABC on Independence Day 1993 with commercials in the 2nd half (first 2-3 breaks are zapped). Memorex T-120
Tape 5 - Most of 'Problem Child 2' (1991) taped off KSFY/ABC on 1/8/1994 with commercials. Interesting that this came from the main station in Sioux Falls and not Aberdeen...the day BEFORE ABC aired "Tango and Cash". Memorex T-120
Tape 6 - 'Support Your Local Sheriff!' (1969) taped off The Family Channel on 8/18/1996 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 7 - Michael Landon: Memories with Laughter and Love taped off KTHI-11 Fargo/NBC on 9/17/1991 with commercials, a broadcast I already have from KTVM Butte. Then cuts to a broadcast of The Classic Car Shop, Victory Garden and part of Market to Market taped off SDPB/PBS in September 1991 with promos, very poor B&W signal. I highly suspect this came from KDSD-16 in Aberdeen.
Tape 8 - 'Sarah, Plain and Tall' (1991) taped off Hallmark Channel in August 2009 with commercials. JVC T-120. Will be put up in mixed lot due to the recent age of the recording.

Emmett lot - also picked out a couple of rental films, first printing of "Sahara" with Humphrey Bogart, 1982 Columbia Pictures Home Entertainment release, and a Vestron tape of what I now know is the WORST Leslie Nielsen film ever made...it's called "Spaceship." Planning to resell that one. A lot of taping over and '00s/'10s recordings, some of which are going straight to a "Mer..." mixed lot soon.

Tape 1 - 'Air America' (1990) and the first 10 minutes of an X-Files rerun taped off KNIN-9 Caldwell on 6/10/2000 with commercials; cuts to a strange home video (paused?) showing the front yard of a house with a bunch of garage sale items on shelves in the driveway (how ironic!!); then cuts to part of 'Avenging Force' (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channel. Master T-120
Tape 2 - 'Crocodile Dundee' (1986), 'Mannequin' (1986) and 'Detective School Dropouts' (1986) taped off unknown pay-TV channels, suspecting Showtime; 'Clue' (1985) taped off Showtime on 2/13/1988 with a few minutes of promos afterwards, then tape runs out. Sony T-120
Tape 3 - 'The Neverending Story III' (1994) taped off unknown station minus commercials; part of The Bachelor, Today's 6 News Live at 10, Nightline, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Extra!, an Investools infomercial, Montel Williams and a few minutes of ABC World News Now taped off KIVI/ABC on 10/8-9/2007 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 4 - Partial episode of The Biggest Loser taped off KTVB-DT/NBC on 3/27/2012 with commercials; episode of America's Next Top Model taped off KBOI-DT2/CW on 3/28/2012 with commercials; partial broadcast of The Green Hornet and The Big Valley taped off KTRV-DT2/MeTV on 3/17/2012 with commercials; repeat of The Unit taped off KNIN-DT in February 2012 with commercials. Rest of the tape was recorded static. Kodak T-120 heading straight to Mercari - it's too recent!
Tape 5 - 'The Santa Clause 2' (2002), Desperate Housewives, Idaho's 6 News at 10, George Michael Sports Machine (one of the last episodes he did, with co-host Lindsay Czarniak), Iceland Health infomercial, Beautiful Homes & Great Estates, Junk'd, and an SMC Marketing infomercial taped off KIVI/ABC on 12/17/2006 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 6 - 'Mr. Deeds' (2002) taped off KTRV/Fox on 11/27/2004 with most commercials included; then has the end of "Peter Pan" (1955) copied from rental tape, and "The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin" (1986) also copied from a rental tape with a bunch of trailers for other Just for Kids/Celebrity videotapes afterwards. Interesting trailers, a lot of foreign cartoons I've never heard of, and kid 'hosts' in short bumpers in between. TDK HS T-120
Tape 7 - 'Eraser' (1996) copied from rental tape; 'The Santa Clause' (1994) and 'The Big Green' (1995) taped off Disney Channel circa December 1996; partial episode of Sally Jessy Raphael taped off KBCI-2 in November 1996 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 8 - Another tape going "straight to a mixed lot" - starts with part of an unknown movie from This TV circa 2013; then cuts to an episode of Big Brother 16 taped off KBOI-DT/CBS on 8/21/2014 with commercials; cuts to 'Home of the Brave' (2006) taped off This TV circa 2013 with commercials; ends with a clip from a 1980s sci-fi film and a few minutes of an early 1986 WTBS broadcast of Bugs Bunny and Friends (too bad I didn't get more). Kodak T-120
Tape 9 - 'Jack' (1996) taped off KTRV-12 in January 2005 with some commercials; last several minutes of Egg: The Art Show and first part of Charlie Rose taped off KAID/PBS on 4/12/2002 with promos. Maxell T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 10 - The Making of My Fair Lady taped off Disney Channel circa 1995; 'Comes a Horseman' (1978) taped off TNT early on 3/9/1995 with commercials (Hollywood Nights broadcast); part of 'Jaws' (1975) taped off TBS on 1/22/1995 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 11 - 'Shallow Hal' (2001), two episodes of MasterMinds, Access Hollywood Weekend, repeats of Two and a Half Men ("Weekend in Bangkok with Two Olympic Gymnasts"), Everybody Loves Raymond, CSI: Miami, and part of 'Fright Night' (1985) taped off KNIN-9 on 6/28/2008 with commercials. BASF T-120, originally from the late '80s, long taped-over.
Tape 12 - Four episodes of Junkyard Wars taped off TLC on Thanksgiving 2001 with commercials; part of 'The Family Man' (2000) copied from rental tape at the end. Fuji T-120
Tape 13 - Classic PBS Kids on this tape: episodes of Wishbone and Zoom, plus the first half of Nightly Business Report, taped off KAID/PBS on 3/7/2000 with pledge breaks (Festival 2000). That's my 1st find of Zoom, which was an early part of childhood for me - and I believe my 2nd find of Wishbone. Sony T-160 in SP

A sale next week on the Boise Bench looks tempting, with three wooden holders in the entertainment center. Usually, that's code for "home-recorded VHS".
Click to expand...
GO FOR IT!
 
Straddling a Memorial Day getaway down at my family's Delaware beach house, I managed to score a touchdown over an 11-tape lot out of Chicagoland that featured lots of classic Chicago Bears games (many from their Super Bowl championship season, and ironically the commonly found Super Bowl XX isn't part of this lot), including a number of pregame and postgame shows, plus a few other surprises. Everything is in EP mode with commercials and halftime off Chicago stations (WMAQ/NBC, WBBM/CBS, WLS/ABC, WFLD/FOX), unless otherwise described. It's still nice to find these lots without hearing the word "Internet" while browsing through them.

TAPE 1: Begins with a documentary on "Iron" Mike Ditka, followed by the Mike Ditka Show, the NFL Today, the Chicago Bears-Detroit Lions game, then it cuts ahead from later that afternoon with part of the Dallas Cowboys-San Francisco 49ers game, starting towards the end of the 3rd Quarter, then ending with about the first 15 minutes of 60 Minutes off WBBM/CBS on 12/22/1985. Kodak T-120

TAPE 2: Northern Exposure off WBBM/CBS on 2/3/1992, followed by the Cinemax movie presentation of Peter Fallow (1990) in February 1992, with about five minutes of promos after the movie, then it cuts to the last portion of the Kansas City Chiefs-San Francisco 49ers off WMAQ/NBC on 12/14/1991 (starts just before the two minute warning), followed by another episode of Northern Exposure from 12/16/1991, then it cuts for most of the 4th quarter of the Miami Dolphins-Bears game from 11/24/1991 off WMAQ/NBC. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 3: Start off with a broadcast of the first installment of the 1984 miniseries The Jesse Owens Story off A&E on 2/15/1992 with some Continental Cablevision inserts, followed by All My Children from 2/17/1992 off WLS/ABC, followed by the last 15 minutes of the NFC Wild Card playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Chicago Bears off on 12/29/1991 along with the NFL Today postgame off WBBM/CBS, followed by episodes of All My Children on 12/30 and 12/31/1991 off WLS/ABC, then it wraps up with about a ten minute excerpt of the 1992 Tournament Of Roses Parade off WLS/ABC on New Year's Day 1992. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 4: The Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers off WBBM/CBS on 11/3/1985 with a partial halftime report, followed by most of the Mike Ditka Show along with most of another NFL game between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears off WBBM/CBS on 11/10/1985, missing the halftime and the last couple minutes of the game. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 5: Begins with about 25 minutes of a local Chicago area Christmas concert from a church, then it continues with part of the NBC Monday Night Movie presentation of Christmas Eve, the WMAQ 10 PM News, and the first twenty minutes of The Best of Carson (a rerun of the 12/20/85 episode) off WMAQ/NBC, before cutting back for the last ten minutes of All My Children off WLS/ABC on 12/23/1986, followed by most of another episode of All My Children off WLS/ABC on 12/11/1986, followed by episodes of Silverhawks, He-Man, and part of Thundercats off WFLD in December 1986 with lots of great vintage kids ads. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 6: The Mike Ditka Show, The NFL Today, and the NFC Divisional Playoff game between the Washington Redskins and Chicago Bears off WBBM/CBS on 1/3/1987, followed by the end of Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) and a year-end Bears '86 recap off WFLD on 1/11/1987, then it jumps over to The Mike Ditka Show from the same day off WBBM with ads (a special year-end edition), then it jumps back for about the last several minutes of Outlaws off WBBM/CBS on 1/3/1987 with a few commercials. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 7: The Monday Night Football pre-game show, the season premiere of Monday Night Football between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears (I've already got this off WTAE), the WLS 10 PM News, Nightline (another WTAE find I got from that 2019 Craigslist haul), and the first few minutes of the WLS Late Movie off WLS/ABC on 9/14/1987, then it cuts to part of the NFL Preseason game between the St. Louis (Football) Cardinals and the Chicago Bears, beginning early in the 3rd quarter and ending around the four-minute market, taped off WLS/ABC on 8/8/1987. I've also got portions of that preseason game from a previous find, but that only contained part of the 4th quarter and only one commercial break, so this is a nice upgrade. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 8: Another NFC Divisional playoff game, this time between the New York Giants and Bears, along with most of the pregame and The NFL Today postgame off WBBM/CBS on 1/5/1986 (I've already got the first half off WCBS from a find last year), followed by part of the AFC Divisional Playoffs game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Raiders off WMAQ/NBC from the same afternoon, ending just after halftime. Kodak T-120

TAPE 9: Kicks off with the end of WBBM Newsmakers and the first ten minutes of 2 on 2 from 12/8/1985, then it jumps to episodes of The Mike Ditka Show and most of The NFL Today off WBBM/CBS from the same day, followed by another episode of The Mike Ditka Show, the NFC Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears along with the postgame show off WBBM/CBS on 1/12/1986, followed by a short clip from the George Michael Sports Machine off WMAQ/NBC on 1/13/1986 with a few commercials. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 10: Starts off with about two-thirds of a syndicated rerun of Hardcastle & McCormick off WGBO on Thanksgiving Day 1991, then it cuts over for approximately the last 40 minutes of CBS' All-American Thanksgiving Parade (no, we have never annexed Toronto), along with The NFL Today, the NFL Thanksgiving game between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, The NFL Today postgame, and the WBBM Bears Locker Room special postgame report off WBBM/CBS also on 11/28/1991. Kodak XHG T-120

TAPE 11: The NFL Today, another Chicago Bears- Dallas Cowboys NFL game, the NFL Today Postgame show, and about a 12-minute clip of America's Weekend Edition (joined in progress) off WBBM/CBS on 11/17/1985. America's Weekend Edition was short-lived weekend counterpart to the equally brief syndicated "America" weekday counterpart. TDK T-120

The seller had a second eBay lot, but was taken down and messaged me if I was interested, but after he pinged me it was ready on that M*****i site, it was gone in 20 minutes, although based on the labels, the content was probably a bit newer. I've got a big search of Betas coming up from Central California whose seller location straddles the Sacramento, Fresno, and Bay Area markets. I'll keep you posted.
 
Just hit a jackpot of VHS tapes down in Boise today. Two estate sales were full of tapes, including the aforementioned one with the wooden holders. At least 40 tapes, maybe closer to 50. A lot of movies and TV miniseries on the labels, but a few have Boise River Festival tapings on them according to labels. It isn't even held anymore!!

An update on finds later.
 
I'm not sure what a "jackpot find" means to anyone here, but while probably not quite Top five over the years, this definitely is a nice top twenty regarding my latest Beta haul, consisting of a lot of 43 tapes for basically the cost of shipping out of Riverbank, CA (near Modesto), with 37 keepers out of those. Many soap operas (mostly As The World Turns, The Young & The Restless, but a few Days of our Lives and Guiding Lights in there), a bunch of Regis & Kathie Lee from 1993, some local Sacramento news, the premiere of Dolly's short-lived variety show from 1987, a full week of the Today show from Australia, and a good chunk of a marathon on a local independent (future FOX) Sacramento affiliate all based on classic TV were the highlights. Most of the 1993 recordings (mostly from the summer months with R&KL, ATWT, and Y&R recordings predominating) were off Fresno stations, the earlier ones a mixture of Sacramento and Bay Area stations with more of the former. The description mentioned "recorded once", but obviously the majority of these were retaped as you often expect on these blank tape lots. Almost no commercials were zapped out, and most finds were OTA terrestrial TV. Now on to the finds (all with commercials and BIII mode unless as described):

TAPE 1: Starts off with Live With Regis & Kathie Lee (LWR&KL) taped off KSEE (Fresno's NBC affiliate) on 5/17/1993, followed episodes of As The World Turns (ATWT) and The Young & The Restless (Y&R) taped off KJEO/CBS also on 5/17/1993, followed by about 35 minutes from the second hour of Good Morning America off KOVR/ABC on 5/11/1993 (a good chunk of the remainder of this broadcast from Melbourne, Australia is on Tape 9). Sony L-750

TAPE 2: Radio Flyer (1992) and Folks! (1992) as part of a TCI Cablevision HBO free preview circa April 1993, on location from Orlando's Church Street Station with about 50 minutes total of interstitials and subscription plugs. Sony L-750

TAPE 3: LWR&KL off KSEE on 6/10/1993, followed by more episodes of ATWT & Y&R off KJEO/CBS from the same day, the later missing the closing and the audio weak at times. Sony L-750

TAPE 4: Episodes of ATWT and Y&R off KJEO/CBS on 6/24/1993, once again, the later missing the close. Sony L-750

TAPE 5: More episodes of ATWT and Y&R off KJEO/CBS on 7/13/1993, followed by most of another episode of Y&R off KJEO/CBS on 6/28/1993. Sony L-750

TAPE 6: LWR&KL off KSEE on 8/25/1993, followed by additional episodes of ATWT & Y&R off KJEO/CBS from the same day, then it cuts to one more episode of Y&R off KJEO/CBS on 8/17/1993, missing the closing. The audio quality is weak at times during R&KL. Sony L-750

TAPE 7: Infomercials for the Journey Into The New Testament video series (I've got He Is Risen, which won't convert in my DVD converter due to copyright protection) and the Mega Systems Mega Memory taped off KICU in August 1993, followed by episodes of ATWT and Y&R off KJEO/CBS on 8/24/1993, followed by another episode of ATWT and about half of Y&R off KJEO/CBS on 8/19/1993. Sony L-750

TAPE 8: LWR&KL off KSEE on 8/26/1993, followed once again by episodes of ATWT & Y&R off KJEO/CBS also from the same day, followed by another of Y&R from 3/9/1993 off KJEO/CBS. Sony L-750

TAPE 9: LWR&KL off KSEE on 8/27/1993, then episodes of ATWT & Y&R off KJEO/CBS also from 8/27/1993, followed by approximately the first hour of Good Morning America off KOVR/ABC on 5/11/1993. Sony L-750

TAPE 10: The ever-commonly found Johnny Carson Tonight Show finale off KCRA/NBC on 5/22/1992, followed by about the first half of Later With Bob Costas (guest: Jay Leno) off KCRA/NBC circa April 1992, followed by about the last 17 minutes of CBS News primary election returns and the first 13 minutes of The Arsenio Hall Show off KXTV on 3/17/1992. Sony Dynamicron ES L-750, BII mode

TAPE 11: Starts off with an HBO movie (no label and I've been a bit busy, so I can't recall the title) taped circa summer 1992 with almost no promos, followed by most of Sally Jessy Raphael and the first six minutes of a Classic Concentration rerun recorded off KCRA on 6/1/1992 with commercials. Sony Dynamicron ES L-750, BIII mode

TAPE 12: Episodes of Y&R, The Bold & The Beautiful, and ATWT (no close) taped off KPIX/CBS on 2/22/1991. Sony Dynamicron ES L-750, BII mode

TAPE 13: Born In East LA (1987) recorded off KTVU on 1/6/1990. Sony Dynamicron ES L-750, BII mode

TAPE 14: Fatty Fin (1980) taped off KICU on 3/11/1990. Scotch L-750, BII mode

TAPE 15: "Moon Above, The Earth Below" (CBS News special commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing)taped off KPIX/CBS on 7/13/1989, followed by episodes of Superior Court and The People's Court off KPIX on 2/27 or 2/28/1989. Kodak L-750, BII mode

TAPE 16: Meet The Raisins taped off KPIX/CBS on 11/4/1988 (I've already got this off WTVF), followed by It's A Wonderful Life (1946) recorded off WTBS on Christmas Eve 1988, followed by about three-quarters of Y&R also taped off KPIX/CBS on 11/4/1988. Maxell EX-750.

TAPE 17: Gotcha (1985) and part of The Young LionS (1958) recorded off KTVU on 12/3/1988. Maxell EX-750, BII mode

TAPE 18: About the first 35 minutes of the KCRA Noon News on 4/13/1988, followed by a short clip off KXTV from April 1988, followed by most of the series finale of St. Elsewhere off KCRA on 5/25/1988 (I've also got this already), followed by Guiding Light off KJEO/CBS on 10/30/1992, followed by about the last 45 minutes of ATWT and about two-thirds of Guiding Light off KXTV/CBS on 5/26/1988, then it wraps up with a short news clip off KXTV circa May 1988. BASF L-750

TAPE 19: Parts two and three of The Last Bastion miniseries off KVIE/PBS in October 1987 with a few promos, followed by Beauty & The Beast recorded off KXTV/CBS on 10/30/1987. Sony Dynamicron ES L-750

TAPE 20: Anzacs: The War Down Under (you can tell this recorder was an Aussie aficionado), the 1985 miniseries recorded off KRBK on 10/5 and 10/6/1987. Kodak L-750

MORE TO COME
 
TAPE 21: The Banjo's Australia documentary recorded off KVIE in September 1987, followed by the edited presentation of Disney's Alice In Wonderland (1951) and the premiere of Dolly off KOVR/ABC on 9/27/1987. Kodak L-750

TAPE 22: Dragonslayer (1981), the CBS Friday Movie recorded off KXTV on 7/25/1986, followed by about the last ten minutes of a syndicated rerun of Magnum, P.I. followed by the sign-off off KNTV circa summer 1986. Maxell EX L-750

TAPE 23: Muscle Beach Party (1986) taped off KRBA circa summer 1986, followed by Cocktail (1988) copied from rental, followed by about the last 45 minutes of Days of our Lives off KCRA/NBC on 6/11/1986. Maxell EX L-750

TAPE 24: The Velveteen Rabbit animated special taped off KVIE in December 1986 with a partial pledge break, followed by Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer taped off KXTV/CBS on 12/9/1986 (this marks the seventh different year from 1979 to 1998 that I've found the Greatest Reindeer of All, just two more would make it more fitting for all of the other reindeer), followed by about half of ATWT and all of Guiding Light off KXTV/CBS on 12/3/1986, followed by the second half of Days of our Lives off KCRA/NBC on 11/14/1986, followed by just over half an hour's worth of news from the KCRA 5 PM News from 8/29/1986. Maxell EX L-750

TAPE 25: The Wild One (1954) recorded off KTXL on 11/6/1984, followed by a brief clip from some unknown soap, followed by about the last 80 minutes of Return To Eden, Part 2 off KTXL on 11/1/1985, followed by about the last 15 minutes of ATWT and the first ten minutes of Capitol circa fall 1984 off KXTV/CBS. Fuji L-750

TAPE 26: Great tape! Starts off with about the last 50 minutes of the Australian move The Earthling, taped off KRBK on 9/15/1985, followed by the last ten minutes of the KXTV Noon News on 9/11/1985, followed by episodes of ATWT, Capitol, and Guiding Light off KXTV/CBS on the same afternoon (of course, Y&R airs before noon over most west coast stations between TPIR and the midday news), then it cuts to a short clip from an episode of Hour Magazine circa summer 1985, followed by about the last seven minutes of Name That Tune (begins during the Golden Medley) along with the first seven minutes of the KXTV 5 PM News circa summer 1985. TDK L-750

TAPE 27: A novelty concept for the time given that this predated Nick at Nite by several weeks and TV Land by 11 years, this is the first of five tapes that consists of KTXL's special Golden Age of Television II Marathon, taking place over the 1985 Memorial Day weekend (talk about kicking off a summer where we were going "Back to the Future"). This tape features classic episodes of the Cisco Kid, Sky King, the Foreign Legionnaire, Big Valley, The Adventures of Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes (the '50s syndicated version), Racket Squad, Front Page Detective, and Boston Blackie. Various guests would introduce each show, and among them included Rush Limbaugh. BASF L-750/

TAPE 28: KTXL's Golden Age of Television II Marathon continues with about half of Superman along with full episodes of Batman (an episode that guest starred Joan Collins), The Munsters, The Addams Family, The Odd Couple, Mr. Peppers, I Love Lucy (Harpo Marx guest stars), Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, and The Buck Berle Show. Like Tape 27, recorded on 5/25/1985 on a BASF L-750

TAPE 29: Episodes of The $64,000 Question (the first anniversary episode that widely circulates already, but it did feature the original vintage commercials for Revlon), This Is Your Life (Laurel & Hardy), the premiere of The Lone Ranger from 1949, Sgt. Preseton of the Yokon, Sky King, and Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea recorded off KTXL on 5/25 and 5/26/1985, continuing that marathon from the previous two tapes, then it cuts to about the last half of Guiding Light off KXTV/CBS on 5/20/1985, followed by most of Name That Tune (begins during Melody Roulette) and the first ten minutes of the KXTV 5 PM News on 4/10/1985. BASF L-750

TAPE 30: Episodes of Rawhide, Leave It To Beaver, Make Room For Daddy, The Andy Griffith Show, the premiere of Mayberry RFD from 1968, and the 11th season premiere of The Ed Sullivan Show from 1958, with Mickey Rooney one of the guests off KTXL on 5/26/1985 with guest commentary, followed by about the last 25 minutes of Days of our Lives off KCRA/NBC on 5/23/1985. BASF L-750

TAPE 31: Episodes of Petticoat Junction, the pilot episode of the Beverly Hillbillies, The Trouble With Father, I Remember Mama, I Love Lucy (the episode where Desi sings the theme song), the Howdy Doody Show, the premiere of My Favorite Martial, and a 1952 episode of The Jack Benny Show off KTXL on 5/26/1985 with guest commentary. BASF L-750

TAPE 32: Various footage of NBC's Today off KCRA from 1/28-1/30/1987 with very few commercials (the first of two weeks Down Under), followed by the complete 2/2/1987 and most of the 2/3/1987 episodes of Today off KCRA/NBC with commercials and local newsbreaks. Maxell EX L-750

TAPE 33: Picking up from the end of Tape 32, the tape finishes up the 2/3/1987 episode of Today from Australia with a few commercials, then continues on with the complete 2/4 and 2/5/1987 episodes of Today off KCRA/NBC. Maxell EX L-750

TAPE 34: One more episode of Today off KCRA/NBC on 2/6/1987, followed by a 12-minute clip from 60 Minutes, followed by about three-quarters of the NBC News White Paper special To Be A Teacher off KCRA on 1/5/1987, and among the promos includes a special sneak peek at the upcoming PBS show Square One TV (and yes, the theme song is even heard!) A clean sweep marks my first complete week of the Today show found, and this upgrades various excerpts from that week from a previous find. Maxell EX L-750

TAPE 35: The Story Of English: "The Muyver Tongue" recorded off KVIA/PBS on 10/27/1986 with a few promos (I've got this episode already off WDCN), followed by a brief clip from NBC's Today (Gene Shalit's The Critic's Corner) reviewing Crocodile Dundee circa October 1986, followed by Botany Bay (1953) taped off KTXL in April 1987 (part of Tom La Brie's Night Comfort Theatre, a late night segment plugging his waterbeds that I found A LOT of back in 2018 from those Oakdale VHS lots that were mostly movies (and coincidentally, the seller's location, Riverbank, is just another town over, but that short distance seems to provide ever so slightly more of a pull to the Bay Area), followed by about two-thirds of Days Of Our Lives off KCRA/NBC on 10/27/1986. Maxell EX L-750

TAPE 36: A classic syndicated rerun of My Favorite Martian recorded off an unknown station circa summer 1987 with no commercials, followed by a syndicated rerun of The Facts Of Life off an unknown station circa 1987 with no commercials, followed by a nice partial Saturday afternoon of PBS content, starting with part of Firing Line, followed by episodes of the McLaughlin Group, McLaughlin's One on One, two episodes of Pacific Educational Network's Human Face of the Pacific, Wild America, and Healthy People, Healthy Business off KVIA/PBS on 8/9/1987 with promos between the programs. Kodak L-750

TAPE 37: LWR&KL off KSEE on 8/3/1993, followed by episodes of ATWT and Y&R Maxell off KJEO/CBS from the same day, then it cuts for most of DOOL off KCRA/NBC on 3/18/1987, followed by a little over half of another DOOL off KCRA/NBC on 2/25/1987. L-750. This was the only non-1993 Sony Betamax tape stock that yielded 1993 recordings.
 
Here are the initial 15 keepers from last week's estate sales in Boise. There's still another 40 to go, including the tapes marked with Boise Riverfests. I've already found Boise television going back to 1985!

Tape 1 - 'Christmas in Connecticut' (1992) taped off TNT on 4/13/1992 with commercials, but they are different ads than the YouTube breaks already posted (must have been a rebroadcast). TDK T-120 in SP
Tape 2 - 'Tubby the Tuba' (1975) and The Magic of Herself the Elf taped off HBO circa 1986; 'The Little Prince' (1974) taped off Showtime circa 1986; 'Enchanted Journey' (1975) taped off HBO on 7/24/1986 with promos; Once Upon a Midnight Scary (Vincent Price children's special) taped off Showtime circa 1986; Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979 children's TV special) taped off unknown pay-TV channel. Kodak T-120
Tape 3 - Last seven minutes of 'Going Bananas' (1987), 'Big' (1988), and about 45 minutes of 'Caddyshack II' (1988) taped off HBO on 9/1/1989 with nearly 15 minutes of promos after Big; part of the 22nd CMA Awards taped off KBCI/CBS on 10/10/1988 with commercials. TDK HS T-120
Tape 4 - Bob Hope: The First 90 Years and open to NewsCenter 7's Night Report taped off KTVB/NBC on 5/14/1993 with commercials; part of 60 Minutes and Murder, She Wrote taped off KBCI/CBS on 4/10/1988 with commercials. Polaroid T-120
Tape 5 - 'The Bodyguard' (1992) taped off HBO on 1/8/1994 with about 20 minutes of promos and free preview content afterwards, hosted by Paula Poundstone. TDK T-120
Tape 6 - 'The Man from Snowy River' (1982) taped off HBO on 1/20/1989 with promos after the film (Already have this broadcast, but not the promos from post-film.) TDK HS T-120 in SP
Tape 7 - 'Green Card' (1990) taped off TBS on 3/6/1994 with commercials; most of 'Scent of a Woman' (1992) taped off STARZ! circa March 1994. Maxell T-120 in LP
Tape 8 - 'Cat Ballow' (1965), 'Lost in the Barrens' (1990) and 'Shipwrecked' (1990) taped off Disney Channel circa 1990; Magical World of Disney broadcast of Fuzzbucket taped off Disney Channel circa October 1990 with some promos. Dynatone T-120
Tape 9 - 'A Christmas Romance' (1994) taped off KBCI/CBS on 12/17/1994 with commercials; episode of Miami Vice taped off KTVB/NBC on 1/8/1988 with commercials. Master T-120
Tape 10 - 'Mrs. Santa Claus' (1996) taped off KBCI/CBS on Christmas Eve 1999 with commercials; part of 'The Marriage Fool' (1998) taped off KBCI/CBS on 12/26/1999 with commercials; 'Missing Pieces' (2000) taped off KBCI/CBS on 2/6/2000 with commercials (Hallmark ads). TDK T-120
Tape 11 - Benny Goodman special and 'The Music Man' (1962) taped off KAID/PBS circa 1985; part of The Thorn Birds (part 1) taped off KIVI/ABC on 1/7/1985 with commercials - unexpected! TDK T-120
Tape 12 - 'Oklahoma!' (1955) taped off The Disney Channel on 7/28/1995 with 10 minutes of promos afterwards; 2nd half of Guiding Light taped off KBCI/CBS earlier that day with commercials; 'The Adventures of Huck Finn' (1993) taped off KIVI/ABC on 7/22/1995 with commercials; ends with another episode of Guiding Light (full this time) taped off KBCI/CBS on 7/3/1995 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 13 - 'Mr. Corbett's Ghost' taped off The Disney Channel on 11/1/1990 with promos afterwards; 'The Amazing Mr. Blunden' (1972) taped off Disney Channel in November 1990; 'The Thanksgiving Promise' (1986) and a few minutes of Danger Bay taped off Disney Channel on 11/5/1990 with some promos. Maxell HGX Gold T-120
Tape 14 - 'Michael' (1996) taped off KBCI/CBS on Easter 2000 with commercials; part of 'The Face on the Milk Carton' (1996) and first 30 minutes of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" (1997) taped off Fox Family on 3/13/1999 with commercials. TDK T-120
Tape 15 - Coverage of the 39th Annual Holiday Parade taped off KTVB-7 on 11/21/1987 minus commercials. Still, a piece of Boise history and definitely worth digitizing. SKC T-120
 
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An update on the jackpot of tapes from May 30th. Plus I got a few more tapes the past couple of weeks, one at a church sale in Nampa on June 7th, as well as a handful from an estate sale near downtown Nampa...and then yesterday I got another seven tapes from a yard sale in Caldwell.

MAY 30TH CONTINUED:
Tape 16 - 'Best Friends' (1983) taped off KIVI/ABC on 6/16/1991 with commercials. Maxell T-120
Tape 17 - 'One Fine Day' (1996) taped off Cinemax on 3/23/1998 with 10 minutes of promos afterwards. TDK T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 18 - Andy Williams: The Christmas Show and Neil Diamond's Christmas taped off KAID/PBS on 12/6/1994 with tons of promos afterwards; part of 'My Cousin Vinny' (1992) taped off HBO on 4/17/1993 with promos (Free Preview Weekend). Maxell T-120
Tape 19 - Last 45 minutes of the Los Angeles Olympics Closing Ceremonies taped off (presumed) KIVI/ABC on 8/12/1984, includes the fireworks show and Lionel Richie's "All Night Long"; amazing find follows: the U.S. Championship Jetboat Races taped off KIVI-6 in May 1984 with commercials!! The races were held on the Payette River from Banks to Horseshoe Bend, ID. Then goes into coverage of the Indy 500 taped off KIVI/ABC on 5/29/1984 with very few commercials included, tape cuts off around 100 laps in. This was back when the Indy 500 got a tape-delayed primetime broadcast. Tritech T-120
Tape 20 - Episode of Two and a Half Men taped off KBCI/CBS on 4/12/2009 with commercials; 'The Wedding Date' (2005) and part of America's Funniest Home Videos taped off ABC Family on 10/7/2009 with commercials. Sony T-160 HG
Tape 21 - Both parts of the Dazzle miniseries taped off KBCI/CBS on 10/15 and 10/17/1995 with commercials. Maxell GX-Silver T-120
Tape 22 - The Unicorn taped off Showtime circa 1988; 'Unico in the Island of Magic' (1983) and The Wind in the Willows taped off Disney Channel circa 1988; Charles Dickens' Ghost Stories taped off Showtime circa 1990; Disney's Halloween Treat taped off Disney Channel circa October 1990; partial broadcast of the Calgary Olympics Closing Ceremonies taped off KIVI/ABC on 2/28/1988 with commercials. Royal Sound Video T-120
Tape 23 - Episodes of As the World Turns and Guiding Light taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/20/1995 with commercials; last 10 minutes of Guiding Light taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/18/1995 with commercials; part of 'A Cry in the Night' (1992) taped off TBS circa 1994 minus commercials; 'A Stranger is Watching' (1982) taped off TBS early on 9/14/1994 with commercials. Maxell T-120 in Hi-Fi
Tape 24 - Several episodes of Avonlea taped off The Disney Channel in late 1990 and early 1991, the last broadcast from 4/29/1991 has several minutes of promos afterwards. Unknown T-120
Tape 25 - 'Stanley & Iris' (1990) taped off HBO on 5/9/1991 with 10 minutes of promos afterwards. Maxell T-120, SP
Tape 26 - Episodes of Ghost Whisperer, Moonlight, NUMB3RS and most of Eyewitness News at 10 taped off KBCI/CBS on 11/23/2007 (Black Friday) with commercials; partial episode of Surface, Las Vegas, and part of the 3-D episode of Medium taped off KTVB/NBC on 11/21/2005 with commercials. Fuji T-160 in LP
Tape 27 - 'Betsy's Wedding' (1990) taped off KTRV-12 on 8/1/1993 with commercials. Maxell GX-Silver T-120
Tape 28 - The Barbara Walters Special taped off KIVI/ABC on 2/6/1991 with commercials. Maxell T-120
There were a bunch of Avonlea tapes in there, but with very few promos or none at all. I also tried to go through a tape marked "4th of July Liberty", apparently it has CBS coverage (KBCI-TV) of A Celebration of Liberty from Independence Day 1986. But it's an old Memorex tape and it immediately clogged my heads. I have a few Memorex tapes that are infamous for this. Even if they are clean as a whistle, they still clog the heads after 20-30 minutes in EP. There's also an '80s BASF tape that has "Roseanne & Barbara Walters" on the label...and immediately noticed the first several inches of tape were flaking off. These are also infamous tapes, as the oxide is breaking down on these BASFs. I call them "one-pass tapes". Once the tape has been played once, it will probably never play the same again. I'll put it in the VCR that is hooked to the DVD converter and find out what else is on there.

6/7

Church sale
Tape 1 - 'Pale Rider' (1985), infomercials for the Incredible Sweater Machine and the Bissell Big Green Clean Machine, and midnight sign-off taped off KVEW/ABC on 12/20/1992 with commercials (already have this, but to find Tri-Cities TV in BOISE...WOW!!) Target T-120

Estate Sale
Tape 2 - 'The Valley of Light' (2007) taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/28/2007 with commercials EXCEPT for the local break (Hallmark Hall of Fame); 'Pictures of Hollis Woods' (2007) taped off KBCI/CBS on 12/2/2007 with commercials, again EXCEPT for the local break (Hallmark Hall of Fame); episode of Ghost Whisperer taped off KBCI/CBS on 12/14/2007 with commercials; 'The Russell Girl' (2008) taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/27/2008 with commercials, this time with the local break included. TDK T-120
Tape 3 - Last few minutes of Touched By An Angel and 'Harvey' (1996) taped off KBCI/CBS on 7/18/1999 with commercials; 'The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime' (1996) taped off KBCI/CBS on 7/28/1999 with commercials; 'My Date with the President's Daughter' (1998) taped off KIVI/ABC on 8/1/1999 with commercials. TDK T-120 in Hi-Fi
A few duds, and one more to check with Medium/Ghost Whisperer/Law & Order, probably taped around 2007-08 as well.

The 6/13 tapes come from Portland, and I am still checking those. There were an awful lot of "one movie in SP" tapes that had typed descriptions on them. No doubt copied from rentals. I passed on those.
Next week looks fruitful. Two estate sales in Nampa and Boise are coming up on 6/21. The Nampa pictures show a wooden holder in the garage (good sign), the Boise sale has 3 small stacks of home-recorded tapes in the garage. More to come...

I will be back in Yakima WA for a few days 6/23-26. Due to financial budgets, I will not be able to go to Montana this year for the 50 Mile Bitterroot/Sanders County sales 😞
 
Crainbebo, as it turns out that previous Beta lot had about a half-dozen mid-80s BASF L-750s that had similar oxide loss issues. I did do a "one pass" on one of them Friday (Tape 29), but then had to open up my Beta and clean out the gunk so that the machine could still run. In fact, the day after I finished that search, there were even more flakes as a result of all those BASF tapes. Overall, I'd describe the audio/video quality on them as fair, but definitely with significant tracking lines/spots when playing them back, so its only going to get worse.

My newest tape lot comes from Aberdeen, North Carolina, located in the Sandhills in not far from the golf-oriented communities of Pinehurst and Southern Pines. Most of the finds were from the '90s and off Triangle stations (Sandhills area local inserts for any cable finds), but the one lone '80s find came off a Boston station, which meant this seller was probably another one of those carpetbaggers. All taped were in Polaroid T-120 cases, although a few tapes didn't match the label. There was one dud; a tape that turned out to be an E-180 that ended up having three movies on it and a couple minutes of Showtime promos (following Blade Runner) circa fall 1983. But the rest were all keepers. Chandler may want to consider paying attention to this list as there are tons of '90s UNC games, and not just NCAA tournament games. The most ad zapping was in the 1992-93 season, but many finds of WRDC's Dean Smith Show (often with the same commercials over many episode) provide some nice extra coverage on this period of Tar Heels basketball history, and the majority of the recordings had the commercials intact. As you also may expect, there is some golf content as well, but also a couple important games featuring an NBA legend as well. All tapes are on Polaroid T-120s in EP mode unless otherwise specified.

TAPE 1: The NCAA Men's Basketball (MBB) game between the University of Virginia and North Carolina (UNC) taped off WRAL/Jefferson Pilot Sports (JPS) on 1/10/1998 with commercials and halftime (oddly with the southern Dodge dealers mentioning Florida), followed by the NCAA MBB game between Appalachian State and UNC on 1/17/1998 with commercials/halftime, followed by part of another MBB game between UNC and North Carolina State off ESPN on 1/21/1998 with no commercials and ending after the first half, with snowy noise and no picture remaining for about another 35 minutes, perhaps meaning that the cable wasn't connected properly.

TAPE 2: Golf Talk Live (guest: Nick Faldo) off the Golf Channel on 4/3/1997 with commercials, followed by the 1996 Masters Highlights and the first few minutes of Golf Central off The Golf Channel on 4/9/1997 with ads, followed by two hours worth of second round coverage of the 1997 Masters off USA on 4/11/1997 with commercials, with the recording ending when Tiger Woods walks onto the 18th green. LP mode

TAPE 3: Games 5 and 6 of the 1997 NBA Finals recorded off WNCN/NBC on 6/11 and 6/13/1997 with commercials and halftime, with part of the pregame, the victory celebration, and the first ten minutes of the WNCN late news (not airing until just after Midnight) also included in the Game 6 portion of the recording.

TAPE 4: The complete final round broadcast of the 1997 PGA Championship (well over four hours) along with the WRAL 6 PM News and part of the local newsmagazine WRAL In 30 (featuring the world's longest golf hole) taped off WRAL/CBS on 8/17/1997 with commercials, then it cuts to about the last half of the WRAL 6 PM News and the CBS Evening News from the previous day with commercials.

TAPE 5: Turning Point (episode spotlights Frank Sinatra on his 81st birthday) taped off WTVD/ABC on 12/12/1996 with commercials, followed by The Crow (1994) and the first few minutes of Baywatch taped off WRDC on 11/30/1996 with commercials. Maxell T-120, SP mode for Turning Point, LP for the WRDC portion

TAPE 6: NCAA MBB between UNC and Wake Forest recorded off ESPN on 2/2/1995 with commercials and halftime, followed by MBB between UNC and Duke off WRAL/JPP on 2/2/1995 with some commercials and no halftime, followed by another basketball game between NC State and UNC off WRAL/JPS on 2/4/1995 with few commercials and no halftime, followed by a brief clip at the end from ESPN's third round coverage of the PGA Tour's Phoenix Ocean from 1/28/1995.

TAPE 7: Begins with The Dean Smith Show off WRDC on 3/19/1995 with commercials, followed by most of the NBA on NBC game between The Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers from the same day off WNCN with commercials and halftime, best known for Michael Jordan's comeback debut after a short stint playing MiLB (includes part of the pregame and cuts off about midway through the 4th quarter), then it cuts over to WRAL/CBS for a portion of the Memphis vs. Perdue second round NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Game along with the UNC vs. Iowa State Round of 32 game from later that afternoon with commercials and halftime, which also includes another sneak peek at the Memphis/Perdue game.

TAPE 8: The Dean Smith Show off WRDC on 3/26/95 with commercials, followed by most of the NCAA Final Four basketball game (missing the first few minutes) between UNC and Arkansas as well as the WRAL post-game special off WRAL/CBS with commercials, halftime, and postgame, followed by one more episode of the Dean Smith Show off WRDC from 4/2/1995 with commercials. Maxell T-120

TAPE 9: A Shot In The Dark (1964) and The Party (1968) recorded off TNT on 7/26/1995 with commercials

TAPE 10: NCAA MBB between Wake Forest and UNC, joined in progress nearly midway through the first half taped off WTVD/ABC on 1/30/1994 with commercials and halftime, followed by about the last half of In The Heat Of The Night and another Duke-UNC basketball game off WRAL/CBS/JPS on 2/3/1994 with commercials and halftime, followed by most of the UNC-NC State basketball match off WRAL/JPS on 2/8/1994 with commercials and halftime, with the tape running out around the four minute mark.
 
TAPE 11: NCAA MBB between UNC and Maryland off WRAL/JPS on 1/8/1994 with commercials, halftime, and part of the postgame, followed by The Dean Smith Show off WTVD on 1/9/1994 with ads, followed by another college basketball game between Clemson and UNC off WRAL/JPS on 1/15/1994 with commercials and halftime, followed by another episode of The Dean Smith Show off WTVD on 1/16/1994 with commercials

TAPE 12: Episodes of The Dean Smith show off WRDC on 12/5 and 12/12/1993 with commercials, followed by a short clip from the end of the UNC-BYU MBB game on 12/15/1993, followed by the UNC-Ohio State basketball game off WTVD/ABC on 12/18/1993 with commercials and halftime, followed by most of the UNC-Pittsburgh NCAA MBB game off ESPN on 12/20/1993 with most commercials, but with most of the halftime break scoped. Still, early season non-conference college basketball isn't exactly an easy find.

TAPE 13: Nearly complete coverage of second day action of the 1993 Ryder Cup recorded off WRDC/NBC on 9/25/1993 with commercials (nearly six hours long), followed by about 15 minutes worth of coverage of the 1992 US Open Highlights Show off ESPN circa June 1993 with a few commercials

TAPE 14: Games from the first four rounds of the 1993 NCAA MBB Tournament all featuring the UNC Tar Heels, including East Carolina, Rhode Island, Arkansas, and Cincinnati recorded off WRAL/CBS on 3/18, 3/20, 3/26, and 3/28/1993 with very few commercials and no halftime shows intact, although there were also two episodes of WRDC's The Dean Smith Show from 3/20 and 3/27/1993 found on this tape, with the former having the commercials intact and the later zapped.

TAPE 15: The Dean Smith Show recorded off WRDC on 3/7/1993 with some commercials, followed by the NCAA MBB game between Duke and UNC off WTVD/ABC on 3/7/1993 with very few commercials and no halftime, followed by the last few minutes of the ACC MBB Quarterfinals between Wake Forest and Virginia as well as the full game between UNC and Maryland off WRAL/JPS on 3/11/1993 with most commercials and halftime (this locally pre-empted CBS' afternoon soaps), followed by most of the ACC MBB Semifinals between Virginia and UNC off WRAL/JPS on 3/13/1993 with no commercials or halftime.

TAPE 16: Kicks off with another game where the Tar Heels knock off my UMD Terrapins, recorded off WRAL/JPS on 2/9/1993 with no commercials or halftime (double boo), followed by The Dean Smith Show off WRDC on 2/14/1993 with commercials, followed by the UNC vs. Georgia Tech MBB game off WTVD/ABC with a few commercials along with the Foot Locker Slam Dunk Contest at halftime, followed by most of the basketball game between Clemson and UNC off WRAL/JPS on 2/17/1993 with few commercials and most of the halftime cut, followed by one more episode of The Dean Smith Show off WRDC on 2/21/1993 with commercials.

TAPE 17: The Dean Smith Show off WRDC on 1/24/1993 with no commercials, followed by the UNC-Seton Hall NCAA MBB game off WRAL/CBS from the same day with no commercials or halftime, followed by another basketball game featuring UNC and Florida State off ESPN on 1/27/1993 with no ads or halftime, followed by another episode of The Dean Smith Show off WRDC on 1/31/1993 with commercials, followed by the UNC-NC State basketball match off WRAL/JPS on 2/6/1993 with few commercials.

TAPE 18: Two NCAA basketball games from the Diet Pepsi Challenge tournament featuring UNC and South Carolina along with USC and Texas recorded off Raycom sports on 12/4 and 12/5/1992 with no commercials or halftime, followed by The Dean Smith Show taped off presumably WRDC on 12/20/1992 with no commercials, followed by the Butler vs. UNC basketball game off ESPN on 12/20/1992 with no commercials or halftime, followed by the UNC-Ohio State MBB game off WRAL/JPS on 12/20/1992 with no commercials.

TAPE 19: Starts with part of the Pointer Sisters "Jump (For My Love)" video taped off WTBS Night Tracks circa 1986, followed by a couple minutes of The Movie Channel promos, Manhattan (1979), and about seven minutes of The Movie Channel promos from 12/21/1986, followed by The Jewel of The Nile (1985) and Pale Rider (1985) taped off unknown pay-TV stations, followed by about the last 30 minutes of People Are Talking and about the first 20 minutes of Love Connection taped off WBZ on 1/22/1987 with commercials

A good way to tell an older Polaroid tape from the others is if there's a grainy surface on the outer portion of the label, which has the appearance of a bunch of small, rocklike particles, which is where that '80s find came from (it was in use by 1983, and those grains lasted until 1988). The front of the tape also had the word Polaroid just to the left of the recording tab, before it was replaced with a P-series serial number. Polaroid sleeve designs really didn't change that much until late in the '90s when the five colored bars became curved; before that, the biggest change is on the side label where the word SUPERCOLOR was dropped and the "Polaroid" text was made smaller, and this change happened around the end of 1992/beginning of 1993.
 
Wowza, thats a TON of Dean Smith shows, most of those don't even exist in the trading circles of people that are into basketball and sports. Some years back I found multiple episodes of the Coach K Show from 1986 from a free local VHS pickup find. Years later I came across a few dozen UNC basketball tapes and a few had an episode or 2 of the Dean Smith show, but none of those particular episodes (and I'm definitely interested in them). If you want a complete copy of some of those UNC games let me know as I can fill in gaps on certain ones.

Good to know about Polaroid, that is a common brand for blanks that I come across and indeed the boxes looked mostly the same for nearly 2 decades, its not like other companies where you can even tell when the boxes were thicker cardboard or plastic in the earlier days vs later or when the logos had drastic changes. The weight of the tape itself is a good clue as to age as well. By the mid 1990s the tape shells were made with plastic that was a bit lighter, by 2-3 oz.
 


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