Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have

[crainbebo]

And here's the finds from my road trip back to see family in WA (6/23-27). These included yard sale stops in north ID on the way back, Friday. Duds and rental copies omitted, as well as an Orion HV official release of Dances with Wolves that had the label peeled off, and a Scotch tape that said "Westminster Dog Show"...well, I got more than a dog show, I got late 2000s pay-per-view porn, YIKES. Some came from the Goodwill Outlet in Pasco, and a few were given to me by a good friend of mine back in Yakima.

Tape 1 - Masterpiece Theatre broadcast of 'Interview Day' taped off KTNW/PBS on 5/24/1998; part of Far from the Maddening Crowd and The Red Green Show taped off KCTS/PBS on 5/10/1998 with promos (already have this from KYVE); cuts to part of Part 2 of Tom Jones taped off A&E in April 1998 with commercials; two episodes of As Time Goes By taped off KCTS circa winter 1998; clip of the Nagano Olympics taped off KREM/CBS on 2/14/1998 (Elvis Stojko's free skate); partial episode of Interior Motives with Christopher Lowell taped off Discovery Channel circa May 1997 with commercials. SKC T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 2 - Mt. St. Helens' Fury (special narrated by Tom Skerritt) taped off KIMA-29 on 5/13/2000 with commercials; Mt. St. Helens: Then and Now and two episodes of Whose Line Is It Anyway? taped off KAPP/ABC on 5/18/2000 with commercials (already have this from Larry McGuire's estate sale in July 2017 - the one that brought 1979-1981 Yakima TV to digitization). Maxell T-120, HiFi
Tape 3 - 'License to Drive' (1988) and 'Nightwing' (1979) taped off Cinemax on 6/3/1989 with promos; 'Willow' (1988) taped off unknown pay-TV channel with no promos (assumed Cinemax). Master T-120
Tape 4 - One of those VCR "left on all night" tapes - 'The Wizard of Oz' (1939), Rescue 911, Eyewitness News 8 11:00 Update, Entertainment Tonight, America Tonight, Wiseguy, and about 40 minutes of Night Heat taped off KLAS-8 Las Vegas/CBS on 3/19-20/1991 with commercials. Sony T-120
Tape 5 - 'Tin Cup' (1996) taped off Request PPV in February 1997 with a few promos before the film. Sony T-120 in SP, cuts off before the end of the film.
Tape 6 - Kenny Chesney: No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems concert taped off CMT on 12/1/2002 with commercials; part of the Blue Collar Comedy Tour taped off Comedy Central on 11/17/2003 with commercials. Sony T-120
Tape 7 - 'Where the Hell's That Gold?!!' (1988) taped from CBS minus commercials; part of The Secret World with Christopher Lee (documentary) taped off KVVU-5 in May 1990 with commercials, with a chunk taped over by a BET Jazz Central clip with the late Charlie Byrd - cool! Unknown branded T-120
Tape 8 - Ed Hume on Pruning copied from retail tape, after tape ends is 1/2 an episode of Matlock, News 3 at 5 and NBC Nightly News (substitute anchor Stone Phillips) taped off KVBC-3 on 6/7/1993 with commercials, poor signal in black & white quality. Focal T-120
Tape 9 - Episode of Extreme Machines taped off TLC in October 1997 with commercials; Discovery Sunday documentary on Area 51 taped off Discovery Channel circa October 1997 minus commercials; partial broadcast of Mysteries of the Millennium taped off TLC in October 1997 with commercials; UFO taped off TLC on 10/7/1997 with commercials; Tracy Byrd: Big Love taped off TNN on 10/8/1997 with some commercials; episode of South Park taped off Comedy Central minus commercials. Sony T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 10 - Episode of Days of Our Lives taped off KVBC/NBC on 5/18/1995 with commercials (Marlena possession storyline), flips over to KLAS-8 for that day's Jenny Jones, the Channel 8 News at 5, and part of the CBS Evening News with commercials. Fuji T-160 Super HG in SP
Tape 11 - Two hours of the Andy Griffith Marathon taped off TBS on 1/31/1993 with commercials. Memorex T-120 in SP
Tape 12 - *AWESOME TAPE*: Brief clip of "Eraser" (1996) taped from pay-per-view; followed by another VCR "left on all night" aircheck: partial episode of Melrose Place, Ned & Stacey, Partners, Baywatch Nights, A Current Affair, LAPD, Mark Walberg, Gabrielle and first bit of "What's Up Doc?" (1971) taped off KVVU/Fox ("Henderson-Laaaaaaas Vegas", as the late Ralph Menard would say) on 3/4-5/1996 with commercials! Polaroid T-120, 1980s stock. A first for me, as I have never found those two short-lived talk shows before!
Tape 13 - 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' (2005) taped off unknown ABC station (probably KVEW-42) on 2/9/2008 minus commercials; clip of CSI: NY; first 10 minutes of an episode of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew taped off VH1 in January 2008 with a partial commercial break; another "let it run" follows: partial episode of As the World Turns, Guiding Light, Dr. Phil, a double-run of Judge Judy, KEPR Action News at 5 and part of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric taped off KEPR/CBS on 1/30/2008 with commercials. Polaroid T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 14 - 'Angel Eyes' (2001) taped off TBS on 4/16/2005 with commercials (Spokane inserts); cuts to a clip of Comcast channel surfing from 9/1/2004 through the movie channels in the 500s; partial episode of Cops taped off FX on 5/6/2004 with one commercial break; episode of City Confidential taped off A&E in May 2004 with commercials; President Bush's speech at the Republican National Convention taped off Fox News on 9/2/2004; partial episode of Home Matters, HouseSmart and Interior Motives with Christopher Lowell taped off Discovery Channel in March 1997 with commercials. Scotch T-120
Tape 15 - 'American Dreamer' (1984) and 'Bull Durham' (1988) taped off pay cable with no ads or promos; episode of The Reporters (America Under Siege) taped off KVVU/Fox on 11/18/1989 with commercials. Sony T-120
Tape 16 - All four parts of Wives & Daughters, as aired on Masterpiece Theatre on 4/1, 4/8, 4/15 and 4/22/2001, taped off KCTS/PBS; partial episode of Early Edition taped off Fox Family in October 2000 with commercials. TDK T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 17 - Incomplete broadcast of 'True Lies' (1994) taped off Request 3 PPV early on 4/10/1995, and then it cuts to Sneak Prevue promos/trailers until the tape ends (Las Vegas cable). Fuji Super HG T-160 in SP. Sadly, it taped over first-run Simpsons episodes.

 

[chandler0201]

Damn another all nighter from KLAS, great find on Tape #4 there.

 

[crainbebo]

That's the same one, Chandler. This is just the master list after compiling all of the tape finds. Previous posts on KLAS had been highlights of finds made.

 

[chandler0201]

To weight in on the commercials discussion, current commercials ABSOLUTELY SUCK there is no debate there. The thing about the old commercials is that they put you in a time and place or they are a reminder of America (lets be honest we come across American content 99.9% of the time) in certain cultural periods like the 1980s or 1990s, the 1970s is not well represented commercials wise unless you collect sports content as there is a ton of sports out there pre 1980 but very little network TV so you can get a sense of what was aired on those type of shows, but I digress.

Ironically when I was recording stuff myself in the late 80s and 90s I cut commercials often so I could jam as much stuff as possible on a 6 hour tape at EP speed. Looking back I wish I had not done that but it is what it is.

 

[crainbebo]

I'm working 40-50 hours a week now, so it is not easy to go through tapes, but I scored another massive lot of VHS tapes today in Boise. There will be at least a partial list later. They came from three estate sales. One in Nampa had a BASF marked "Marty Robbins". The other two sales were in Middleton and Boise's North End, just above downtown in a big townhouse. The Middleton sale was full of car parts and tools, and two buckets full of license plates. I picked up a vintage 1966 1A (Ada) Idaho plate for $5, half-off! I have been trying to collect all 44 counties in the state, as we use county codes (like MT, WY, and NE). So far, I have found plates from 14 counties.
1A (Ada / Boise), 2C (Canyon / Nampa, Caldwell), 2G (Gooding), 5B (Blaine / Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey), 7B (Bonner / Sandpoint), K (Kootenai / CDA, Post Falls), W (Washington / Weiser), V (Valley, my local one), E (Elmore, Mountain Home), 1P (Payette), 3L (Lewis / Kamiah), 9B (Boundary / Bonners Ferry), 8B (Bonneville / Idaho Falls), and 2O (Owyhee / Homedale, Marsing).

Surprisingly, I have not found a 1G yet (Emmett / Gem County). Also, no 6B (Boise County - Garden Valley and Horseshoe Bend) or nearby 2A (Adams County, where New Meadows and Council is). There was a 1G at one of the sales but it was in a bundle with a bunch of other '40s-'50s ID plates...for $125. The holy grail of ID plates is 5C, Clark County. The eastern Idaho county, home to DuBois, has a whopping 790 people. Finding a 5C plate would be like finding a VHS with 6 hours of KXGN Glendive on it from the late '80s. It's beyond rare.
The sale also had many California plates, blue-era and white-era.

Inside the Middleton house was a massive collection of records, cassettes, 8-tracks, reel-to-reels, tons of turntables, ARCADE GAMES, including a pub darts electronic game that came from a tavern, and a cabinet full of VHS tapes. There were Betamax tapes there, including L-500/750 blanks, but they were gone the day before. It was a mind-blowing sale. There was a Beta player still for sale (a Sanyo Hi-Fi for $80). I did not buy it because Sanyos are known for worn belts and would likely fail. My Sony SL-3030 is still running strong after about 8 years of use.

The Boise sale had tapes in an entertainment center, a wooden holder downstairs, and then an entire CABINET full of them in the basement hallway!! I couldn't believe it! Just when I thought I saw all the tapes, there was more. 200+ tapes, retail and recorded, at that house alone. I got 20 or 21, cherry-picked at $1/tape and also due to time obligations.
Labels run the gamut from movies to Johnny Carson, SNL specials to Boston Public, and an ancient Scotch tape marked "Music Awards". Not sure if it's the MTV awards, Grammys, or American Music Awards. But we will find out soon.

Anyhow, I made a really nice find in the previous Boise lots. Ended up finding the 1/12/1996 Donahue from KTVB with commercials. That's now my newest find of that talk show. It would be gone by May. The same tape also has a KBCI-2 "let it run" from 7/8/1995 on it. Baywatch, CBS Evening News, 5:30 news, Jeopardy!, Roseanne, and 15 minutes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman with commercials. You just never know what's on each tape.

 

[Jman8606]

I'm working 40-50 hours a week now, so it is not easy to go through tapes, but I scored another massive lot of VHS tapes today in Boise. There will be at least a partial list later. They came from three estate sales. One in Nampa had a BASF marked "Marty Robbins". The other two sales were in Middleton and Boise's North End, just above downtown in a big townhouse. The Middleton sale was full of car parts and tools, and two buckets full of license plates. I picked up a vintage 1966 1A (Ada) Idaho plate for $5, half-off! I have been trying to collect all 44 counties in the state, as we use county codes (like MT, WY, and NE). So far, I have found plates from 14 counties.
1A (Ada / Boise), 2C (Canyon / Nampa, Caldwell), 2G (Gooding), 5B (Blaine / Sun Valley, Ketchum, Hailey), 7B (Bonner / Sandpoint), K (Kootenai / CDA, Post Falls), W (Washington / Weiser), V (Valley, my local one), E (Elmore, Mountain Home), 1P (Payette), 3L (Lewis / Kamiah), 9B (Boundary / Bonners Ferry), 8B (Bonneville / Idaho Falls), and 2O (Owyhee / Homedale, Marsing).

Surprisingly, I have not found a 1G yet (Emmett / Gem County). Also, no 6B (Boise County - Garden Valley and Horseshoe Bend) or nearby 2A (Adams County, where New Meadows and Council is). There was a 1G at one of the sales but it was in a bundle with a bunch of other '40s-'50s ID plates...for $125. The holy grail of ID plates is 5C, Clark County. The eastern Idaho county, home to DuBois, has a whopping 790 people. Finding a 5C plate would be like finding a VHS with 6 hours of KXGN Glendive on it from the late '80s. It's beyond rare.
The sale also had many California plates, blue-era and white-era.

Inside the Middleton house was a massive collection of records, cassettes, 8-tracks, reel-to-reels, tons of turntables, ARCADE GAMES, including a pub darts electronic game that came from a tavern, and a cabinet full of VHS tapes. There were Betamax tapes there, including L-500/750 blanks, but they were gone the day before. It was a mind-blowing sale. There was a Beta player still for sale (a Sanyo Hi-Fi for $80). I did not buy it because Sanyos are known for worn belts and would likely fail. My Sony SL-3030 is still running strong after about 8 years of use.

The Boise sale had tapes in an entertainment center, a wooden holder downstairs, and then an entire CABINET full of them in the basement hallway!! I couldn't believe it! Just when I thought I saw all the tapes, there was more. 200+ tapes, retail and recorded, at that house alone. I got 20 or 21, cherry-picked at $1/tape and also due to time obligations.
Labels run the gamut from movies to Johnny Carson, SNL specials to Boston Public, and an ancient Scotch tape marked "Music Awards". Not sure if it's the MTV awards, Grammys, or American Music Awards. But we will find out soon.

Anyhow, I made a really nice find in the previous Boise lots. Ended up finding the 1/12/1996 Donahue from KTVB with commercials. That's now my newest find of that talk show. It would be gone by May. The same tape also has a KBCI-2 "let it run" from 7/8/1995 on it. Baywatch, CBS Evening News, 5:30 news, Jeopardy!, Roseanne, and 15 minutes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman with commercials. You just never know what's on each tape.

Nice! My longtime local NBC affiliate had Donahue for years. But they got rid of it early 1996 and replaced it with Crook and Chase.

 

[Jman8606]

As far as commercials go, before YouTube I always made it an effort to find home recordings from the pre-Clinton days but with family and friends hardly any luck. So most of the time I did tape trading. If I would have known about a thread like this I would have scoured thrift stores, flea markets, estate sales etc.

Now I do feel a nostalgia for post-Clinton era commercials. Especially from cable back when the cable networks were good and not shells of their former selves like they are now.

 

[Scott2013]

More finds from the last few weeks.

Parma, OH estate sale--looking at the photos on EstateSales.net, it looked like it had quite a few tapes there, but by the time I got there, many of them were picked through except for one unmarked tape I found in the garage
TAPE 1: Part one of Pope John Paul II (CBS miniseries) taped from WOIO on 12/4/2005 with commercials. Maxell T-120.


Bath Township, OH estate sale
TAPE 2: Partial episode of Rush Limbaugh taped from WKYC on 6/24/1993 with commercials; Jeopardy, The Wonder Years, Doogie Howser M.D., Home Improvement, Coach, Sirens, News Channel 5 at Eleven, Nightline, Hard Copy and partial Movie 5 presentation of Key Largo (1948) taped from WEWS on June 23-24, 1993 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 3: Oprah taped from WEWS on 5/11/1989 with commercials; Oprah and start of Live on Five taped from WEWS on 5/12/1989 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 4: Hour of Power and partial episode of Thunder in Paradise taped from WUAB on 9/4/1994 with commercials. JVC T-120.


Fairlawn, OH estate sale--all of these tapes were unmarked, and also in the entertainment center in the living room was a TiVo Series 2 DVR that I wanted to grab, but it was still plugged into the wall out of my reach and I couldn't pick it up without it being unplugged--I only left it behind because I had to get to work soon and didn't have time to wait for one of the workers from the estate sale company to help me out
TAPE 5: NYPD Blue taped from WEWS on 10/14/2003 with commercials (already have this taped from WABC); partial simulcast of ESPN Sunday Night Football (Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) taped from WKYC on 10/5/2003 with commercials (not the only time WKYC's done that, but it's kind of weird nonetheless--imagine seeing a promo for an ABC show on an NBC affiliate!); partial episode of The Practice taped from WEWS on 10/5/2003 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 6: Rain (Animal Planet and WIN Television made-for-TV movie) taped from Animal Planet on 5/25/2001 with commercials; partial broadcast of Conspiracy Theory (1997) taped from WOIO on 5/23/2001 with commercials; end of Becker and Family Law taped from WOIO on 5/7/2001 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 7: The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular taped from WOIO on 5/10/2003 with commercials; partial episode of America's Most Talented Kid taped from WKYC on 4/4/2003 with commercials; partial broadcast of Big Spender (Animal Planet made-for-TV movie) taped from Animal Planet on 3/25/2003 with commercials. Magnavox T-120.

TAPE 8: Partial episode of Less Than Perfect and NYPD Blue taped from WEWS on 2/11/2003 with commercials; partial broadcast of Channel 3 News at 11:00 taped from WKYC in February 2003 with commercials; Hack taped from WOIO on 1/24/2003 with commercials. Maxell T-120.


Brunswick, OH estate sale--evidently the homeowner ran a photography business in North Royalton and created videotapes and slideshows of weddings--many of the tapes found here were short-form cassettes that originally contained copies of this guy's videos and he ultimately taped over most of them later on in SLP mode (obviously the versions that were distributed to the clients were on other tapes)
TAPE 9: Dateline NBC and partial broadcast of Channel 3 News at 11 taped from WKYC on 3/16/1998 with commercials; partial episode of It's Showtime at the Apollo taped from WKYC on 5/18/1997 with commercials; partial recording of a wedding reception presumably taped sometime in the early to mid 1990s. Unknown brand T-120.

TAPE 10: South Park ("Chef Aid" episode featuring several special guest voices including the recently departed Ozzy Osbourne) taped from Comedy Central on 10/7/1998 with commercials. Unknown brand T-30.

TAPE 11: Partial episode of The Maury Povich Show, Jerry Springer ("Get Your Own Man!," available for free with ads on YouTube) and partial episode of Montel Williams ("Surprise Reunions!") taped from WKYC on 3/4/1998 with commercials. Maxell T-30.

TAPE 12: Saturday Night Live Remembers Phil Hartman taped from WKYC on June 13-14, 1998 with commercials. Maxell T-30.

TAPE 13: Most of an episode of Investigative Reports ("The Secret Tapes of Richard Speck") taped from A&E in May 1996 with commercials. Unknown brand T-15.

TAPE 14: Jerry Springer ("Stripper Wars!," also available on YouTube for free with ads) and partial episode of Montel Williams (racial injustices and hate crimes) taped from WKYC on 2/3/1998 with commercials. Maxell T-30.

TAPE 15: There's Something About Mary (1998) copied from rental tape; partial episode of Guinness World Records Primetime and start of Fox 8 News at Ten taped from WJW on 10/27/1998 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120.

TAPE 16: Puppy Bowl IX and three episodes of Too Cute taped from Animal Planet on February 3-4, 2013 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 17: Jerry Springer ("I Won't Let You Sell Your Body!") and partial episode of Montel Williams ("Paternity Test Results Revealed") taped from WKYC on 2/26/1998 with commercials. Unknown brand T-30.

TAPE 18: End of 60 Minutes, CBS Playhouse '90s presentation of A Streetcar Named Desire (already have a partial recording of this from WTVH), 19 News at 11:00, Browns Sunday Night and partial broadcast of Extra Weekend taped from WOIO on October 29-30, 1995 with commercials; partial broadcast of Iron Maze (1991) and partial broadcast of No Safe Haven (1987) taped from Cinemax in October 1992 with promos during a Free Preview Weekend. JVC T-120.

TAPE 19: Partial episode of Trauma: Life and Death in the E.R., Byzantine: The Lost Empire and Earth's Fury taped from TLC on 9/27/1997 with commercials; partial recording of a wedding ceremony and reception as edited by the photography company, date is listed as 8/13/1994. Unknown brand T-120.

If that wasn't bad enough, also in the garage with the videotapes were several VHS and Betamax VCRs, and inside one of the Beta VCRs was a home-recorded tape of what appeared to be porn movies (based on the titles) of all things! 😳 No other Beta tapes were spotted there.

 

[crainbebo]

So he ran a wedding photography business and was a huge part of a new couple's life - but enjoyed watching strippers and cheaters fight each other on "JERRY JERRY JERRY" during the day? How ironic!

Here's the first 13 from three aforementioned estate sales and a yard sale on 7/26 down in the Boise area. I have marked them "M" for Middleton and "B" for Boise as there were sales in both of those cities. There was also two tapes from an estate sale and a yard sale respectively in Nampa, those have not been checked, see why below. Good finds so far!

Tape 1M - The top 5 songs on the 1983 Music Video Countdown hosted by Richard Blade of KROQ, taped off KCBS-2 on 1/7/1984 with no full ads included, but does have host segments; multiple music videos from a broadcast of Video One taped off KHJ-9 in January 1984; 'The Man with Two Brains' (1983) and "Flashdance" (1983) taped off Showtime circa March 1984; Michael Jackson's Thriller video ends the tape. TDK EHG T-120
Tape 2B - Murder, She Wrote and part 1 of Lonesome Dove taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/20/1991 with commercials; part 2 of Lonesome Dove taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/22/1991 with commercials; then cuts to the end of a Gulf War update, Murphy Brown and Good Sports taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/21/1991 with commercials. I have the '91 rebroadcast from KIMA, but not the Murder, She Wrote episode. Maxell T-120
Tape 3M - 'Charlotte's Web' (1974) taped off unknown pay-TV channel (probably Disney) in the late '80s; special "All Growed Up" episode of Rugrats taped off Nickelodeon on 7/21/2001 with commercials (commercials already posted on YouTube, so not pulling this off); partial broadcast of the Roy Orbison Black & White Concert taped off Cinemax; episode of Tour of Duty taped off KCBS/CBS on 1/14/1988 with commercials; part of 'Hour of the Assassin' (1987) and part of "The Holcroft Covenant" (1985) taped off Cinemax on 1/8/1988 with promos. Kodak T-120
Tape 4M - 'Days of Thunder' (1990), Tales from the Crypt, Dream On, "My Blue Heaven" (1990), 1st and Ten and part of "Leviathan" (1989) taped off HBO on 7/17-18/1991 with promos. Kodak T-120
Tape 5B -'The Legend of Billie Jean' (1985) and 'Hiding Out' (1987) taped off unknown pay-TV channels; part of 'A Whale for the Killing' (1981) taped off TBS on 9/17/1991 with commercials. SKC T-120
Tape 6M - 'Alice in Wonderland' (1951) and 'The Sword in The Stone' (1963) taped off Disney Channel circa 1985; 'Dumbo' (1941) taped off KNBC/NBC on 11/18/1985 with commercials; Looney Tunes' 50th Anniversary taped off KCBS/CBS on 1/14/1986 with commercials. Kodak T-120
Tape 7B - Episode of The Pretender, Profiler, first 5 minutes of the NewsCenter 7 Weekend Report, then a cut to Saturday Night Live and part of American Gladiators taped off KTVB/NBC on 1/11-12/1997 with commercials. Scotch EG+ T-120. The first minute or so is pretty chewed up.
Tape 8B - Most of 60 Minutes taped off KBCI/CBS on 6/19/1988 with commercials; part of Evergreen part 1 taped off KTVB/NBC on 6/12/1988 minus commercials; part of 'The Sunshine Boys' taped off KTRV-12 on 6/1/1988 with commercials; episode of Miami Vice and part of NewsCenter 7 Night Report taped off KTVB/NBC on 4/29/1988 with commercials; followed by a nice Saturday evening block with a partial episode of 227, The Golden Girls and Amen taped off KTVB/NBC on 4/23/1988 with commercials. DynaTone T-120. Strangely, the quality is slightly degraded and 2nd-generation, so it was copied from another tape.
Tape 9B - 'A Christmas Story' (1983) taped off KTRV-12 on 12/11/1988 with commercials; 'It Happened One Christmas' (1977) taped off KTRV-12 on 12/12/1988 with commercials; most of the NFC Championship taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/11/1987 with commercials, Giants shutting out the Redskins. Memorex T-120
Tape 10M - Broadcast of World Class Championship Boxing from the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut (Eric Harding vs. David Telesco, Randy Griffin vs. Levan Easley) taped off KKJB-39 Boise on 2/11/2005 with commercials...a rare find indeed, as they were an America One affiliate. Now a Telemundo station. TDK T-120, SP
Tape 11M - Another 6-hour pay-TV aircheck, this time Cinemax from 7/3-4/1988 with promos: "La Bamba" (1987), "National Lampoon's Vacation" (1983), "Meatballs III: Summer Job" (1987) and about an hour of "Revenge of the Nerds" (1984). Kodak T-120
Tape 12B - A Must-See-TV block on this tape: Episodes of Friends, Jesse, and back-to-back Frasiers taped off KTVB/NBC on 2/10/2000 with commercials. Sony T-120, Hi-Fi, SP.
Tape 13M - About 20 minutes of O.J. Simpson trial coverage from KNBC; which then gets taped over with the overtime and penalty kick periods at the 1994 World Cup final taped off KABC/ABC on 7/17/1994 with commercials; followed by another 1/2 hour of static, then a partially taped-over broadcast of the Fox 11 News, Studs, M*A*S*H and part of The Jeffersons taped off KTTV on 2/20-21/1992 with commercials. This is the 2nd find I have made of Mark DeCarlo's game show. Scotch T-120

Unfortunately, my Sharp Hi-Fi VCR (bought in 2023) has completely bit the dust, a 14th tape has gotten stuck in the VCR and it won't come out...pinch roller isn't doing its job anymore and it gnaws on the tape unless I push it down correctly. May need to take this in to get the stuck tape out and then recycle it.
I have a Panasonic mono VCR (from 1995) that is being used to convert tapes to DVD, as well as a Sharp mono that is hit and miss right now. So none of my Hi-Fi tapes can be converted to DVD until I get another Hi-Fi VCR. There's an estate sale on Sat/Sun in Caldwell with two VCRs in the picture and I may just drive the 90+ miles. One is a Mitsubishi HS-U70 and the other is a JVC S-VHS. The Mitsubishi *may* need belt replacements, I'll find out. The U70s were awesome top-line VCRs in the late '80s as well as the beefier U80. They were great competition with the AG-1980 from Panasonic for professional purposes.

 

[Jman8606]

More finds from the last few weeks.

Parma, OH estate sale--looking at the photos on EstateSales.net, it looked like it had quite a few tapes there, but by the time I got there, many of them were picked through except for one unmarked tape I found in the garage
TAPE 1: Part one of Pope John Paul II (CBS miniseries) taped from WOIO on 12/4/2005 with commercials. Maxell T-120.


Bath Township, OH estate sale
TAPE 2: Partial episode of Rush Limbaugh taped from WKYC on 6/24/1993 with commercials; Jeopardy, The Wonder Years, Doogie Howser M.D., Home Improvement, Coach, Sirens, News Channel 5 at Eleven, Nightline, Hard Copy and partial Movie 5 presentation of Key Largo (1948) taped from WEWS on June 23-24, 1993 with commercials. Sony T-120.

TAPE 3: Oprah taped from WEWS on 5/11/1989 with commercials; Oprah and start of Live on Five taped from WEWS on 5/12/1989 with commercials. TDK T-120.

TAPE 4: Hour of Power and partial episode of Thunder in Paradise taped from WUAB on 9/4/1994 with commercials. JVC T-120.


Fairlawn, OH estate sale--all of these tapes were unmarked, and also in the entertainment center in the living room was a TiVo Series 2 DVR that I wanted to grab, but it was still plugged into the wall out of my reach and I couldn't pick it up without it being unplugged--I only left it behind because I had to get to work soon and didn't have time to wait for one of the workers from the estate sale company to help me out
TAPE 5: NYPD Blue taped from WEWS on 10/14/2003 with commercials (already have this taped from WABC); partial simulcast of ESPN Sunday Night Football (Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers) taped from WKYC on 10/5/2003 with commercials (not the only time WKYC's done that, but it's kind of weird nonetheless--imagine seeing a promo for an ABC show on an NBC affiliate!); partial episode of The Practice taped from WEWS on 10/5/2003 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 6: Rain (Animal Planet and WIN Television made-for-TV movie) taped from Animal Planet on 5/25/2001 with commercials; partial broadcast of Conspiracy Theory (1997) taped from WOIO on 5/23/2001 with commercials; end of Becker and Family Law taped from WOIO on 5/7/2001 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 7: The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular taped from WOIO on 5/10/2003 with commercials; partial episode of America's Most Talented Kid taped from WKYC on 4/4/2003 with commercials; partial broadcast of Big Spender (Animal Planet made-for-TV movie) taped from Animal Planet on 3/25/2003 with commercials. Magnavox T-120.

TAPE 8: Partial episode of Less Than Perfect and NYPD Blue taped from WEWS on 2/11/2003 with commercials; partial broadcast of Channel 3 News at 11:00 taped from WKYC in February 2003 with commercials; Hack taped from WOIO on 1/24/2003 with commercials. Maxell T-120.


Brunswick, OH estate sale--evidently the homeowner ran a photography business in North Royalton and created videotapes and slideshows of weddings--many of the tapes found here were short-form cassettes that originally contained copies of this guy's videos and he ultimately taped over most of them later on in SLP mode (obviously the versions that were distributed to the clients were on other tapes)
TAPE 9: Dateline NBC and partial broadcast of Channel 3 News at 11 taped from WKYC on 3/16/1998 with commercials; partial episode of It's Showtime at the Apollo taped from WKYC on 5/18/1997 with commercials; partial recording of a wedding reception presumably taped sometime in the early to mid 1990s. Unknown brand T-120.

TAPE 10: South Park ("Chef Aid" episode featuring several special guest voices including the recently departed Ozzy Osbourne) taped from Comedy Central on 10/7/1998 with commercials. Unknown brand T-30.

TAPE 11: Partial episode of The Maury Povich Show, Jerry Springer ("Get Your Own Man!," available for free with ads on YouTube) and partial episode of Montel Williams ("Surprise Reunions!") taped from WKYC on 3/4/1998 with commercials. Maxell T-30.

TAPE 12: Saturday Night Live Remembers Phil Hartman taped from WKYC on June 13-14, 1998 with commercials. Maxell T-30.

TAPE 13: Most of an episode of Investigative Reports ("The Secret Tapes of Richard Speck") taped from A&E in May 1996 with commercials. Unknown brand T-15.

TAPE 14: Jerry Springer ("Stripper Wars!," also available on YouTube for free with ads) and partial episode of Montel Williams (racial injustices and hate crimes) taped from WKYC on 2/3/1998 with commercials. Maxell T-30.

TAPE 15: There's Something About Mary (1998) copied from rental tape; partial episode of Guinness World Records Primetime and start of Fox 8 News at Ten taped from WJW on 10/27/1998 with commercials. Unknown brand T-120.

TAPE 16: Puppy Bowl IX and three episodes of Too Cute taped from Animal Planet on February 3-4, 2013 with commercials. Maxell T-120.

TAPE 17: Jerry Springer ("I Won't Let You Sell Your Body!") and partial episode of Montel Williams ("Paternity Test Results Revealed") taped from WKYC on 2/26/1998 with commercials. Unknown brand T-30.

TAPE 18: End of 60 Minutes, CBS Playhouse '90s presentation of A Streetcar Named Desire (already have a partial recording of this from WTVH), 19 News at 11:00, Browns Sunday Night and partial broadcast of Extra Weekend taped from WOIO on October 29-30, 1995 with commercials; partial broadcast of Iron Maze (1991) and partial broadcast of No Safe Haven (1987) taped from Cinemax in October 1992 with promos during a Free Preview Weekend. JVC T-120.

TAPE 19: Partial episode of Trauma: Life and Death in the E.R., Byzantine: The Lost Empire and Earth's Fury taped from TLC on 9/27/1997 with commercials; partial recording of a wedding ceremony and reception as edited by the photography company, date is listed as 8/13/1994. Unknown brand T-120.

If that wasn't bad enough, also in the garage with the videotapes were several VHS and Betamax VCRs, and inside one of the Beta VCRs was a home-recorded tape of what appeared to be porn movies (based on the titles) of all things! 😳 No other Beta tapes were spotted there.

Dateline! The good old days before they turned into a reality show trying to catch predators.

 

[Scott2013]

Speaking of predators, though, the first segment on that night's show was on Mary Kay Letourneau.

Crainbebo, you found a partial NBC prime time block from the day I was born (4/23/1988)! On the East Coast, those shows would have started airing a little more after an hour and a half after I was born that evening!

Here's something interesting I found on YouTube, a live streamer's reaction video to various entries in the Internet Archive's "VHS Vault" collection. Crainbebo, I think I saw at least one of your videos from Archive pop up on this.

Another YouTuber created a similar reaction video to VHS Vault entries in 2022, which I'm opting not to link here due to the inclusion of some possibly NSFW content. It's mind-blowing what kind of cool stuff is in that collection on that site!

 

[pannoni1]

My latest Beta lot just came in, which also cames from the Steel City, with your typical mixture of hits and misses. 25 tapes in total with about half keepers and the misses being typical HBO/Cinemax with no promos duds. All recordings are in BIII mode unless otherwise indicated.

TAPE 1: Brewster's Millions (1985) and Ghostbusters (1984) taped off HBO circa May 1986 with no promos, followed by The Young & The Restless taped off KDKA/CBS on 5/8/1986 with commercials, followed by the first 20 minutes of the following episode of Y&R with commercials. Konica L-750.

TAPE 2: Rocky IV (1985) taped off HBO on 12/7/1986 with no promos, followed by Santa Claus: The Movie (1985) also recorded off HBO on 12/14/1985 with no promos, followed by an episode of Entertainment Tonight taped off WTAE on 12/19/1986 with commercials. BASF L-750

TAPE 3: Innocent Blood (1992) and an episode of Dream On recorded off HBO on 9/25/1993 with promos between the movie and the sitcom, followed by episodes of Y&R recorded off KDKA/CBS on 9/30 and 10/1/1993 with commercials (the Columbia Pictures Television end logo was still using the six-note trumpets jingle first heard in late 1987), then it cuts to about ten minutes of HBO promos on 11/22/1989. Memorex L-750

TAPE 4: ABC News 20/20 recorded off WTAE on 11/5/1993 with commercials, followed by several minutes of an episode of Y&R circa 1993. I've got the first 15 minutes of that night's 20/20 as well as the entire TGIF block in a trade a few years ago, so that makes a complete primetime block. L-165, unknown brand

TAPE 5: A nice four-hour primetime/early late night aircheck of MTV from early in its "Silver Age", where you surely have hints of the network's ultimate fate, but music still plays a significant role in promoting the culture! Begins about midway through MTV's broadcast of the Singles premiere party, 90 minutes of music videos, The Real World, House Of Style, another half hour of music videos, and most of MTV 1/2 Hour Comedy recorded off MTV on 9/17/1992 with commercials and Pittsburgh inserts, followed by about 30 minutes of an unknown movie to round out the tape. It would have been a school night for me and I was still in my Nickelodeon/Nintendo phase, but for Gen Xers, this will surely serve up as a nice throwback! Memorex L-750.

TAPE 6: The Last Emperor (1987) taped off HBO circa early 1989, followed by about the first 20 minutes of Y&R taped off KDKA/CBS on 2/16/1989 with commercials, followed by the full 2/17/1989 episode of Y&R also taped off KDKA/CBS with ads, followed by ALF recorded off WPXI/NBC on 3/7/1988 with only the post-show commercial break intact (I've already got this episode anyways). Sony L-750

TAPE 7: The CBS News special Lucy taped off WTAJ on 4/26/1989 (the same day as Lucille Ball's passing) with commercials, followed by the NBC Special Bob Hope's Love Affair with Lucy taped off WPXI on 9/23/1989 with ads, followed by the I Love Lucy Christmas Special taped off KDKA/CBS on 12/16/1989 with commercials (I've got the 1990 Xmas special broadcast already), followed by Entertainment Tonight taped off WTAE on 4/24/1990 with commercials (the video is B&W for the last 12 minutes or so), followed by Lucy: The Very First Show taped off KDKA/CBS on 4/30/1990 with commercials. BASF L-750

TAPE 8: A trio of Saturday Night Live episodes taped off WPXI/NBC on 5/4, 5/11, and 5/18/1991 with commercials. The May 4th episode is a rerun featuring Vanilla Ice as musical guest (I've got the original broadcast of that already), and I already have about half of a rerun of the episode from the 18th, the 16th season finale. BASF L-750

TAPE 9: Time After Time (1979) and The Karate Kid: Part II (1986) taped off HBO circa summer 1987 with no promos, followed by a summer rerun of ALF recorded off WPXI/NBC on 7/20/1987 with commercials, followed by a brief concert clip at the end. Memorex L-750

TAPE 10: Overboard (1987) and The Running Man (1987) taped off HBO circa fall 1988 with no promos, followed by part five of The Mind miniseries ("Pain & Healing") taped off WQED/PBS on 11/13/1988 with a few promos after show. Given that I've gotten takedowns from WQED before, I'm definitely keeping this one! I've already got part one of the miniseries from a 1991 WMNU broadcast. Memorex L-750

TAPE 11: The Princess Bride (1987) and Hanna & Her Sisters (1986) recorded off HBO circa October 1988 with no promos, followed by part three of The Mind "Aging" recorded off WQED/PBS on 10/30/1988 with promos after the broadcast. Memorex L-750

TAPE 12: The Ewok Adventure, The ABC Sunday Night Movie taped off WTAE on 11/25/1984 with commercials (I've already got this), followed by the TV premiere broadcast of Mickey's Christmas Carol taped off WJAC/NBC on 12/10/1984 with commercials, followed by Troll's Christmas Express and Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas recorded off HBO on 12/11/1984 with promos between the specials (I'd love to find a 1978 HBO copy of that special someday as it premiered there on TV), followed by about half of the Fat Albert Christmas special taped off WPGH in December 1984 with a few commercials. BASF L-750.

TAPE 13: Saturday Night Live recorded off WPXI/NBC on 8/27/1988 with commercials (a rerun of the Season 13 premiere, of which I've already got the first rerun broadcast from 1/9/88), followed by Night Before (1987) recorded off HBO circa September 1988 with no promos, followed by a various montage of about 40 minutes of MTV videos circa September 1988 with no commercials, bumpers, or VJ segments, followed by most of a syndicated Webster rerun off WPGH circa September 1988 with no commercials, followed excerpts from an episode of Remote Control (the last couple minutes of Round 2 and the Bonus Round), followed by about ten more minutes of music videos from MTV from September 1988 with a partial commercial break at the end of the tape. Probably the biggest disappointment regarding the label (it said Videos/Remote Control, implying a good chance that there will be ads, but it wasn't quite meant to be). BASF L-750

I'll probably be back to another round of selling in the next few weeks on M******, of which I've increasingly seen ads promoting it on YouTube, so I'd hardly call it unknown now.

 

[pannoni1]

As a follow-up on the last post, I decided to do another round from the same seller. I won't provide the full details, but finds includes two more SNLs from April 1989 with commercials, two episodes of the short-lived high school drama TV 101 from January 1989, a partial 5 PM and a full 6 PM News cast off WPXI from June 1988, a partial broadcast of the 1989 MTV Video Music awards and the full 1992 MTV VMA's (I've found the '92 broadcast back in 2015 and received the full '89 special in a trade, although some of those commercials were missing), a full episode of The Young & The Restless from 8/15/1988, a partial episode of USA Network's Alive & Well from April 1986 with Florence Henderson as one of the guests, an episode of the Ray Bradbury Theater off HBO on 5/25/1985 with promos before and after the special (later a USA network series), a partial broadcast of China Beach from 5/11/1988, The Human Rights Now concert from Argentina off HBO in December 1988, the Sting In China concert off HBO from April 1989, a partial episode of 20/20 from 6/16/1989 (features a story on the new Batman movie), the Miami Vice series finale off WPXI (I've already got a copy off WMAQ), and John Mellencamp's 1992 Ain't That America concert off WTAE (I've already got this). Another tape consisted of mostly scoped MTV footage from 1990-91, including a partial Rockumentary on The Clash and some MTV News/Week In Rock snippets. Too bad like most vintage family movies, the three tapes with them from 1985-86 were mostly at home adulting pre-K children (with one summer camp theatrical clip) instead of going out to school or to the mall, although that Alive & Well find came at the end of one of those "family movies" tapes.

 

[pannoni1]

Time for some more VHS digging for TV gold courtesy of the 'Bay, this time out of the eastern portion of the Hawkeye State. All finds are with the commercials unless otherwise indicated.

TAPE 1: Kicks off with about ten minutes from part one of a rebroadcast of the 1983 Winds of War miniseries taped off KCRG/ABC on 9/7/1986 with a few commercials, followed by about three-fourths of General Hospital taped off KCRG/ABC on 9/7/1988, then it jumps back to that 9/7/1986 Winds of War recording off KCRG/ABC from the remainder of the broadcast, followed by part two of The Winds of War recorded off KCRG/ABC on 9/9/1986, then it continues on with the introduction of the 1988 season premiere of Monday Night Football, followed by a classic episode of Star Trek "The Mark of Gideon" taped off KCRG circa September 1988. Polaroid T-120, EP mode

TAPE 2: Part of the Iowa vs. Minnesota NCAA football game taped off KGAN (Hawkeye Sports Network) on 11/19/1988 (ends about midway through the halftime intermission), followed by Geraldo taped off KCRG on 12/13/1988. Wal-Mart T-120, EP mode

TAPE 3: Part three of War and Remembrance taped off KCRG/ABC on 11/16/1988, followed by part four of the same miniseries along with most of the KCRG 10 PM News from the following night. I've got part four of War and Remembrance off WPVI along with the newscast, but of course, nice to find a minor league-sized market newscast from this era. Wal-Mart T-120, EP mode

TAPE 4: Begins with The Colbys taped off KCRG/ABC on 5/15/1986, followed by episodes of Dallas and Falcon Crest taped off KGAN/CBS on 5/16/1986 (featuring an early appearance of the Lorimar-Telepictures "fireworks" logo after what some consider to be the point Dallas "jumped the shark"), followed by another Dallas/Falcon Crest pairing taped off KGAN/CBS on 4/4/1986, followed by a portion of game 3 of the 1985 World Series taped presumably off KWWL/NBC on 10/22/1985 with a few commercials (mostly the 4th inning), followed by about a 17 minute clip of an episode of General Hospital taped off presumably KCRG/ABC circa September 1985 with a few commercials. Sony T-120, EP mode

TAPE 5: Parts 1-4 of the 1983 Thornbirds miniseries recorded off KCRG/ABC nightly from 7/18-7/21/1993, with the first several minutes of the KCRG 10 PM News found after the 7/21 broadcast featuring a story on the Great Flood of 1993. I've found multiple copies from the 1985 rebroadcasts before, but not from the 1993 airings, so lots of commercials to farm from corn country. Unlike the 1983 and 1985 airings, some episodes were divided into one hour installments. TDK T-120, EP mode

TAPE 6: Part 6 (originally part 4) of The Thornbirds (1983) recorded off KCRG/ABC on 7/24/1993. TDK T-120, EP mode

TAPE 7: The NBC Sunday Night Movie presentation of In The Line Of Duty: Ambush In Waco taped off KWWL on 5/23/1993. Kodak T-120, EP mode

TAPE 8: The NBC Sunday Night At The Movies presentation of Return To Mayberry off KWWL on 4/13/1986 (I found this off WRC last spring), followed by part 3 of North & South taped off KCRG/ABC on 11/6/1985 (nice to find an installment from the original airing instead of the October 1988 rebroadcasts). Polaroid T-120, EP mode

TAPE 9: The NBC Movie Of The Week presentation of Once In A Lifetime taped off KWWL on 2/15/1994. Kodak T-120, EP mode (like tape 7, too bad this could have been recorded in SP to fill the entire space of the tape)

TAPE 10: A nice partial NBC Saturday night primetime block from the twilight of rerun season, starting with a partial episode of Golden Girls, followed by episodes of Empty Nest (I've already got a 1997 syndicated copy off WWOR of this episode), Dear John, and about two-thirds of Sisters (that foggy intro before the dark one that starts with a baby laughing really takes me back) taped off KWWL on 9/7/1991. Target T-120 HQ, SP mode.

TAPE 11: The Wizard Of Oz (special 50th anniversary presentation), The Wonderful World Of Oz documentary, the KGAN 10 PM News and a syndicated rerun of M*A*S*H taped off KGAN/CBS on 2/20/1990. I've already got this WoZ special off KREM from a previous find, but nice to see another Cedar Rapids newscast. TDK T-120, EP mode

TAPE 12: A complete primetime block off KWWL/NBC from 4/29/1995, starting with a special one hour episode of Empty Nest followed by the two-hour series finale of Sisters. I've previously found the Sisters finale back in 2017 off KTSM, but its nice to see one of the last new episodes of Empty Nest that featured a special return of Barbara (One of Kristy McNichol's last acting roles before retiring from the camera). Polaroid T-120, EP mode

TAPE 13: American Bandstand's 50th Anniversary Celebration taped off KCRG/ABC on 5/3/2002. Sadly, this would be the final anniversary special before Dick Clark's untimely passing, and even though I was in the target demo for much of the show's history, it had fallen into the nostalgia lens, with an Invincible-era Michael Jackson performance showing that he was indeed in his career twilight. Still, lots of great performers over the decades were featured. Polaroid T-160, SP Mode

TAPE 14: Dateline NBC recorded off KWWL on 11/20/1998. TDK AQ T-120, SP mode.

Passers and duds included TWO copies of the 9/18/1990 broadcast of Field of Dreams off KGAN/CBS (I've farmed the ads from WBBM already), one tape with commercials and the other scoping them out (expected due to being in-market, and this of course this was before they've turned it into a tourist trap), a couple tapes with Lawrence Welk episodes (Fargo isn't terribly far from eastern Iowa), the first two parts of War and Remembrance from 1988 that I've already got, a personal video with a wedding and honeymoon from Lake Mead (too bad they couldn't show Vegas footage), Marty Robbins: Super Legend taped off Iowa Public Television with no promos, part of the 2002 Elvis: The Legend Lives broadcast taped off KWWL, and and a couple of tapes that were either blank or had poor quality.

 

[crainbebo]

I will have an updated list in a few days, but I have been going through a bunch of tapes I have found at estate sales throughout the Treasure Valley and a yard sale in McCall in August...including VK-250s and VK-125s from 1982-1983 with uncut Boise TV recordings on them!

Which comes to this: My landlord is not renewing my lease, and I have been unable to find a job for the fall (non-renewed contract). My landlord is "moving the property a different direction", and turning this apartment into a vacation rental along with her summer cabin next door. I have to be gone on September 20th. Because of these circumstances, I have to move back home to Yakima. I will be U-Haul'ing everything, including the few hundred tapes I still have to digitize. Any finds I make in October and November will have KIMA/KNDO/KAPP/KCYU/KYVE written all over them, most likely.
I'm going back to substitute teaching until I get another chance to have my own classroom again. Which could be right where my family is...or it could be Texas, it could be Utah, it could be Montana...wherever the Lord is leading me next.

Just sold a lot on the "M" site and will likely be putting up 1-2 more before I leave on the 20th. Trying to purge some of the TBS/TNT/USA/FAM and much of the '00s cable stuff I don't want.

 

[pannoni1]

After selling some of my lots last week on that aforementioned e-commerce site on the post above, it's time for some more Beta hunting, with two smallish lots searched over the past week. The first unfortunately turned out to be my biggest disappointment yet this year: a lot of 24 Beta tapes from a suburb of Jackson, MS, hoping to find some vintage gold from one of the most underserved markets. Unfortunately, with the exception of two tapes, just about every tape was unplayable due to mold, which isn't surprising given the climate. Of the two tapes that did play, both were Remington Steele reruns off PAX in the early 2000s with only a few commercials intact, which meant that the owners probably were handed the machine down from a previous owner despite most of the tape stock being 20+ years old around the time they were used (after all, MS is one of the poorest states, so they must of scooped this up at a yard sale/thrift store circa 2000.) Some of the labels mentioned Blue's Clues as well as a 2000 Year In Review, but I ended up getting $6 back (of course shipping with on me), but thankfully, it was just the cost of a movie.

The second lot came in yesterday, this time from another suburb of a Deep South city: Charleston, SC. Thankfully, no '00s stuff and only one tape with mold, but success proved to be patchy. Still, it featured my first find from a long-defunct cable network as well as my first 1980s NPR recordings. A total of ten tapes were in the lot, duds being a tape recorded off HBO in 1989 with the dreaded white spots, two tapes being PBS documentaries with no promos, and two more being WOR recordings from 1987 of vintage movies with the ads zapped.

TAPE 1: Starts off with two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents recorded off USA circa 1983 with no commercials, followed by L'Echafaud Magique (The Magic Scaffold, 1979) recorded off TeleFrance USA circa 1983 with English subtitles (sadly the intermission break was scoped), followed by another episode of Alfred Hitchock Presents off USA circa 1983 with no commercials, followed by a 1976 episode of the world's longest running soap opera, Coronation Street and the first 15 minutes of Baby And The Battleship (1956) recorded off USA on 6/23/1983 with commercials. That French movie does exist in DVD quality currently on YouTube, but doesn't have any subtitles, and given the scarcity of listings for Telefrance USA in its seven-year operations (it will go off the air by the end of 1983), it does shed a little bit of light of what this obscure cable service has provided. Why couldn't they have called it "The French Channel" so that it could have included Canadian French imports? Speaking of which, there was also a short-lived cable network called The English Channel back then which could have carried that ITV soap, but that barely lasted as long as its run on USA at about 15 months, which meant that only 1974 to late 1976/early 1977 episodes were shown at the time it was semiweekly. EastEnders had slightly better success on PBS stations in the late '80s/'90s, outside of sporadic broadcasts on a few coastal PBS stations, Coronation Street remains quite obscure on this side of the Atlantic. Scotch L-750, BIII mode

TAPES 2-4: Approximately four hours worth of WSVH-FM's Friday night jazz programming per tape, complete with DJ commentary with the occasional weather update, recorded on 4/11, 4/18, and 7/25/1986. Two of the tapes featured a sign-off, but there was no SSB or station information present. The video signals on the tape was a mix of blocky squares/lines and grays, but the audio comes out just as good as the radio would back in the day, and this a nice mixture of performances ranging from vocalists to Dixieland to modern to jazz fusions. All Fuji L-750's, BIII mode.

Two more lots are on the way in the coming weeks: a 12-tape VHS lot from yet another midsized Deep South city (Macon, GA), with one of the labels reading "Solid Gold 1982" on the seller's photo despite the presence of three Golden Book Videos, and a 20-Beta lot from Denver, part of a Dutch lot of nine separate lots that featured labels ranging from "Judge Wapner/The People's Couty", the 1980 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the 1983 TV movie The Day After, "UNLV vs. Russia 1987", and WBA Welterweight Title Pryor vs. Arguello 1982. I purchased over a week after the first lot was sold, and them the last five sold quickly at once, which could mean that there is the potential to be some gold in this lot.

 

[CTListener]

Two more lots are on the way in the coming weeks: a 12-tape VHS lot from yet another midsized Deep South city (Macon, GA), with one of the labels reading "Solid Gold 1982" on the seller's photo despite the presence of three Golden Book Videos, and a 20-Beta lot from Denver, part of a Dutch lot of nine separate lots that featured labels ranging from "Judge Wapner/The People's Couty", the 1980 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the 1983 TV movie The Day After, "UNLV vs. Russia 1987", and WBA Welterweight Title Pryor vs. Arguello 1982.

What a war that Pryor-Arguello fight was! The idea that there are people who would watch it just to see the commercials boggles my mind.

 

[Jman8606]

After selling some of my lots last week on that aforementioned e-commerce site on the post above, it's time for some more Beta hunting, with two smallish lots searched over the past week. The first unfortunately turned out to be my biggest disappointment yet this year: a lot of 24 Beta tapes from a suburb of Jackson, MS, hoping to find some vintage gold from one of the most underserved markets. Unfortunately, with the exception of two tapes, just about every tape was unplayable due to mold, which isn't surprising given the climate. Of the two tapes that did play, both were Remington Steele reruns off PAX in the early 2000s with only a few commercials intact, which meant that the owners probably were handed the machine down from a previous owner despite most of the tape stock being 20+ years old around the time they were used (after all, MS is one of the poorest states, so they must of scooped this up at a yard sale/thrift store circa 2000.) Some of the labels mentioned Blue's Clues as well as a 2000 Year In Review, but I ended up getting $6 back (of course shipping with on me), but thankfully, it was just the cost of a movie.

The second lot came in yesterday, this time from another suburb of a Deep South city: Charleston, SC. Thankfully, no '00s stuff and only one tape with mold, but success proved to be patchy. Still, it featured my first find from a long-defunct cable network as well as my first 1980s NPR recordings. A total of ten tapes were in the lot, duds being a tape recorded off HBO in 1989 with the dreaded white spots, two tapes being PBS documentaries with no promos, and two more being WOR recordings from 1987 of vintage movies with the ads zapped.

TAPE 1: Starts off with two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents recorded off USA circa 1983 with no commercials, followed by L'Echafaud Magique (The Magic Scaffold, 1979) recorded off TeleFrance USA circa 1983 with English subtitles (sadly the intermission break was scoped), followed by another episode of Alfred Hitchock Presents off USA circa 1983 with no commercials, followed by a 1976 episode of the world's longest running soap opera, Coronation Street and the first 15 minutes of Baby And The Battleship (1956) recorded off USA on 6/23/1983 with commercials. That French movie does exist in DVD quality currently on YouTube, but doesn't have any subtitles, and given the scarcity of listings for Telefrance USA in its seven-year operations (it will go off the air by the end of 1983), it does shed a little bit of light of what this obscure cable service has provided. Why couldn't they have called it "The French Channel" so that it could have included Canadian French imports? Speaking of which, there was also a short-lived cable network called The English Channel back then which could have carried that ITV soap, but that barely lasted as long as its run on USA at about 15 months, which meant that only 1974 to late 1976/early 1977 episodes were shown at the time it was semiweekly. EastEnders had slightly better success on PBS stations in the late '80s/'90s, outside of sporadic broadcasts on a few coastal PBS stations, Coronation Street remains quite obscure on this side of the Atlantic. Scotch L-750, BIII mode

TAPES 2-4: Approximately four hours worth of WSVH-FM's Friday night jazz programming per tape, complete with DJ commentary with the occasional weather update, recorded on 4/11, 4/18, and 7/25/1986. Two of the tapes featured a sign-off, but there was no SSB or station information present. The video signals on the tape was a mix of blocky squares/lines and grays, but the audio comes out just as good as the radio would back in the day, and this a nice mixture of performances ranging from vocalists to Dixieland to modern to jazz fusions. All Fuji L-750's, BIII mode.

Two more lots are on the way in the coming weeks: a 12-tape VHS lot from yet another midsized Deep South city (Macon, GA), with one of the labels reading "Solid Gold 1982" on the seller's photo despite the presence of three Golden Book Videos, and a 20-Beta lot from Denver, part of a Dutch lot of nine separate lots that featured labels ranging from "Judge Wapner/The People's Couty", the 1980 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the 1983 TV movie The Day After, "UNLV vs. Russia 1987", and WBA Welterweight Title Pryor vs. Arguello 1982. I purchased over a week after the first lot was sold, and them the last five sold quickly at once, which could mean that there is the potential to be some gold in this lot.

WSVH I believe was the station where our own @rwells worked at.

 

[crainbebo]

So I guess with the move back to WA, I can share some of the finds I have made since August 7th.
First of all, I have gone through several more tapes from the multi-estate sale finds on July 26th. Middleton (M), Boise (B) and Nampa (N).


Tape 14N - Marty Robbins: Super Legend special taped off unknown channel minus commercials; Mystery! (Have His Carcase part 2) taped off KAID/PBS on Halloween 1987 with promos. Rest of the tape is recorded static. BASF T-120
Tape 15B - About 45 minutes of The Kennedys of Massachusetts taped off ABC minus commercials in 1990; last 10 minutes of "Bat 21" (1988) and part of One-Night Stand: Ellen DeGeneres taped off HBO on 2/20/1990 with 13 minutes of promos in between; ends with an hour of some military film taped off unknown pay-TV channel. SKC T-120
Tape 16B - Partial episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson taped off KTVB/NBC on 5/8/1992 with some commercials; another episode of Johnny Carson (Best Of, repeat from 2/21/92) taped off KTVB/NBC on 5/18/1992 minus commercials; partial episode of Married...with Children (probably a syndicated repeat); another clip of The Tonight Show taped off KTVB/NBC on 5/15/1992 minus commercials (Thesaurus eulogy sketch, Clint Eastwood, David Letterman). Maxell T-120
Tape 17N - "Ice Age" (2002) taped off KTRV/Fox on 12/23/2005 with commercials. RCA T-120 in SLP blank at 2:03
Tape 18M - "Twister" (1996) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; most of "Dean Koontz's Intensity" (1997 / Part 2) taped off KTTV/Fox on 8/6/1997 with commercials, already have a good chunk of this from KCYU-LP and it is a CRAZY film - not for the faint of heart!! Then a taped-over episode of Another World, Days of Our Lives and about 10 minutes of Sunset Beach taped off KNBC/NBC on 7/21/1997 with commercials. Scotch T-120 in Hi-Fi
Tape 19M - Episode of The OC, part of North Shore and several minutes of Fox 11 News at Ten taped off KTTV/Fox on Veterans Day 2004 with commercials - there's an issue with the recording during North Shore where we get audio but the video is black & white footage of the Adelphia Antelope Valley bulletin board channel on channel 12; part of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and most of Without a Trace taped off KCBS/CBS on 11/4/2004 with commercials. Durabrand T-120
Tape 20M - Most of the 17th American Music Awards taped off KABC/ABC on 1/22/1990 with commercials; part of the Faerie Tale Theater episode of Goldilocks and the Three Bears taped off Showtime in the 1980s. Scotch T-120
Tape 21B - Parts 3 and 4 of Lonesome Dove taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/23 and 1/24/1991 with commercials, both include the first few minutes of Eyewitness News at 10. Maxell T-120
Tape 22M - Fire on the Mountain (documentary on the 1994 Storm King Mountain fire that killed 14 firefighters in CO), Wrath of God, Mail Call, Basic Training, and another repeat of Fire on the Mountain taped off History Channel on 10/27-28/2002 with commercials. TDK T-120

8/9 - Two tapes found at a church rummage sale in McCall
Tape 1 - Several 1-hour compilations of The Three Stooges taped off KRBK-31 Sacramento in January 1986 and 4/13/1986, a few broadcasts are uncut with commercials, a few are not. Ends with an hour of recorded static. TDK T-120
Tape 2 - The VH1 Rock Honors taped off VH1 on 5/31/2006 with commercials, via Dish Network. Magnavox T-120, Hi-Fi

8/16 - Great lot of tapes from an estate sale in SW Boise up the hill. Oldest Boise finds yet! First VK-250s in nearly two years.

Tape 1 - The aforementioned RCA VK-250. Starts with three outdoor films copied from retail tapes: Alaska King, Alaska: Once in a Lifetime, and The Yellowstone and the Madison: One After the Other! After the third tape ran out, the VCR reverts back to vintage Boise television, with an episode of Wild Kingdom taped off KTVB-7 on 4/24/1983 with commercials, flipping over to KBCI/CBS for the second-oldest find I've made of 60 Minutes, with commercials (including a segment with Sir Laurence Olivier), and flips back to KTVB/NBC for part of "Going in Style" (1979) with commercials.
Tape 2 - Oldest Idaho finds!! Clip of Dynasty, followed by a clip of "Dynasty 3-D" (1977), and then Jack Simplot: King of the Hill, an interview with the late J.R. Simplot, the man who brought french fries to America and became a billionaire, taped off KTVB-7 on 11/14/1982 with commercials; cuts back to "Dynasty 3-D" (1977), which turns out to be from KBCI-2, taped on Halloween 1982 with commercials! They preempted CBS programming to air this film at 8:00. 3-D glasses were sold in many stores in the Treasure Valley, with all proceeds going to the Easter Seals according to the Idaho Statesman; over 106,000 3-D glasses were sold. This is followed by a 5-minute Democratic National Committee campaign ad and the first several minutes of a Barney Miller repeat (no local news on Sunday night); partial broadcast of NewsWatch 6 at 10 taped off KIVI-6 on 10/11/1982 with commercials, now my oldest Boise news clip; part of "Hell is For Heroes" (1962) taped off KTRV-12 on 7/10/1982 with commercials! RCA VK-125 in SLP (equivalent of a T-60), so it runs just over 3 hours.
Tape 3 - "Cinderella" (1950) copied from Walt Disney Classics rental tape complete with the Oliver and Company trailer; tape ends and it reverts to a partial episode of 60 Minutes from KBCI circa May-June 1989, but there's no audio, just static, and the video is in B&W; partial broadcast of The Pat Sajak Show taped off KBCI/CBS on 4/28-29/1989 with commercials, in B&W with fair/weak audio. Fuji T-120
Tape 4 - First Person with Maria Shriver and part of the NewsCenter 7 Night Report taped off KTVB/NBC on 3/28/1992 with commercials (John Goodman interview among others); partial episode of 20/20 taped off KIVI/ABC on 1/19/1990 with commercials; rest of tape is recorded static. Sony T-120
Tape 5 - 2 News at 5:30 and first bit of Jeopardy! taped off KBCI-2 on 12/3/1999 with commercials (tape is crinkled during the second half of the 5:30 news); part of "Foreign Affairs" (1993) taped off TNT on 3/17/1993 with commercials; part of "Tin Men" (1987) copied from rental tape. Sony T-120
Tape 6 - A couple of instructional videos - one on making kitchen cabinets and another one on picking contractors, copied from other tapes; ends with part of the Olympic Winterfest taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/28/1990 with commercials. Master T-120
Tape 7 - Two episodes of Judge Judy taped off KNIN-9 on 1/28/1998 with commercials; some '90s film follows completely dubbed into Spanish! Maxell T-120
Tape 8 - "White Nights" (1985) copied from rental tape, followed by an hour of static; a 2-3 minute clip of Good Morning America from July 1986 on the Royal Wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson; part of The Deliberate Stranger (part 2) and the first nine minutes of the NewsCenter 7 Night Report taped off KTVB/NBC on 5/4/1986 with commercials. BASF T-120, so far, no flaking/shedding!
Tape 9 - Episode of 60 Minutes taped off KBCI/CBS on 9/22/1991 with commercials; half of a NewsWatch 6 broadcast taped off KIVI in August 1991 with commercials; part of "Dead on the Money" (1991) taped off TNT on 6/16/1991 with commercials. Gold Master T-120
Tape 10 - Both parts of Merlin taped off KTVB/NBC on 4/26 and 4/27/1998 with commercials, I already have the entire miniseries from KHQ Spokane. Sony T-160
Tape 11 - Several minutes of promos and most of "3000 Miles to Graceland" (2001) taped off HBO2 in January 2003. Maxell T-120, SP
Tape 12 - Home movie footage of the Payette Jetboat Races in Banks, Idaho, most likely from May 1985; a seaplane ride in Alaska, and about 5 minutes of various Sawtooth Mountains footage from a road trip in 1985 or 1986; followed by 2/3rds of "First Blood" (1982) taped off KTVB/NBC on 5/12/1985 with commercials and about eight minutes of the Night Report. TDK T-120
Tape 13 - About an hour and a half of home movie footage of a baby crawling and walking, being fed, diaper changed, etc., but there is TV stuff afterwards: partial broadcast of "Thompson's Last Stand" (1986) taped off KBCI/CBS on 2/16/1986 with commercials; part of Harem (part 2) taped off KIVI/ABC on 2/10/1986 with commercials and first few minutes of NewsWatch 6 Nightcast. BASF T-120 again NOT having flaking issues. A surprise!
Tape 14 - Episode of Extreme Machines taped off TLC in February 1997 with commercials; partial broadcast of Lonesome Dove taped off Family Channel on 1/25/1997 with commercials; Cronkite Remembers and the first few minutes of Touched by An Angel taped off KBCI/CBS on 1/26/1997 with commercials (aired during the Super Bowl); part of "The Nun's Story" (1959) taped off A&E on 9/13/1996 with commercials; partial episode of Growing Pains, "All in a Night's Work" (1961) and part of "Blind Man's Bluff" (1992) taped off KTRV-12 on 6/23/1996 with commercials. Kodak T-120
There's another tape that has a 1993 TBS broadcast of "Conagher" with commercials, and I believe one more tape that I haven't processed through yet.

 

[crainbebo]

One tape found 8/23/25 at an estate sale on Grant St in Caldwell. There were over 1,000 VHS movies there, all but this one were rental/store-bought movies. The lone home-recorded tape has "The Hunt for Red October" (1990) taped off KTRV-12 in March 2001 with commercials, in Hi-Fi, and part of "The Fifth Element" (1997) taped off KIVI/ABC on 1/13/2001 with commercials. They threw out the rest.

8/30 - McCall sale for Labor Day weekend, found three tapes at a yard sale
Tape 1 - 'Road to Perdition' (2002) copied from rental tape, unwatchable due to Macrovision; part of The Naked Truth, ER and first few minutes of NewsCenter 7 at 10 taped off KTVB/NBC on 2/20/1997 with commercials, variable quality at times; episode of Caroline in the City taped off KTVB/NBC on 1/4/1996 with commercials. Memorex T-120
Tape 2 - Garth Brooks: Ireland and Back taped off KTVB/NBC on 3/4/1998 with commercials, rest of tape is recorded static. Maxell T-120
Tape 3 - 'The Cider House Rules' (1999) copied from rental tape; partial episode of The X-Files taped off KTRV/Fox on 5/17/1996 with commercials; one-hour finale of Mad About You taped off KTVB/NBC on 5/19/1996 with commercials; partial episode of The Outer Limits taped off KTRV-12 in May 1996 with commercials. Fuji T-120

8/31 - SW Boise estate sale after church. Six tapes found, have only partially processed this lot
Tape 1 - Part 1 of A Woman of Substance taped off TNT on Mother's Day 1995 with commercials; partial broadcast of CNN Early Prime taped in May 1995 with commercials; episode of Biography (Milton Hershey, founder of the famous chocolates) taped off A&E on 1/6/1995 with commercials; channel flip to KBCI/CBS for Diagnosis Murder with commercials; last 15 minutes of "Rubdown" (1994) taped off USA on 12/23/1994 with commercials. TDK T-120, first two recordings in HiFi rest in mono
Tape 2 - Part 2 of A Woman in Substance, and the first 15 minutes of "Mommie Dearest" (1981) taped off TNT on Mother's Day 1995 with commercials; partial episode of Murder, She Wrote and "Love Kills" (1991) taped off USA on 2/8/1995 with commercials. TDK T-120
(3 more to check)