Me too. I would love to get stuff from early 1984. Wish I could have before YouTube and the glory days of The Closing Logo Group and the days of The CLG Megamix. There was a treasure trove of closing logos during that time.
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Oldest Extant Off-Air VHS/Beta Tape You Have
- Thread starter Stanislav
- Start date
Me too. I would love to get stuff from early 1984. Wish I could have before YouTube and the glory days of The Closing Logo Group and the days of The CLG Megamix. There was a treasure trove of closing logos during that time.
New record for oldest off-air recording I’ve found so far: 1973 on U-MATIC!
Oh wow!! How did you acquire that tape? I see there were a bunch of Coca-Cola training videos that you posted...did they tape over a Coke video on a U-Matic tape, or was it found at the end of a tape?
Meanwhile, I hit an estate sale on July 10th that was way up in the rural part of Selah. These were really interesting. These came from the estate of a former hospital counselor and his wife, both of whom have passed away. The husband was the *late brother* of our KEPR/KIMA meteorologist, Mike McCabe. This resulted in one of the greatest Yakima finds ever (and it is the oldest Yakima find to date) PLUS the first VK-250 find since I moved back to WA. Some eclectic finds as he seemed to love rock concerts, SNL, and other 1980s/1990s pop culture.
Note: Tape 2 was found at a different estate sale of a long-time orthodontist who passed away...it was the lone tape found.
Tape 1 - Starts with clips from an HBO special on a rock 'n roll concert in Leningrad, then cuts to clips from the 9/30/1989 Saturday Night Live taped off KNDO/NBC minus commercials (Already have this from a 2016 estate lot); partial broadcast of Saturday Night Live taped off KNDO/NBC on 10/6-7/1989 with commercials (Rick Moranis host, Rickie Lee Jones is the musical guest); most of an episode of Totally Hidden Video taped off K53CY/Fox (or KAYU) in October 1989 minus commercials; partial broadcast of the Top 100 Videos of 1986 taped off MTV on New Year's Eve 1986 with commercials...first '80s MTV find since 2019! Tape ends around #51-52. Laser T-120
Tape 2 - Nearly-complete NewsBeat 5:55, taped off KIMA on 2/10/1986 with commercials. Quasar T-30 in SP
Tape 3 - Starts with a 25-minute home movie driving tour of Camden, NJ and Philadelphia (nice find - lots of billboards and great roadside signs), taped in July 1987; cuts to a clip from HBO's Welcome Home, Vietnam taped in July 1987; clips from George Schlatter's Comedy Club taped off KAPP circa September 1987; rest of it is SNL clips and MTV music videos minus commercials. Panasonic T-120
Tape 4 - 'Terms of Endearment' (1983) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Stagecoach' (1939) taped off TBS on 6/29/1988 with one commercial break; 'Flashdance' (1983) taped off unknown pay-TV channel. KMC T-120 going to mixed lot immediately
Tape 5 - First RCA VK-250 find since moving back to WA: and this one looks like a straight-through taping: starts off with the morning movie "Road to Utopia" (1946) and The Big Valley, then You Asked for It, INN News, and The Dick Van Dyke Show taped off WGN-9 on 8/5/1983 with commercials, my oldest find yet from Chicago's Very Own! The INN is my oldest find yet, and I have a few later tapings via WGN and KNDO as they aired USA Tonight on Sundays. Then at 4.5 hours in, it cuts to about 30 minutes of family home movies, before it goes back to WGN for the first inning of the Cubs-Mets game from 8/5/83 with Harry Caray and Steve Stone! Awesome find!! (Originally labeled with Johnny Carson, The Jetsons, Star Trek, etc. and could have been recordings from as early as 1979-1980...as much as I was hoping for another Yakima taping from the '70s, I'll take this rare find from WGN!)
Tape 6 - Clips from the Dennis Miller Show taped 6/1/1992 (likely via K53CY), Simply Red 'Something Got Me Started' performance, Brian Regan with stand-up; two music videos taped off VH1 in 1992 ("Too Funky" George Michael, "The One" Elton John), then a first: three episodes of Almost Live! taped off Comedy Central in January 1993 with commercials. This was KING-5's long-running sketch show with John Keister. Comedy Central briefly aired it nationwide. Maxell T-120
Tape 7 - 'Moonstruck' (1987) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Throw Momma from the Train' (1987) taped off Showtime on 4/24/1992 with two minutes of promos afterwards; 'Pretty Woman' (1990) taped off Showtime circa 1992; episode of An Evening at the Improv taped off A&E in November 1992 with commercials; ends with about 10 minutes of AM Northwest taped off KATU-2 on 12/3/1990 with commercials. Master T-120
Tape 8 - Starts with a couple of music videos, then clips from the 2nd Aspen Comedy Festival (taped off Showtime), a Lou Reed performance on VH1, partial broadcast of Showtime Coast to Coast with B.B. King, Bruce Hornsby and Lou Reed from 1990; a David Letterman monologue and Top Ten list circa 1990; episode of Get a Life minus commercials (likely K53CY/Fox), MTV Unplugged with Tesla and the Black Crowes taped 7/2/1990 minus commercials; partial Seahawks-Saints football game taped off KNDO/NBC on 9/1/1991 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 9 - The Rolling Stone 20 Years of Rock 'n Roll Special, taped off KAPP/ABC on 11/24/1987 minus commercials; after some assorted music videos, there's a partial episode of The Tonight Show (guest host Joan Rivers) taped off KNDO/NBC on 4/29-30/1986 with commercials. Polaroid T-120
Tape 10 - Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond special taped off KCYU-LP 68 on 10/9/1996 with commercials; followed by the World of National Geographic (Among the Wild Chimpanzees) from KYVE/PBS the same night with promos and Instant Focus; Nature (Sperm Whales) taped off KYVE/PBS on 10/13/1996; followed by an episode of Lawrence Welk taped off KYVE/PBS in October 1996; brief KIMA NewsBeat clip from October 1996 (on the Yakima River), followed by part of Over Beautiful British Columbia and part of Andre Rieu: From Holland with Love taped off KYVE/PBS in November 1996 with some pledge breaks featuring the late George Ray of KCTS. TDK T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 11 - Various Showtime stand-up clips, clips from Saturday Night Live taped in 1991; and then goes into the *other part* of the Seahawks-Saints game from 9/1/1991, via KNDO/NBC with commercials, that continues on tape 8. Fuji T-120
Tape 12 - 90 minutes of footage from Farm Aid V, taped off TNN on 3/14/1992 with commercials. Fuji S-VHS T-120, but the content was recorded on a regular VHS VCR. Rest of the tape is recorded static.
Tape 13 - Here's the most interesting tape by far...it is a Fuji S-VHS marked "KIMA-TV VTR JUL 90". This tape starts with a Valley Focus segment from KIMA featuring a younger Mike McCabe, filmed around 1993 or 1994 on the Yakima Convention Center. The segments aired during CBS This Morning in either the 7:25 or 8:25 local slot. Then...a historic find made, it's a partial January 1979 episode of *Uncle Jimmy's Clubhouse*!!! This was KIMA's long-running kids program with the late Jimmy Nolan, and it aired from 1953 to 1979. This would have been one of his final shows, and indeed it has several kids celebrating their birthday. No commercials as it was originally processed from a 2' master tape dubbed to S-VHS, and it is now my oldest Yakima find yet (beating my KAPP 10/26/79 newscast and partial "The Bible" recording by about 10 months). Then it's a jump back to...you guessed it, a 9/1/1991 recording from KNDO/NBC with commercials, for yet another segment of the Seahawks-Saints game where the Hawks lost at the end of the 4th quarter, and the Olympic Showcase's World Track and Field Championships from Tokyo.
Tape 13 is so historic, I may be contacting the local museum. Thousands of local children went on Uncle Jimmy in the 1950s-1970s. My mother and aunt were two of those...in glorious B&W, live, and forever lost because those shows were never put on kinescope or Quad tape. He was the Yakima equivalent of Seattle's JP Patches and Stan Boreson...or Bozo in Chicago.
Meanwhile, I hit an estate sale on July 10th that was way up in the rural part of Selah. These were really interesting. These came from the estate of a former hospital counselor and his wife, both of whom have passed away. The husband was the *late brother* of our KEPR/KIMA meteorologist, Mike McCabe. This resulted in one of the greatest Yakima finds ever (and it is the oldest Yakima find to date) PLUS the first VK-250 find since I moved back to WA. Some eclectic finds as he seemed to love rock concerts, SNL, and other 1980s/1990s pop culture.
Note: Tape 2 was found at a different estate sale of a long-time orthodontist who passed away...it was the lone tape found.
Tape 1 - Starts with clips from an HBO special on a rock 'n roll concert in Leningrad, then cuts to clips from the 9/30/1989 Saturday Night Live taped off KNDO/NBC minus commercials (Already have this from a 2016 estate lot); partial broadcast of Saturday Night Live taped off KNDO/NBC on 10/6-7/1989 with commercials (Rick Moranis host, Rickie Lee Jones is the musical guest); most of an episode of Totally Hidden Video taped off K53CY/Fox (or KAYU) in October 1989 minus commercials; partial broadcast of the Top 100 Videos of 1986 taped off MTV on New Year's Eve 1986 with commercials...first '80s MTV find since 2019! Tape ends around #51-52. Laser T-120
Tape 2 - Nearly-complete NewsBeat 5:55, taped off KIMA on 2/10/1986 with commercials. Quasar T-30 in SP
Tape 3 - Starts with a 25-minute home movie driving tour of Camden, NJ and Philadelphia (nice find - lots of billboards and great roadside signs), taped in July 1987; cuts to a clip from HBO's Welcome Home, Vietnam taped in July 1987; clips from George Schlatter's Comedy Club taped off KAPP circa September 1987; rest of it is SNL clips and MTV music videos minus commercials. Panasonic T-120
Tape 4 - 'Terms of Endearment' (1983) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Stagecoach' (1939) taped off TBS on 6/29/1988 with one commercial break; 'Flashdance' (1983) taped off unknown pay-TV channel. KMC T-120 going to mixed lot immediately
Tape 5 - First RCA VK-250 find since moving back to WA: and this one looks like a straight-through taping: starts off with the morning movie "Road to Utopia" (1946) and The Big Valley, then You Asked for It, INN News, and The Dick Van Dyke Show taped off WGN-9 on 8/5/1983 with commercials, my oldest find yet from Chicago's Very Own! The INN is my oldest find yet, and I have a few later tapings via WGN and KNDO as they aired USA Tonight on Sundays. Then at 4.5 hours in, it cuts to about 30 minutes of family home movies, before it goes back to WGN for the first inning of the Cubs-Mets game from 8/5/83 with Harry Caray and Steve Stone! Awesome find!! (Originally labeled with Johnny Carson, The Jetsons, Star Trek, etc. and could have been recordings from as early as 1979-1980...as much as I was hoping for another Yakima taping from the '70s, I'll take this rare find from WGN!)
Tape 6 - Clips from the Dennis Miller Show taped 6/1/1992 (likely via K53CY), Simply Red 'Something Got Me Started' performance, Brian Regan with stand-up; two music videos taped off VH1 in 1992 ("Too Funky" George Michael, "The One" Elton John), then a first: three episodes of Almost Live! taped off Comedy Central in January 1993 with commercials. This was KING-5's long-running sketch show with John Keister. Comedy Central briefly aired it nationwide. Maxell T-120
Tape 7 - 'Moonstruck' (1987) taped off unknown pay-TV channel; 'Throw Momma from the Train' (1987) taped off Showtime on 4/24/1992 with two minutes of promos afterwards; 'Pretty Woman' (1990) taped off Showtime circa 1992; episode of An Evening at the Improv taped off A&E in November 1992 with commercials; ends with about 10 minutes of AM Northwest taped off KATU-2 on 12/3/1990 with commercials. Master T-120
Tape 8 - Starts with a couple of music videos, then clips from the 2nd Aspen Comedy Festival (taped off Showtime), a Lou Reed performance on VH1, partial broadcast of Showtime Coast to Coast with B.B. King, Bruce Hornsby and Lou Reed from 1990; a David Letterman monologue and Top Ten list circa 1990; episode of Get a Life minus commercials (likely K53CY/Fox), MTV Unplugged with Tesla and the Black Crowes taped 7/2/1990 minus commercials; partial Seahawks-Saints football game taped off KNDO/NBC on 9/1/1991 with commercials. Fuji T-120
Tape 9 - The Rolling Stone 20 Years of Rock 'n Roll Special, taped off KAPP/ABC on 11/24/1987 minus commercials; after some assorted music videos, there's a partial episode of The Tonight Show (guest host Joan Rivers) taped off KNDO/NBC on 4/29-30/1986 with commercials. Polaroid T-120
Tape 10 - Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond special taped off KCYU-LP 68 on 10/9/1996 with commercials; followed by the World of National Geographic (Among the Wild Chimpanzees) from KYVE/PBS the same night with promos and Instant Focus; Nature (Sperm Whales) taped off KYVE/PBS on 10/13/1996; followed by an episode of Lawrence Welk taped off KYVE/PBS in October 1996; brief KIMA NewsBeat clip from October 1996 (on the Yakima River), followed by part of Over Beautiful British Columbia and part of Andre Rieu: From Holland with Love taped off KYVE/PBS in November 1996 with some pledge breaks featuring the late George Ray of KCTS. TDK T-120, Hi-Fi
Tape 11 - Various Showtime stand-up clips, clips from Saturday Night Live taped in 1991; and then goes into the *other part* of the Seahawks-Saints game from 9/1/1991, via KNDO/NBC with commercials, that continues on tape 8. Fuji T-120
Tape 12 - 90 minutes of footage from Farm Aid V, taped off TNN on 3/14/1992 with commercials. Fuji S-VHS T-120, but the content was recorded on a regular VHS VCR. Rest of the tape is recorded static.
Tape 13 - Here's the most interesting tape by far...it is a Fuji S-VHS marked "KIMA-TV VTR JUL 90". This tape starts with a Valley Focus segment from KIMA featuring a younger Mike McCabe, filmed around 1993 or 1994 on the Yakima Convention Center. The segments aired during CBS This Morning in either the 7:25 or 8:25 local slot. Then...a historic find made, it's a partial January 1979 episode of *Uncle Jimmy's Clubhouse*!!! This was KIMA's long-running kids program with the late Jimmy Nolan, and it aired from 1953 to 1979. This would have been one of his final shows, and indeed it has several kids celebrating their birthday. No commercials as it was originally processed from a 2' master tape dubbed to S-VHS, and it is now my oldest Yakima find yet (beating my KAPP 10/26/79 newscast and partial "The Bible" recording by about 10 months). Then it's a jump back to...you guessed it, a 9/1/1991 recording from KNDO/NBC with commercials, for yet another segment of the Seahawks-Saints game where the Hawks lost at the end of the 4th quarter, and the Olympic Showcase's World Track and Field Championships from Tokyo.
Tape 13 is so historic, I may be contacting the local museum. Thousands of local children went on Uncle Jimmy in the 1950s-1970s. My mother and aunt were two of those...in glorious B&W, live, and forever lost because those shows were never put on kinescope or Quad tape. He was the Yakima equivalent of Seattle's JP Patches and Stan Boreson...or Bozo in Chicago.
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U-Matic was developed as a home format, but ended up being too expensive for most consumers and was used mainly by schools and businesses. It had better picture and sound than VHS, but could only fit one hour on each tape (later ones ran 90 minutes.) The TV recording I got seems to be from some sort of production outfit and was recorded just to test out their machines, thankfully it was kept all these years. The first machines came out in 1971. Here’s an early tape that shows how to operate the first play-only model: