johnnya2k6 171 Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 The loss of over 40 years of KREX's archives to the fire last month raised concern about how far back local newscasts on many stations go in their libraries. I've brought this up on the old board; but now thanks to YouTube, there are thousands of news opens from around the world spanning over five decades. For large-market stations in New York and Los Angeles, they have maintained their stuff very well; I remember "World News Now" paying tribute to Roger Grimsby after he died by playing a WABC Eyewitness News newscast from 1970 with an original commercial for H&R Block and Howard Cosell doing sports! And I'm certain many old WCBS newscasts were discovered along with the original run of "The Joker's Wild." But this was when 2-inch videotape was the only format available, and the costs for those tapes as well as storage were expensive. In some medium- and small-market stations, they would record their news on film followed by 3/4-inch (U-Matic) tape in the '70s. 1-inch tape would become commonplace in the '80s, replacing quads. But in the case of Fairbanks, I've always been wondering what our local newscasts on KTVF and KFAR/KTTU/KATN were like in the '60s and '70s. I'm pretty certain handfuls of full shows as well as IDs and promos do happen to exist on film and/or tape (especially any coverage of the 1967 flood), and I've gotten in touch with someone at the Alaska Film Archives at UAF to confirm this. I'll expect a full answer from them next week. Jonathan Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WXmanTim 88 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 A few years back, KTRK-Houton ran a report about finding several cases of old newsfilm footage in either a storage room at the station or, possibly, off site in a storage rental unit that had not been gone through in a number of years. Most of it dated back to the 60s, and was archival stories that they didn't know they still had. I think the story said they were going to pay to have it transferred over to DVD. Which begs the question of whether or not tv stations will begin to move old film and/or videotape archives over to the more stable and easily storable DVD/CD Rom medium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qunewsguy 376 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 DVD's and CD's may be more easily stored but they sure aren't as durable. The station I'm at is running into problems with archived DVD's we burned just 3 years ago already having the pigment fading to the point where the disks are becoming unreadable. And they're stored in supposedly safe cases. The other question we're running into is how much longer the DVD format will be around. So the next step is becoming solid-state archiving of footage and newscasts. My station group's looking into purchasing 1000TB server systems for archiving at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnya2k6 171 Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 UPDATE: I talked to Dirk at the Alaska Film Archives and he says that the only stuff that exist are film pieces from KTVF from the mid-'60s to late '70s when they went to ENG. As for full newscasts? It is widely believed that KTVF and possibly KATN never archived them..unless of course they kept them at long-forgotten storage facilities scattered all over town. However, I saw an empty film canister that belonged to KTVF with the words "Co-Op Photo" being stamped, which confirms that both stations processed their news films at the old Co-Op Photo Shop downtown until the move to video. I also happened to saw stacks upon stacks of old KUAC radio reels dating back to the '70s! As for Anchorage: I know most of KTUU's stuff exists on film and tape, but what about KTVA and KIMO? And did THEY also use a drug store like Co-Op to process their films? Jonathan Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Dillweed 73 Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 A lot of it can depend on the changes in management and ownership. Some groups will come in and trash any old film/videotape that's taking up space. Unfortunately that was the case in Terre Haute in year's past. WTHI-TV reportedly threw out all of their film archive, which went back to 1953. The only reason some footage still survives is that someone transferred a majority of it over to 3/4" tape, an archaic format in itself. The fate of the 3/4" tapes is in question, as the last time anything was accessed was for the stations' 50th anniversary special, and clips seen in it were just re-racks from the "Millennium" special they did in 2000. It's been said WTWO didn't start archiving stories until the early '90s; anything before that was never maintained. Only a smattering of clips have been found, the oldest being footage of the station under construction in 1965, the local elections from 1966, and a couple of brief clips from the '70s. Some taped stories from the '80s still exist. A lot of this was seen in their 40th anniversary show a few years ago. WFXW, ex-WBAK, ex-WIIL, is even worse off. Nothing known exists of the old WIIL days, and the only WBAK clips known of are those that have been found by accident, or on viewers' old VHS tapes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ntropolis 593 Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 I've barely seen any old footage from WTKR. The only stuff I recall seeing is from when Ed Hughes passed away. WAVY seems to have some old stuff, but most of the video in last year's 50th special was recycled from their 25th and 40th anniversary specials (http://www.wavy.com/Global/category.asp?C=111975&nav=menu45_12_4). It says here that around 1980 WAVY burned old newscasts and copies of "Poop Deck Pappy" (which might be the reason why there's only one known copy of that in existence). I haven't seen too much from WVEC's archive. They used some stuff in their 50th anniversary promo several years back, but it seems like it comes from their 40th special from 1993 (which used to be available online). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mario500 3 Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 It’s rare to see old video or film from my local broadcasters, even during their golden (50th) anniversary years (WALA in 2003, WEAR in 2004, and WKRG in 2005). One piece of early film footage by WALA was used in a promotion that mentioned the year the station went on the air, 1953. The film featured cameras getting set up. Just a few weeks before WALA personality Dot Moore announced her retirement, the station aired her local talk show's 30th anniversary show from 1993. It included a show promotion with an early Channel 10 logo. In recent years, WALA and WKRG have aired video from the days before and after the arrival of Hurricane Frederic in September 1979. WKRG made a special titled "Frederic's Fury" in time for the storm's 25th anniversary in 2004. The special used lots of location video from the time of the storm, but none showed WKRG's facility at the time (they would leave downtown Mobile in 1981 for a large, hurricane resistant building close to Mobile's two malls). In honor of reporter Renee Dial's years at WALA, the station aired her report made shortly after Hurricane Frederic. She signed off with "TV10 News" in that archived report. In 2005, WKRG celebrated their 50th anniversary with daily segments during their 9:00 AM newscast. Former employees, pictures (TV5's version of "Romper Room", which aired live and was not recorded), and some news video (from the 1980s) were featured. All year the station had promotions featuring pictures of the station from days gone by. Just days before the actual anniversary, WKRG began its on-going coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but at one point aired video of news presenter Mel Showers (with larger hair) from sometime during the late 1970s. When September 5th arrived, the station was still reporting on the storm's effects and no anniversary special aired, but the anniversary was briefly acknowledged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Front_Range_Guy 0 Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 In Colorado Springs, based on their 50th anniversary special, it seems like KKTV has done a pretty good job of saving stuff dating back to the 1970's. I'm afraid the same probably can't be said for KOAA and KRDO, though I don't know for certain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnya2k6 171 Posted February 29, 2008 Author Share Posted February 29, 2008 Just days before the actual anniversary, WKRG began its on-going coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but at one point aired video of news presenter Mel Showers (with larger hair) from sometime during the late 1970s. Um, larger hair on Mel Showers in the '70s is called an "afro." Jonathan Allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10Viewer 319 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 As far as the Tampa market... I heard from a WTVT employee that most of their archive was thrown out in 1989 when they moved to their present building. But, recently, they've been finding material and posting it on their website. WTSP has quite a bit of material. They occasionally will show old footage. The oldest I can recall is a story from 1976 (their WLCY days) they showed once. They also have a lot from the 1980 Skyway disaster. Recently, they showed a ton of Dick Fletcher video. WFLA showed a ton of Bob Hite's vintage 1970's stories when he retired. In 1998, they did a special where they showed a bunch of old opens. So, they seem to have a pretty good archive. WFTS has video of their first newscast in 1994. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10Viewer 319 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 As far as the Columbus, OH market: I'm pleased to report that WBNS 10TV has one of the most extensive local news archives in existence. They have a huge vault at the station where they preserved reels of film since 1949. They will regularly show video from their archive and make great use of it in stories like the recent blizzard and show footage of the 1978 blizzard for context. Frankly, WBNS is really a model for any station looking to preserve and utilize archived material. WCMH is sort of a toss up. I've seen them show file video from the 1980's. Recently, some old newscasts from the 1970's and 80's turned up on YouTube. Didn't think WSYX had saved much but I've seen a lot of stuff on YouTube pop up for this station. Rarely will they ever show old clips during newscasts though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormymikala 1 Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Hi every one.This is my first post.I first started enjoying the local news when I moved to San Diego a few years ago.I now live in Cape Coral, Florida.My favorite station is WFTX FOX4.Watching past newscasts and this site has me recoring newscasts.It would fun to know if FOX4 archives there newscasts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ntropolis 593 Posted April 3, 2008 Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hello, and welcome! Watching past newscasts and this site has me recoring newscasts. That's the exact reason why I started recording local news 4-5 years ago. It doesn't matter as much anymore since current uploads on YouTube will be archived (presumably) forever. Always good to archive WFTX's news op hasn't been around long, so there's a good chance they maintain an archive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10Viewer 319 Posted April 4, 2008 Share Posted April 4, 2008 I have recorded newscasts before, but I figure it's the TV station's job to record and save their own material, so I don't even bother anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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