Some Video Fun On The Way

My intention with this blog is to make this a place for not only some scoop from the industry...a little gossip here and there...a look back at previous on-air talent...but also for a place to come to see some old video clips of Philadelphia TV news from years past! Let me explain.
I purchased my first VCR in 1981 for about $800.00 and recorded constantly! This became a hobby of sorts for me. I recorded everything from local and network newscasts and promos, clips from TV shows, TV Guide's special anniversary shows, the network yearly "year-in-review" segments aired each New Years eve, noteworthy news stories (such as deaths, marriages, plane crashes, earthquakes, weather phenomena, etc.) and even clips from ABC TV's "One Life To Live". My video collection consists of probably 300 video tapes!
Prior to the age of the internet--I attempted to come up with a way for others to enjoy this material and made the mistake of advertising my collection for purchase. I made nothing. I only charged for the cost of the tape itself and postage. Needless to say, I became deluged with orders to the point I could not keep up! Each tape ended up costing me hours of time to transfer/edit and I gave up that venture after about six months.
On a side note, I was even able to make tapes of all the news events that occurred and were missed by one Iranian hostage--Joseph Ciccipio of Norristown Pennsylvania. I spent months creating these tapes...transferring news events at my disposal from the period he was held hostage. I then mailed him the tapes to "general delivery/Norristown". A month or two later, I received a personal phone call from Mr. Ciccipio thanking me for my effort and told how much he enjoyed and appreciated the tapes. He said Dan Rather did something similiar for him but he "enjoyed mine much better". Who knows...maybe he was just being overly kind.
As the years went on, I got older and had less time and my hobby of recording went by the wayside. However, as I mentioned--I have this "endless collection" of video and what do I do with it?
I've contemplated the last several years how to put some of this material online for others to enjoy. These videos mean nothing to anyone in my family except me and a very good friend of mine who is also a news phenatic. As the years go on--I'm sure the video quality of these tapes will continue to deteriorate. So, the time finally arrived and I purchased the necessary software to transfer this video onto the hardrive and to "youtube" for you.
My plan is to create a new hobby in transferring alot of this great stuff to video files to post on youtube. I will share some HERE as well.
So--after a week of trying to learn how to work with this new software and without fanfare--let me share with you my first video clip I created today. It is a promo from the Fall of 1986 for KYW's Eyewitness News and Linda Gialanella's weather.