What better way to kick off this blog than with one of my all-time favorite yard sale finds. This 20+ minutes of WVVA-TV from February 13, 1984, was found at the tail end of a VHS tape simply marked ‘Casablanca.’ I could tell by the aesthetic of the video cassette that it was old, and had the potential to hold early 1980s recordings. It did not disappoint!
As the handwritten label promised, pressing ‘play’ on the VCR revealed the beginning of the Bogart classic — but who cares about finding one more copy of a movie that’s readily available in every format desired? What this search is all about is finding those original TV broadcasts with the commercial breaks — and all their nostalgic goodness — intact. When you’re TV treasure hunting, there’s nothing more deflating than finding an obviously old cassette, excitedly popping it in the VCR only to discover that either the person responsible for the recording manually skipped the commercials or your vintage treasure has been taped over entirely for more modern fare, forever lost to the cruel finality of the technology. Would this tape be a boom or a bust? I hit ‘fast forward’ to more quickly find the answer I sought. About 20 minutes into the recording, the black and white of Rick’s Cafe suddenly gave way to the vivid colors of a housewife extolling the virtues of Bounce fabric softener, and my hope for finding some TV treasures were realized!
Based on the copyrights of the commercials and promos for upcoming shows I was able to determine that the recording was from WTBS in 1984. The events reported during several CNN Newswatch updates later in the broadcast would allow me to further narrow the date to June 3 of that year. Once Rick and Louis finally began their “beautiful friendship,” I was treated to more typical 1980s TBS weekend fare, including ‘The High Chaparral,’ and several innings of Atlanta Braves baseball.
Six innings into the Braves’ matchup versus Cincinnati, the tape abruptly cut to the remnants of another movie that had been recorded over up to that point. This film would soon identify itself as part 2 of NBC’s 1984 miniseries ‘Celebrity.’ Once it became clear this was an NBC primetime recording, my anticipation surged knowing what could potentially follow: A local 11 pm newscast! This wouldn’t be just any newscast, though, but the oldest WVVA newscast I would have ever found! Considering local programming is my most-sought TV treasure, I was understandably excited at the prospects that lay ahead. At this point, though, I had no confirmation that the tape was even recorded locally. Just because it was purchased on a front porch in Princeton, West Virginia, doesn’t mean it spent its entire existence there. Many of my hometown yard sale VHS finds have included recordings from distant markets like Tampa, Denver, and New York City, to name a few. Another potential bubble-burster could be that the recording might end before I ever even get the opportunity to see what newscast may or may not have followed. Would I be left wondering for all eternity? The suspense was high, but this time I didn’t want to accelerate the resolution by fast forwarding, instead I anxiously watched and waited…
After the credits rolled on ‘Celebrity,’ (and word that Lynn Redgrave was coming up on Carson, Robin Williams on Letterman) my question regarding the recording’s market of origin was answered by the appearance of local spots for Bluefield radio station WBDY and longtime Princeton car dealership Andy Clark Ford. Now I knew I was watching my hometown NBC, but the recording could still end at any second!
What followed was nearly seven minutes of the analog equivalent of solid gold to me: WVVA News 6 anchored by local broadcasting legend Tiny Thompson. Thompson was a longtime anchor and news director at WVVA, dating back to its earlier days as WHIS-TV. Thompson’s tenure only briefly overlapped the rise of home video recording that the 1980s would bring, and as a result there unfortunately appears to be very little video evidence of his work — as is true with others of his generation. Though the tape does end during the newscast, the few minutes I was able to find and preserve still hold immense nostalgic and historical value.
Crockett J. “Tiny” Thompson Jr. passed away in 2012 at age 80, and in 2018 was posthumously inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame. I was too young to remember watching him during his career, but it is gratifying to be able to find and save this recording, allowing at least a snippet of his work to remain. helping in a small way to pay homage to his legacy, as seen here in WVVA’s piece announcing Thompson’s Hall induction.
See my Youtube channel for more vintage television, including the WTBS footage mentioned in this post!