What were you doing on the night of Thursday, September 24, 1987? Watching the network television premiere of ‘Ghostbusters’ on ABC, perhaps? Contained within this recording from WCHS-TV8 in Charleston are local commercials for Kroger and car dealerships, and a News 8 Newsline break featuring legendary Charleston-area anchor Tom McGee. Check out all the ad breaks from that evening’s broadcast below.
The recording doesn’t last long enough to see the 11 p.m. newscast, but the news break gives us the heartbreaking headline of a fatal fire near Oak Hill that claimed the lives of a father and four children.
Some other interesting notes about the recording: This network TV edit of ‘Ghostbusters’ includes a handful of alternate takes of scenes that replace some of the film’s more ‘colorful’ dialogue with TV-friendly verbiage — a step beyond simply dubbing over the questionable language. There’s also a few interesting ABC network promos, most notably touting the premiere of a little show called ‘Full House’ that was set to debut the following night, and another promoting a Monday night airing of ‘Star Trek III’ as a substitute for ‘Monday Night Football,’ which was on hiatus due to the NFL players strike.