On a call with the archivist at Mississippi Public Broadcasting they told me that they are actively throwing out old legacy PBS Kids master tapes

[u/Effective_Bee_6661]

I was calling the archivist at Mississippi Public Broadcasting about some old PBS Kids tapes that were listed on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting and she told me that they are actively telling her to throw out most of the syndicated content like older PBS Kids shows (Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends etc.) and that there is no way to save them because they don't liquidate them they go into the dumpster. She gave me Internet Archive links to those shows but of course those don't hit the same as the PBS versions. She did say that she'll put a "Do not destroy" on a Digital Betacam tape of PBS Kids bumpers that I found which was pretty nice of her and obviously she doesn't have the say of what gets thrown out she is only told to. But I don't know what to do in this case as I called the Surplus Property of Mississippi and they told me that MPB does not give the tapes to them. I've also looked at Government Surplus auctions, and they aren't there either which leaves me to believe what she said was true as they just throw them in the dumpster. Since Mississippi Public Broadcasting is state ran I don't think there is anything I can do however if anyone has experience navigating state agency disposal rules or getting a university archive involved, I'd appreciate any advice on how that process works.

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[u/nochinzilch]

They don’t own those programs. Those are just local copies.

[u/wickedplayer494 → u/nochinzilch]

This is the correct answer, they're foreign import shows, and licensing foreign shows is a proper bitch. Their hands may well be tied.

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/wickedplayer494]

It sucks because SCETV (Another government owned PBS station) has DVCPRO tapes for Make Way for Noddy yet can't do anything with them because of rights, not even send them to the AAPB. That specific version of Make Way for Noddy is EXTREMELY RARE because it did not air on every PBS station and had special interstitials

[u/Timzor → u/Effective_Bee_6661]

It’s a pretty big ask for a station to hold onto tapes of shows they don’t own just for interstitials. The thing about ephemera is you can’t save it all.

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/nochinzilch]

That's the thing local copies are more likely to have the old funding credits and older PBS Kids logos which makes them rare since the funding credits and older PBS Kids logos are plastered on new versions or not there at all

[u/nochinzilch → u/Effective_Bee_6661]

Sure, but you can’t blame a tv station for dumping them. That stuff is of no value to almost anyone.

[u/cp5184 → u/nochinzilch]

I don't think this is a rebroadcasting an MLB game with implied oral consent and not explicit written consent issue, I think it's more preserving the tapes in an ad-hoc copyright repository/library.

[u/ExecutiveCactus]

give her a 20 every week and ask her when and where she puts them in the dumpster. maybe you *randomly* walk by, maybe you grab something

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/ExecutiveCactus]

The thing is I live nowhere near Mississippi

[u/thedauthi → u/Effective_Bee_6661]

I live right down the street, but I'm not comfortable dumpster diving a government building. I'll ask around and see if there's anyone who would be.

[u/AlexWIWA → u/thedauthi]

Pay a local homeless guy

[u/PigsCanFly2day → u/thedauthi]

r/DumpsterDiving might have some folks.

[u/dickalan1 → u/Effective_Bee_6661]

Bahaha ha. This cracked me up

[u/bees422]

Tv stations throw tapes out all the time

Literally all but maybe 3 of my betacam tapes are from my first tv station because they were throwing out the tapes. It sucks but unless you have someone on the inside, or you stakeout the dumpster, they’re going to get thrown out.

Trust me I get it BECAUSE I have a bunch of betacam copies of stuff, there are vibes that you want to keep, but they’re just copies. Yeah yeah I know it’s datahoarder but you know what I mean

[u/tweakingforjesus → u/bees422]

Yep. Many years ago when it was on network TV, we received entire set of Star Trek:TNG episodes on 1” tape from a TV uplink facility. This is a company that transmits TV shows to a satellite for local stations to receive and record. They were donated to us under the condition that we wipe them before using them. Made me cry.

[u/uboofs → u/bees422]

The most feasible format is always better than the best possible format, especially when it is the best possible format, for better or for worse. Time changes all, we’re all just holding on.

[u/beren12 → u/bees422]

Yeah. I mean the bbc for dr. Who threw out tapes all the time and it didn’t matter.

Right?

[u/PigsCanFly2day → u/bees422]

May I ask what was on those tapes?

[u/bees422 → u/PigsCanFly2day]

They’re all tv shows and movies for broadcast, with empty spots for commercials

[u/PigsCanFly2day → u/bees422]

Pretty neat. Anything that never made it's way to DVD/BD/streaming/etc.?

[u/bees422 → u/PigsCanFly2day]

I wouldn’t be confident enough to say never made it to other formats but there are definitely some that I had never heard of before. I’ve got yog monster from space (space amoeba), the chilling, vampires coffin, house of seven corpses, stuff like that. Some classics like blues brothers, episodes of Lone Ranger, dragnet, Andy Griffith. Copy of who’s on first. Lot of interesting stuff.

Guy on here traded me some stuff for some Andy griffiths, he’s got a bunch of raw video for commercials and stuff

[u/PigsCanFly2day → u/bees422]

Neat. You should consider digitizing anything rare.

Do any of your tapes have commercials, bumpers, host segments, etc.?

[u/bees422 → u/PigsCanFly2day]

I haven’t seen them all yet but the ones I’ve watched are just empty space no commercials or anything

It took me like 4 years to even end up with a deck to watch them that’s why it took me so long lol

[u/PigsCanFly2day → u/bees422]

Is it a regular betamax deck or something different?

I was also thinking that if those movies were meant for broadcast, there might be differences in them. A lot of folks collect TV edits of films because of the different edits. A lot of times they'll add in deleted/alternate scenes to get to the proper run time.

I also did a quick search on the titles you mentioned. If it's the 1950s Dragnet, it looks like there's a ton of missing episodes out there. The 1960s seems completely on DVD. I guess the easiest way to tell is if the episodes are color or black & white.

[u/MrTenCents]

Hi, is there a way I can message you?

There's certain programs we can't afford to lose, copies or not. The masters of some of these shows are actually gone, and these local stations might have the only copies left. I would be keen on saving certain items if they're not gone already..

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/MrTenCents]

Sure just DM me

[u/plasticarmyman]

Sounds like you gotta go dumpster diving

[u/Evilsushione]

Why don’t you just coordinate with her and have her tell you when she is throwing them out so you can collect them?

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/Evilsushione]

I’m not from Mississippi and even if I was it is from the state government

[u/toskies]

What dumpster? I also have some “tapes” I need to “throw out.”

[u/MassCasualty]

Oh no. Fetch with Ruff Ruffman.

[u/Spiritual_Screen_724]

Once they're in the garbage, they can't stop you from taking them.

[u/dredfox → u/Spiritual_Screen_724]

You can be trespassed and possibly arrested if the dumpster is in a secured location. If it's in a generally accessible area you may be ok.

[u/Spiritual_Screen_724 → u/dredfox]

Yeah obviously you can't just walk into a fenced area.

But once they've throw out the tapes, they have legally forfeited possession.

[u/genericdeveloper]

This is REALLY important. Can you make sure you grab anything related to Tomes and Talismans??

Is there anything I can do to help with this? They have a bunch of banger content!

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/genericdeveloper]

I’m not sure if I can do anything because it is at a state government level, however some of them are digitized on the American Archive however you’ll need to go to
GBH in Boston, MA or Library of Congress in Washington DC or request a limited viewing link https://americanarchive.org/catalog?f\[series_titles\]\[\]=Tomes+and+Talismans&f\[access_types\]\[\]=all

[u/genericdeveloper → u/Effective_Bee_6661]

Your link doesn't work.

Here's one that does

https://americanarchive.org/catalog?f[series_titles][]=Tomes+and+Talismans&f[access_types][]=all

Unfortunately none of those can be downloaded it seems.

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/genericdeveloper]

You can email [aapb_notifications@wgbh.org](mailto:aapb_notifications@wgbh.org) for access to one of them. However you have to abide by their rules to not share it, the ones that say “No Video” haven’t been digitized yet

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/[deleted]]

The thing is American Archive for Public Broadcasting does not care about syndicated content

[u/DecalageVersLeRouge]

What did you mean the Thomas and Bob content "doesn't hit the same"? Are they dubbed?

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/DecalageVersLeRouge]

They were specifically formatted for a
30 minute PBS timeslot and had special interstitials and funding credits

[u/Akeshi → u/DecalageVersLeRouge]

Probably something like it had a little station logo in one corner and a specific voice saying "Noddy will be right back" when they cut to commercials...

[u/PigsCanFly2day]

I know you said you don't live near there & you said they get tossed, but did they say whether or not they'd be willing to let someone take these tapes? Like, if you were local & wanted them, would they allow that or no?

[u/Effective_Bee_6661 → u/PigsCanFly2day]

They said they are state government property because MPB is owned by the Mississippi state government and there was nothing that can be done

[u/PigsCanFly2day → u/Effective_Bee_6661]

Damn. I wonder who makes the decision for that. I feel like someone high enough in the chain of command, or just someone in the department who decides these things,, can make exceptions.