Lot of 60 ex-BFBS 2-inch quad tape boxes found in shed

[Alex S]

Taken from a post originally made on the Memories of TV Centre page that was later relayed on the Kaleidoscope page:  

Looking for someone interested in recovering old 2" Quad videotapes.

Walking from Brentford to Kew this afternoon, I came by the little shop just near The Musical Museum that still sells loads of ex-Army bits.

Outside was a flat truck with loads of old stuff on it and a couple of 2” Quad tape boxes.

Old labels with BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) labels.

Spoke to guys clearing out/knocking down sheds behind who showed me a pile of tape boxes and they throw away a couple each trip to dump!.

Had to go but called back in and took this photo of about 60 tapes. Looked inside a few and in very good condition. Unlabelled as to content but two had LWT stickers.

It struck me that they might have heritage material on and mentioned that I would circulate this information to see if there was any interest.

I know a load of old stuff that was thought lost has been found in odd places.

I suspect that there is now no BBC department interested so trying here.

Is there anyone interested?

I have the phone number of the guy who runs the shop who wasn’t there today but and I can pass it on if you PM me - it is probably Charlie or Bill

If I don’t hear from anyone interested in a few days/a week I will go and see them and say thanks.

Post from Kaleidoscope
Memories of working at BBC Television Centre Facebook page


Update 17/3/21: Just had a look on Google Maps and the shop being referred to I believe is W.F Wells & Son Ltd of High St, Brentford. Their telephone number is 020 8568 8889.

[Pete Morris]

Hey, I know that shop. I've bought stuff from there.

[T. Kielland]

That's a tantalising photo. How many broadcasters in the UK retain 2” Quad machines?

[John Wall]

There are still some machines that can cope.

[T. Kielland]

I suppose the important question is if anyone with access to a working machine is interested in buying a mystery lot just to see if it contains anything interesting. That seems unlikely to me.

[John Wall]

There’s almost certainly nothing of interest there.

But.......

[RWels]

Mar 16, 2021 12:37:05 GMT John Wall said:

There’s almost certainly nothing of interest there.

But.......

Out of interest, why? Of course, we should never expect to win the jackpot. But Armed Forces tapes, couldn't they contain anything?

[richardwoods]

BFBS have shown a lot of interesting stuff over the years.

[stevegerald]

Mar 16, 2021 19:31:06 GMT richardwoods said:

BFBS have shown a lot of interesting stuff over the years.

Have they shown anything that's missing?

[T. Kielland]

Has there been any takers?

[richardwoods]

Mar 16, 2021 22:20:15 GMT stevegerald said:

Mar 16, 2021 19:31:06 GMT richardwoods said:

BFBS have shown a lot of interesting stuff over the years.

Have they shown anything that's missing?

No definitive answer from me, but I would think so back in earlier decades.

[Pete Morris]

I went to check them out. A lot of them had a label saying "blank video tape."  I don't know if that means anything.


But I bought one as a sample to try out. Is there anywhere local (West London) I can test it?

Attachments:

[Alex S]

Mar 17, 2021 18:20:49 GMT Pete Morris said:

I went to check them out. A lot of them had a label saying "blank video tape."  I don't know if that means anything.


But I bought one as a sample to try out. Is there anywhere local (West London) I can test it?

David Dean of Westpoint Television does 2-inch PAL quad transfers. Their website is www.westpoint.tv. Give them a ring on 020 8742 3400 and see what he says. 

[Alex S]

Just had a look on Google Maps and the shop being referred to I believe is W.F Wells & Son Ltd of High St, Brentford. Their telephone number is 020 8568 8889.

[Robert Lia]

As a viewer of AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio & Television Services) in the Philippines from 1987-90 at the former US Naval Station Subic Bay / US Naval Air Station Cubi Point R.P. amongst others I can give an idea of some of the things that the BFBS probably held on to over the years . . . . And its not recordings of Dr. Who from BBC1 or any other UK based channel.

What they often kept was station ID tapes, programs that were produced by BFBS for repeat transmissions at local bases. Public service announcement's, Continuity announcements , local station (base) identifications. For example ("Your watching FEN-P Subic Bay", or "your watching FEN-P Clark Air Base"). FEN-P was Far East Network Philippines. Local military commanders at each base could "break in" to the AFRTS feed at any time should the situation warrant it to make local emergency announcements (or as often happened stupid military announcements that could wait for a commercial break).

Also retained were Localy produced broadcasts that were of interest only to service members attached to a local installation in a particular region. A classic example we would get is programs that warm family's of service members not to "black market" US produced goods from your local military exchange or commissary to civilian's.

Another big one often directed at the single young service members living in barrack's of BEQ (Bachelor Enlisted Quarters) were programs on social hygiene and how to protect your self from socially transmitted diseases, another one you might see were broadcasts reminding soldiers , Sailors and Airmen that the pretty girl you meet at the club might be an under cover enemy agent trying to obtain military secrets from you.

AFRTS would also retain for future repeats would be of say English language programs about say "West Berlin", "Frankfurt" and "Hamburg" for example and you get a broadcast telling you about all the things that you and your family could on in these cities during your tour of duty in country. These type of programs would be saved as they could be shown again every few months to newer troops reporting for duty.

Now most of these would be short messages that could be inserted in the commercial breaks on ITV shows, or if they were 30 minutes in length could be used to fill in a half hour every now and then if a program was not available or say if a sporting event under ran and the station needed to fill the time slot at short notice. Another use for these shorts would be to fill in the time after a Dr. Who episode ended and the next program started at the bottom of the hour.