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Post by Paul Vanezis on Feb 13, 2021 15:29:56 GMT
At any rate, as of today Kaleidoscope seems to exist only as a private limited company, incorporated for non-charitable purposes -- including television distribution. But its main purpose, as I'm sure we all know, is holding an annual event, a one day convention in the West Midlands, and selling the books it publishes. Hmm. No. I think you have misunderstood what I was saying. Kaleidoscope, the group of enthusiasts who track down lost TV is one thing. Separately there is Kaleidoscope Television Archives Limited, a registered plc with two directors, the aforementioned man and his wife. There is also Kaleidoscope DVD, the directors of which are Christopher Perry and a guy in the USA. The other companies that were started by Chris (Kaleidoscope Music Publishing Ltd. being one) were I think all dissolved by Companies House. The point I was making is that if you are planning to donate material to Kaleidoscope, which of the two are you donating to? The group of enthusiasts or Chris Perry's private shebang? I mean, one is basically a private members club and the other is a private business. Neither are charitable concerns and never have been. Bearing that in mind, it's difficult to see how Kaleidoscope is funded. Where for example are the million or so items in their collection stored and who pays for the storage? Is material just going from one dusty attic to a basement in a private home? These films that are bought from Ebay at (frankly) ridiculous prices; who actually does own them? Kaleidoscope the business or individuals who have stumped up the cash who just happen to be members? Is the material any safer in their hands than the private collector they bought it from? I've seen some describe lost material donated to Kaleidoscope as "...returned to Kaleidoscope..." as if somehow material that was never theirs in the first place could manage than miracle. And what happens to this 'material' when it is donated? One colleague of mine refuses to deal with them anymore because a film print of a lost programme that he loaned to them, a film he only handed over because he was told that they wanted to make a copy for the copyright holders, was copied by them and then traded amongst some members of Kaleidoscope. I think if you're planning to donate to any organisation, you should be careful and do your own research into them. What are they, how do they work and how do they plan to preserve the material? All important questions if your material is unique. You may then decide to donate whatever you have to an official archive such as the BFI or the BBC or the British Library where material will be properly preserved and hopefully made use of. You could even (shock, horror) donate the material to the organisations that own the copyright. Paul
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Post by T Morgan on Feb 14, 2021 16:13:05 GMT
I suggested having a "YouTube for radio" where people could upload what they have 8 years ago on this very forum (see this thread) as I believe sharing this missing material online is the only way of ensuring its survival for future generations. So much is being lost forever because the people who recorded it have "shuffled off this mortal coil" and their descendants have binned their possessions or thrown them in a skip. Even more frustrating is when missing material is offered back to the BBC, or to the British Library, and is rejected! Thankfully there are now organisations like Kaleidoscope who will archive missing radio shows that are no longer wanted. It's good to see the Genome database is now linking to over 17,000 radio and 900 TV programmes. Allowing the public to upload audio files of missing shows would be a great idea as I suspect the majority of the 4 million radio broadcasts listed on it do not officially exist. I doubt it will ever happen, though! Those of us interested in archive radio will have to continue sharing and trading "illegally" in programmes that the copyright holders couldn't care less about... I didn't know that Kaleidoscope covered radio. Nothing on their website suggests that is the case. So is there any organisation out there which is clearly dedicated to preserving archive British radio shows?
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Post by T Morgan on Feb 14, 2021 16:24:06 GMT
@ Colin Simpson - 1. If you want to preserve digital files, upload them to the Internet Archive at Archive.org where they will be preserved permanently. The BBC Sound Archives rejects items more often than not, but Archive.org never rejects an upload. If they eventually have to take it off display, it will still exist in their storage somewhere. 2. If you want to preserve real items, e.g. video tapes, leave them as a gift in your Will. Donate them to Kaleidoscope now, or leave your entire collection as a bequest to the British Library in London, which accepts pretty much anything that can be catalogued. It has a large collection of, for example, old reel to reel audio tapes, donated over the past 25 years, and still has the equipment to digitise these tapes. The British Library actually stores physically a huge quantity of tapes donated by the BBC, when the old reels in the BBC Sound Archive were converted to digital formats. 'Library' should not be misunderstood as meaning only books - go take a look at the BL's online catalogue to get an idea of how broad the scope of their collections are. Do Kaleidoscope actually encourage bequests from wills? They might not want to be inundated with such material. I do have a friend whose elderly mother has a large archive of off-air VHS recordings, and I made clear he should certainly not throw them away. I know it includes things like Last of the Summer Wine, which is of course available commercially (although I feel there is some value in being able to see such shows as they were first broadcasts). The idents might also be useful. But I wouldn't want to tell him that his mother should leave everything in that collection to Kaleidoscope, as they may not want it.
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Post by T Morgan on Feb 14, 2021 16:28:05 GMT
Whilst a group of us are researching and recovering Brit. comedy - and indeed have discovered lots of 'missing' episodes - my personal interest is in recovering musical docudramas. These are the forgotten and rarely aired productions from producer giants such as the prolific Charles Chilton, Charles Parker, Philip Donnellan, Alan Lomax, Ewan MacColl, A.L.Lloyd, Brian Vaughan, Michael Mason, et al. The young wokes at the BBC appear to be totally disinterested in their productions. There is a growing movement to collect ad restore their works and then put these out into the public domain - where they belong. Strangely a number of retired-BBC staff are supporting us; many have worked on these very productions. These too are unhappy at the dismissive attitudes of current staff towards these classics. Are you referring to the Global British Comedy Collaborative as the group in question?
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Post by T Morgan on Feb 14, 2021 16:30:39 GMT
Hi Stephen, I'm sure that you're being ironic when you describe retired BBC staff interest in your endeavour strange, and believe me, there is a big interest in all forms of lost entertainment with the archivists at the BBC. Things come in and out of fashion like the wind but these shows will have their day again; it just needs someone to put forward a well thought out case. But they'll only reach a wider audience if they're in the archive to be re-broadcast. You can't make much of a case if there is nothing to play. Regardless, good luck. Paul The use of woke doesn't help either, being a good way to make yourself sound like a miserable old Gammon. I'd agree there - I'm sure many of the BBC staff in question may well be consumed with matters of political correctness, but you can't tar them all with the same brush. They need to be given the chance, surely. Radio 4 Extra still repeats a lot of stuff which is of a considerable vintage, and probably not at all "trendy".
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Feb 14, 2021 17:58:01 GMT
Radio 4 Extra still repeats a lot of stuff which is of a considerable vintage, and probably not at all "trendy". Radio 4Xtra is certainly leading the way with archive repeats, many from home recordings. Much of that has been made possible by members of the Radio Circle and they do an incredible job. Here's their website: www.radiocircle.org.uk/Please give them a visit and if you have any radio shows, particularly the old stuff, but also material that's relatively new they will want to hear from you. If you have been enjoying archive repeats of things like 'I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again', it's likely they have been responsible for the restored recordings one way or another. Paul
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Post by T Morgan on Feb 14, 2021 19:41:24 GMT
Good to know that home recordings are being repeated. Thanks for the link - I'll investigate. I'm aware of the Old Radio Collectors' Association, based in the UK, but they didn't seem to have much in the way of archive British shows, if I remember correctly.
Funnily enough, the "missing" episode of Ray's a Laugh which I recently heard is probably a bit un-PC by today's standards, as Ted Ray's character goes to a bathing beauty contest. But such things help to show us how attitudes have changed, so are worth listening to for their social history.
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Post by freddyv on Sept 27, 2021 8:09:00 GMT
Am I alone in fondly remembering Ray Goslings look at the way we lived and made it sound fascinating? Of course, I never thought to record those shows back then, but have a real hankering to hear them once more. His archive now lies in a University vault but NO tapes are there - I have checked. I suspect we all recall the TV programme of his house full of newspapers and other detritus as his working life came to an end and he became rather eccentric. He was an archivist, so where do his tapes go?
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