'We're running out of time:' One woman's quest to save Baltimore television history

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, DCRTV.com Mailbag: http://dcrtv.com/mailbag.html , for 09/23/2017:

CBS's WJZ turns over the entire WJZ 13 TV library of film & tape going back to 1959 for preservation and presentation to MARMIA (MidAtlantic Regional Moving Image Archive) run by Siobhan Hagan. But much work is needed still to preserve the thousands of old film canisters and tapes, some of which are in poor condition. The goal is to fully digitize the entire collection before it's gone. WJZ 13 is a rare large market station that saved a lot of its footage to this day. The footage dates back to just after Westinghouse bought then struggling WAAM channel 13, and turned the station around and into WJZ, with a few glimpses of what the station was like before as WAAM. The film & tapes have been stored at the University of Baltimore, but without any preservation efforts up until now. The full story along with clips is at www.marmia.org but be sure to watch "This is Baltimore" below. It's a fascinating look at 1959 TV. There's more info in The Baltimore Sun too. www.baltimoresun.com..... (9/23/17)

Bmore tv 📺 history includes some can't-miss early footage of the one and only @Oprah. See clips of it here.

Link to tweet

'We're running out of time:' One woman's quest to save Baltimore television history

Christina Tkacik The Baltimore Sun

August 24, 2017, 11:20 a.m.

Inside the Baltimore City Archives warehouse, Siobhan Hagan sorts through a wooden crate filled with old film canisters. ... It’s a small part of the archives of WJZ television — thousands of reels of film and videotapes from broadcasts dating back decades.
....

There are investigative reports on blockbusting, footage of the 1968 riots, copies of "The Buddy Deane Show," and scores of interviews with everyday Baltimoreans — slices of life from an era of Charm City that’s rapidly fading from memory. .... Hagan, a 32-year-old archivist, is tackling a challenge confronting media organizations across the country: The steady, inexorable deterioration of the film and magnetic tapes that hold history. In 10 to 15 years, preservationists say, some of the oldest videotape will no longer be playable.
....

The Association of Moving Image Archivists — Hagan is a board member — has declared a “magnetic media crisis.” ... “Within our organization there’re people hard at work trying to figure out how to manage it,” said association President Andrea Kalas, the head of archives at Paramount Pictures.
....

Hagan, founder of the nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive, has acquired the entirety of the WJZ archives, including more than 25,000 tapes and hundreds of film reels. She is taking inventory of the collection and prioritizing items that need to be digitized soon before they’re lost forever. She has launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the long process of preservation.
....

Copyright © 2017, The Baltimore Sun, a Baltimore Sun Media Group publication

[enid602]

1. B'more

Duckpins and Dollars.