 | |  | |
About
Contributors Roll of Honor
In creating this Museum, I wanted to give credit to some of the people who have contributed to our archives, in one way or another, over the years. No one person can tape everything, or find everything (though I certainly try!) - collecting video is by nature collaborative. I strongly believe that everyone who finds a rare or interesting piece of Classic Chicago TV and is generous enough to share it with others deserves to be credited. Others have helped by providing things such as vintage TV Schedules, or historical information. There are too many to list them all, though my sincere thanks and gratitude go out to everyone. Here are a few deserving of special recognition:
Mark Garast
John Lavalie
David Carlson
Neal Sabin
Randy Dry
Jeff Martin
Kevin Szaflik
Ridgewood High School
WRHS-TV
Greg Hilbrich
Joe Lynn
Jerome Kowalewski
Gary Zielinski
John Grochowski
Andrew Leonard
Al Borowski
Kevin Burk
Keith Smith
Bruce Esquibel
Kent Daluga
Glenn "Mickey" Raye
Jeff Lupetin
Tony Letrich
Drew Leach
Dr. Frank Allen Philpot
Alan Babbitt
Rick Brozak
Ken Watson
Bob Friedlander
Roy Cox
Jonathan Dietch
Mark Ream
Jack Demus
Ray D. Glasser
Eric Hultgren
Don R. Denton
Mike Boyce
Donald Briggs
Larry Roberts
Bob Craig
Frank Chambers, Jr.
Tim Fairbank
Mike Prendergast
June Marshall
Nickerson Research
Michael Fennessy
Tony Portnoy
Kasey Ignarski
Mark Liptak
John Bialas
Susan Giancola
Byron G. Graziano
Heather Gross
Jim Piscitelli
Gina Grano
Duanne Walton
Phil Satterley
Don Ferris
Mike Leiderman
Norman Mark
Jack Taylor
Larry Charet
Libby Collins
Terry Anzur
Karl Klockars
Gene Christianson
Linda Frost (Linda Concoby)
Dean Monti
Chris Tufts
Steve Jajkowski and Rich Koz for being a talented performer and an invaluable source of historical information Special Thanks
Special thanks to Jason Katzwinkel our former webmaster, who took my fuzzy vision of a website and fashioned it into reality to create the code and artwork for Version 1.0 of FM.
I'd also like to separately thank Mark Garast for being a great business partner and friend. He has done a terrific job in helping to transfer videotapes to DVD. I definitely would not be as far along if it was not for his help. He also has a great depth of knowledge in Chicago TV, and works tirelessly to help provide continuing material and information for FuzzyMemories.TV.
Thanks must also be given to John Lavalie and Chris Tufts, our lead researchers.
And lastly, special thanks to my wife Kathy for putting up with boxes and boxes of videotapes and machines in our living room at various times. :-)
The Story
I first started becoming interested in preserving Chicago TV when I was in High School - I had the dream of one day having my own TV Museum after noticing that others fell short in certain ways. They didn't focus much on collecting off-air recordings - their collections consisted mostly of studio master tapes. There is nothing wrong with this, but I think people enjoy seeing Chicago TV the exact way that they saw it and remember it, in a particular time period, with the original commercials, bumpers, and promos intact. It's like time-travelling through your TV! The great thing about off-air recordings is that everyone can help contribute too - by finding old tapes. The advent of YouTube made me realize my dream was possible. What's more, people do not have to go to a physical location of a Museum - everything can be studied and enjoyed on the web. So, in most ways, The Museum of Classic Chicago Television is no different than other museums. We both display our collections to the public - the only difference is that I am putting the focus on material that was recorded off of Chicago TV airwaves by ordinary Chicagoans, for all to enjoy - spotlighting some of the more obscure and forgotten elements, such as local commercials and local TV and movie show bumpers.
What makes a museum a Museum? In our opinion, a museum is nothing more than a collection of material on display for the public's benefit, doing a service to the public without the aim of profit. The Museum of Classic Chicago Television works hard, and will continue to work hard, to meet professional standards. Care is taken to ensure that all of the material on the website is of high-quality, both in content and presentation. We do research from many different sources to make sure that the historical information on the site is correct and complete. There are many items in our archives for which this is the only place in the world to view them, due solely to our hard work and determination in searching them out and in recognizing their importance. We are understandably proud of this fact and hope that everyone else can appreciate our dedication.
Since it's inception in 2007, our Museum has been featured favorably in many articles and radio features. More importantly, I have personally received countless responses of positive feedback concerning the website. People are overjoyed to relive their memories of beloved local television moments; whether it's an old, obscure commercial or a clip of a forgotten local television program. There clearly is a need and desire by people to see the material that our Museum features, a need which was not previously being met satisfactorily. This is not just our opinion, but the opinion of the hundreds of online visitors to our Museum who have not had any luck searching out much of this material previously, both online and in person.
Our website is constantly searching out vintage material on old videotapes sold at flea markets, garage sales, and other means. Some of it would be completely lost to history if it were not for our efforts. The local TV stations have, for the most part, regrettably done a poor job at preserving their history. Tapes were very expensive 25-30 years ago and there also was a lack of vision on the importance of preserving this material back then. If the material does not exist on a studio master tape, what is to be done? Do we simply disregard the thousands of off-air recordings that still exist holding precious "lost" material? We believe this would be a tragic mistake.
____________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________
Bottom Line: We love Chicago. We love WGN. We love WFLD, WBBM, WLS, Bozo, Svengoolie, and all the other parties involved - this much is obvious. Were it not for passionate collectors who search though old tapes and preserve this material, it would likely be lost forever. Such an unfortunate occurance is entirely preventable, through the work of organizations like this website.
There are many examples of Chicago TV shows which, out of the (in some cases) decades of episodes produced, only a handful of them have survived in station's archives or in museums. Therefore, in many cases, the last hope for finding additional material lies in the hands of collectors who search out and find homemade, off-air recordings. Any "lost" episodes of a show that may turn up over time often come from collectors and preservationists who specifically search for these things. There are many instances where found material was later donated to the Copyright holder in order for them to use it commercially. (The British program Doctor Who, for example) Therefore, a site such as this serves a very useful purpose in helping to promote, locate, and preserve rare historical material.
We believe we are doing an invaluable service to the parties involved by fostering warm and fuzzy feelings as well as providing historical context for your television stations and companies. This work of video archaeology along with the showcasing of finds made, is not depriving anyone from making a profit, since in the majority of cases the material is too old or specific for anyone to consider marketable. The Museum of Classic Chicago Television asks that Copyright holders keep this in mind, as well as the Fair Use provisions and the overall spirit of this website when considering your options.
As mentioned above, in many cases the material we have in our collection is the only known source of said material. The Museum of Classic Chicago Television extends the offer to any rights holder, to gladly provide at no cost, a copy of any material to which you own the Copyright, for your own archives. Or, if you have any other concerns or issues - we are more than happy to work with you.
Please contact us with any questions or comments.
I have many hundreds of hours of vintage Chicago broadcasts, and am getting new additions every month. Still, there are many gaps of shows, certain years, and channels - so I am always looking for more. See below for how you can help in the fight to preserve Classic Chicago Television before it is lost forever...
- Rick Klein
Curator and Founder
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television
www.FuzzyMemories.TV | |  | |  |
| | | |
Donations
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television (www.FuzzyMemories.TV) is an IRS-classified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit charity organization, incorporated in the State of Illinois. Donations are gladly accepted and are 100% tax-deductable to you. (if you choose to take the deduction - it's up to you) Upon request, you will receive a letter giving our Federal EIN, which you can use when you file your taxes for a charitable deduction.
What do we accept as a donation?
1) A monetary donation is gladly accepted, and will go directly toward many worthwhile needs such as obtaining new vintage tape collections, purchasing & refurbishing old video tape players, website hosting fees, web design and programming fees, blank DVD-Rs, storage fees for our tape archives, etc...
2) Any old tape recordings off of Chicago TV made in the '70s up until the mid-eighties that you might have. Ideally, with all or most of the original commercial breaks intact, although if you have a program that is important in itself, such as Bozo's Circus, or some other locally produced program, then commercials are not necessary. We are currently accepting anything (and we do mean *anything* - news, sports, TV shows, movies, TV sign-offs, boring junk that only we'd find interesting, etc...) - we are putting our official cut-off date as 1985, although obviously the older the material the more interest it would be to us. (if you have something more recent than 1985, you can e-mail us anyway - we may still be interested in it!) Note: If you don't want to give up your original tape, we will gladly transfer it to DVD for you so that you can hold on to the original.
You can PayPal us at: fuzzy@fuzzymemories.tv (click on the link at the bottom of the page)
(or you can also donate via Google Checkout on our YouTube page)
We also offer sponsoring of specific videos.
Or, send us via actual U.S. mail here:
Museum of Classic Chicago Television
P.O. Box 482
Downers Grove, IL 60515
Checks or Money Orders can be made out to: Museum of Classic Chicago Television.
Thanks, 
Rick "Fuzzy" Klein
President & Curator
The Museum of Classic Chicago Television
www.FuzzyMemories.TV
| | | | |
|
|
