by MTN Programming Manager, Paul Molina
your masters put away, and play a copy when nostalgia takes you.
The second thing to be careful about is where you store your tapes. Storing video tape in a cool, dry place is essential. As I understand it, video tape comes in three parts. The first is magnetic particles that will record the actual video signal, the second is the binder which holds the particles in place, and finally there is a backing. In order to keep the binder and backing in good condition over long periods of time, tape must be stored at a temperature of 70 degrees Farenheit, and a relative humidity of 50%. If this is done, the tape should last 100 years. If not, tape lifespan can be as short as 10 years.
If you have any questions about archiving your tapes, I keep the 3M technical bulletin in my desk. Drop by and I'll make copy of it for you.
It wasn't too long ago I was standing over at MTN's Northside facility with longtime staff, producer and MTN teacher John Akre. There were tapes all around us and I was telling him to check all the piles of tapes for anything we needed to archive. We were both thinking the same thing: archive them all!
Unfortunately that's not possible. We have run out of space for tapes, and are cleaning out our tape library.
Much of the programming submitted to MTN will be returned to producers. Archiving all that remarkable programming will fall to the people who made these shows. I certainly hope people treat their shows with the respect they are due. Collectively MTN producers have taped the flower that is Minneapolis. Whether its politicians, artists, the cop on the beat, the kids playing in the park, musicians, Moms and Dads, Aunts and Uncles, they are on our
channels. Someday people will look at these video tapes and see us. They will see that we argued, prayed, discussed, played, opined... That in these days we were alive and so was the City of Lakes.
Here is some advice for those of you archiving your programs:
Magnetic fields: Keep your tapes away from real big magnets.
The tape itself: This is where your trouble will be when you store your tape for long periods of time. Magnetic recording on tape is less than 60 years old. The first commercially available audio tape machines are about 40 years old, video about 30 years old. Studies show 2 problem areas. First junk on the tape. If a piece of something gets caught in your video tape it will cause an impression in the tape, which could cause a distortion in the eventual playback. That's why you want to keep
More On Tapes...by Lead Cablecaster Lynne Washington
before you drop off new programs for the next season.
We are giving you 2 weeks to pick up your requests. If you do not pick up your tapes within the 2 weeks, we will give you a courtesy call to remind you to pick up your tapes. Your tapes will be placed in the hall for 1 week. If they are not picked up, your tapes will be recycled.
Recycling means that your tapes will be put out in a box at checkout and given up for grabs. The remaining tapes will be shipped to California for recycling.
Labeling your tapes is a very important task when producing programs. Tape labels provide a lot of information to the programming office and to the cablecasters, especially since we can not preview tapes.
On the average, producers at MTN drop off about 100 new programs a week. These tapes are logged into the computer and delivered to the tape library in the Paragon building in North Minneapolis. Once they are delivered to the library, the tapes are played according to the weekly program log. After the tapes are played, many, too many really, just sit,... and sit,... Never again to be claimed by their producer. Over the past 10 years, MTN has processed over 22,000 tapes. Less than half of this tape population has been claimed by their producers and we are witnessing a tape population explosion.
Over the past year, several attempts were made to contact producers to pick up their tapes, very few responded. This leaves us with no choice except to recycle tapes.
As of June 1997, the programming office devised a method to this tape madness. Regular program producers are now limited to 10 tapes per show per season, or producers may submit tapes for an entire season but are to arrange for tape pick up.
For example: Your show airs on Mondays, you need a new program in by noon on Friday to air next week. You want to pick up your old programs. Call the programming office before noon on Wednesday, request for your tapes to be picked up. Drop off your new program on Thursday and pick up your old programs. This allows for the producer and the programming office to communicate more often and help keep our tape population down. If you drop off an entire season's worth of tapes, you must pick up your old programs
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