The person who recorded this tape was, by their choices, objectively a monster. They cut out commercials sometimes. They only recorded bits and pieces of shows. They did not respect Geraldo. The result is six chaotic hours of February 1990 Cleveland television where programs interrupt each other mid-scene and entire episodes are represented by two minutes of footage. Partial Home Show. Partial Regis and Kathie Lee. Partial One Life to Live. Partial Oprah on hoarders, which predates the well-known 2007 Oprah hoarder episodes by nearly two decades. Full Eyewitness News. A few minutes of America’s Funniest Home Videos from when the show was still new enough to be exciting. James Buster Douglas returned to Ohio on this tape, one day after defeating Tyson on February 11, 1990. Clevelanders were singing about Nelson Mandela’s release. The Donald and Ivana Trump divorce was promo material for the 5 News.
The Morning Exchange was the Cleveland WEWS morning show that Good Morning America was modeled after. Only one other episode exists publicly, from May 1994. This February 1990 footage is among the earliest known surviving recordings. The Home Show with Gary Collins has only one other partial episode online. Dr. Ruth appeared on it. The Arsenio Hall on Sally crossover is doubly rare: Arsenio produced over 1,100 episodes with no official release, and Sally produced 3,820 with barely any surviving publicly. The commercial inventory runs over 100 items, including the Spiffits bathroom cleaner with an $18 million ad campaign whose product, company, and ad agency are all now defunct and whose commercials have never been found online.
Commercial Inventory
- Spiffits bathroom cleaner – $18M DowBrands campaign. Product, company, and ad agency all defunct. No commercials indexed online anywhere.
- Eyeglass Factory – Cleveland local ad with extreme yelling. Chat clip moment.
- Hostess Lite (two spots) – Guilt free. Virtually no digital footprint exists for this product line.
- Finast grocery chain – Defunct Cleveland grocery. No surviving commercials found online.
- Spitzer used cars – Cleveland local dealership. Almost certainly unique to this market.
- Nutri System Cleveland – Regional variant of national chain ad. Local version not preserved.
- Love Furniture clearance sale – Cleveland local furniture store. Zero online presence.
- Cleveland Eye Clinic (free transportation and snacks) – Local cataract surgery ad. Not found online.
- Carpet Barn and Tile House – Cleveland local home improvement retailer.
- Rent-A-Center Cleveland – Local variant of national chain promotional spot.
- The Forgotten Woman clothing ad – Local or regional women’s clothing retailer.
- Oscar Mayer Weinermobile ad – National brand but specific 1990 variant worth noting.
- Endust animated commercial – Noted clip moment for the animation style.
- 5th Avenue candy bar animated ad – Noted clip moment.
- Payless shoes animated shoe car – Animated format commercial.
- Pillsbury crescent rolls rap song – Doughboy goes rap. 1990.
- Vanish Drop-ins (singing toilets) – Singing toilet bowl cleaner commercials are a specific subgenre.
- Monday Morning Exchange promo (permanent eye makeup) – WEWS local promo for an upcoming segment.
