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VHS-2026-247: KAKE-TV Wichita, Late 1991

TAPE ID: VHS-2026-247

A BASF Extra Quality T-120 with a sticky note label listing four titles: The Child, Steven, Hurricane Del, and RoboCop. Six hours of EP recording from KAKE-TV 10 in Wichita, Kansas, spanning late 1991 into early 1992. The sticky note was lying about at least half the content.

BASF Extra Quality T-120 with sticky note listing four titles KAKE-TV Wichita late 1991 (VHS-2026-247)

Tape Details

Tape ID VHS-2026-247

What’s On This Tape

The tape opens with an FBI Files segment about Alan Berg, the Denver talk radio host murdered by white supremacists in 1984. Heavy stuff for a late night broadcast. It rolls into American Detective, then finishes with a broadcast of RoboCop on KAKE-TV.

The commercial breaks are dense with early-90s Wichita advertising and network promos. Anti-drug PSAs run constantly. One says nothing happens on marijuana. Another tells you to talk to your kids about drugs. A third reminds you to use condoms. Bush-era public service at full volume.

The tape took two streaming sessions to complete. The RoboCop segment delivered the heaviest commercial load, including a trailer for Juice (opening Friday January 17, placing this portion in January 1992) and a trailer for The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

The Commercial Inventory

  • McDonald’s Double Time – Double cheeseburger for 99 cents each
  • Best Buy 386 SX – A computer for $1,197
  • Hardee’s – “Are you ready for real food?” with curly fries
  • Spangles – Wichita’s own fast food chain, Best Value menu
  • JFK movie trailer – Oliver Stone’s conspiracy epic
  • Die Hard batteries – Not the movie
  • Orville Redenbacher Barcelona Olympics – Multiple versions of this ad
  • Pizza Hut Ultimate Cheese Pizza – Six cheese blend
  • Little Caesars – The Cha-Cha “Party Party” ad
  • Juice trailer – Tupac’s debut film, opening date on screen
  • The Hand That Rocks the Cradle trailer – Peak early-90s thriller marketing
  • Tom Park Ford – Local dealer selling conversion vans
  • Mercury Sable – Ford’s mid-range sedan push
  • Ford Escort – 2.9% financing on the 91/92 models
  • BIC Men’s Razors – Disposable blade era
  • Nothing Happens on Marijuana PSA – Debatable claim, memorable execution

Why This Tape Matters

Wichita television from 1991 is scarce. KAKE-TV broadcasts from this era were never archived by the station in any publicly accessible form. The Spangles ad alone is a piece of Kansas fast food history. The anti-drug PSA trifecta captures a very specific moment in American broadcasting policy. And the Juice trailer with its opening date visible on screen pins this recording to a precise week in January 1992.

This tape is filed as VHS-2026-247 in the 90s Craig archive. BASF Extra Quality. Six hours of Wichita, Kansas in EP mode.

Catch tapes like this one live on twitch.tv/90sCraig

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