Gone with the Wind: WJW Cleveland, January 1987

Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh on a Cleveland living room TV in January 1987. Between them and the credits: 90 minutes of commercials that turned out to be the real show.

Tape VHS-2026-081 is a T-120 RCA Hi-Fi Stereo recording of the Gone with the Wind broadcast on WJW TV8 — Cleveland’s CBS affiliate — from January 1987. Six hours of tape at EP speed. The film is in there. So is everything else that was on that night.

The Tape

RCA Premium T-120, Hi-Fi Stereo. Hand-labeled sleeve: Gone with the Wind / WJW January 1987. Condition: Good. The recording held up.

What’s On It

The film runs nearly four hours, so the broadcast stretched across a full evening with commercial breaks. WJW was carrying CBS that night, and they leaned into it — promos for Cagney & Lacey, Magnum P.I., Murder She Wrote, Newhart. Dan Rather getting his own trust spot. The Constitution Bicentennial content is everywhere — 1787 to 1987 was a big deal and the networks knew it.

The Bartles & Jaymes guys showed up with Super Bowl bowling tips, which dates the tape pretty precisely: Super Bowl XXI was January 25, 1987. This recording is from that same window.

Commercial Inventory

  • The NOID (Domino’s Pizza) — the peak of the character’s run, right when the Avoid the NOID campaign was everywhere
  • Fuji Videotape "The Good Stuff" — a videotape commercial on a videotape. Hard to beat that
  • Kelly LeBrock for Pantene Conditioner — the Weird Science and Woman in Red era, peak celebrity endorsement
  • Alex Trebek for ValueTV — local Cleveland shopping channel spot, long before Jeopardy! made him untouchable
  • Rich Little as Alfred Hitchcock for Little Debbie — a celebrity impressionist doing Hitchcock for snack cakes. Someone greenlit this
  • Tom Poston for McDonald’s Big Mac MountainNewhart cast member in a fast food spot
  • Actifed with Apollo Astronauts — space program credibility applied to cold medicine
  • Libby Riddles for Alka-Seltzer Plus — 1985 Iditarod winner (first woman to win), still in the endorsement window
  • Debbie Allen for March of Dimes — the Fame era PSA
  • Bartles & Jaymes Super Bowl Bowling Tips — the wine cooler guys, January 1987
  • Robin Swoboda Newsbreak — Cleveland TV legend, cutting in with Bond Court Hotel fire coverage
  • 1987 Merkur — Ford’s short-lived German import experiment, discontinued by 1989
  • Renault Alliance — AMC-built French car, also discontinued in 1987. Two dead brands in one tape
  • Miller Genuine Draft — early MGD advertising, before it was everywhere
  • Folgers Instant Coffee, NyQuil, Oil of Olay, Burger King, Plymouth Sundance, Alpo, Stainmaster Carpet, Jazzercise, La Choy, Crisco, Frosted Flakes, Crest Tartar Control, Pepto-Bismol, Wendy’s New Chili, Dairy Queen Double Burger, Mrs. Dash, CoverGirl Nail Slicks, Mars Bar, Ohio Bell Call Waiting — the full 1987 domestic inventory
  • CBS Newsbreak (Cold War edition) — Soviet arms talks in Geneva, Iran-Iraq conflict. The news they cut to between dish soap ads
  • TV8 "Stop the Madness" PSA — anti-drug peer pressure spot from the Cleveland station itself
  • Garfield in Paradise / Snoopy’s Getting Married Promos — animated specials, both 1986-87 season

Archive Verdict

Cleveland broadcast, January 1987. Local CBS affiliate carrying a four-hour film with full commercial breaks. The tape survived. The NOID is on it. Robin Swoboda breaks in with a hotel fire. The Constitution is turning 200. Bartles and Jaymes have bowling tips.

This one streamed live on January 13-14, 2026. Both sessions. Watch the archive on Twitch.

Tape VHS-2026-081 · RCA T-120 Hi-Fi · WJW Cleveland · January 1987 · 6 hours EP