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Inside Albany Records

An inventory of the records at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: -
Date: undated

Biographical History

Inside Albany was New York's leading weekly television news magazine focusing on the contemporary events and issues of New York State government and politics. Produced by Public Television Station WMHT-TV (Schenectady), the program aired from January 2, 1975 to December 29, 2006. Originally a one-hour weekly program, Inside Albany was later condensed to a half-hour format. Inside Albany has won numerous broadcasting awards including the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for excellence in television journalism.

David Hepp was a founding producer and reporter for Inside Albany. Lise Bang-Jensen started with the program in 1987 as reporter-producer and co-host. Mr. Hepp is a graduate of Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Inside Albany Records consist of program files and videorecordings relating to the television program Inside Albany.

Program files contains program notes and descriptions of shows from 1975-2006, three binders listing show topics from 1985-2006, and a zip drive containing a name library and lists of show topics from 1987-2006, in AppleWorks format. Videorecordings contain recordings of of televised Inside Albany programs, including several specials (1975-2006). Episodes 1144 through 1146 (4/19/85-5/3/85), 2109 through 2112 (8/4/94-8/25/94), and 2114 (9/8/94) are not present in the collection.

According to documentation received with the material, the program numbering system followed July-June fiscal year beginning in July 1976. In the first year, production was suspended in July when the legislative session recessed and resumed when it reconvened in September with program No. 201. After Inside Albany became an independent production in January 1996, the program numbering system was changed to be based on the calendar year, thus the first program in January 1996 was No. 9601.

At over 1,600 episodes on over 750 videotapes, the collection documents a wide range of events and figures including the Love Canal cleanup, the Attica prison riots, the Shoreham nuclear power plant shutdown, the political careers of Mario Cuomo, George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, as well as important social issues, like Native American rights, disability rights, and many others.

Arrangement of the Collection

Program files remain in the order they were received. Videorecordings are listed in order by show number (see Scope and Content above).

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

The AppleWorks database is not accessible due to technical difficulties.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection. No part of the Collection shall be made available for commercial purposes to any individual or entity without the express written consent of WMHT in advance.

Related Material

Broadcast master videotapes have been digitized. Each episode has been converted to a low-resolution access file (.mp4) for web streaming, and a high-resolution preservation file (.mov). In addition, each original tape and tape container has been photographed. All episodes are available via our Digital Collections page.

Special Collections Research Center has a number of television-related collections. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing

Subject Headings

Corporate Bodies

Inside Albany, Inc.
WMHT (Television station : Schenectady, N.Y.)

Associated Titles

Inside Albany (television show)

Subjects

Broadcast journalism.
Public television -- New York (State)
Television broadcasting of news -- United States.
Television in politics -- New York (State)

Places

New York (State) -- Politics and government.

Genres and Forms

Born digital.
Digital moving image formats.
Files (document groupings)
Videotapes.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Inside Albany Records,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Inside Albany, Inc. and WMHT-TV (Schenectady).

Table of Contents

Program files

Videorecordings

Inventory

Note on alternate formats:

Broadcast master videotapes have been digitized. Each episode has been converted to a low-resolution access file (.mp4) for web streaming, and a high-resolution preservation file (.mov). In addition, each original tape and tape container has been photographed. All episodes are available via our Digital Collections page.