I’m really happy to see this happening . . . a truly Madison moment . . .
WYOU Community Television to Bequeath David Runyon’s “Nothing To Hide” Master Tapes to UW’s Memorial Library
25 boxes filled with 800 Runyon master tapes will be carried on foot by WYOU to UW’s Memorial Library on Friday, November 13th for a bequeathal reception. Tammy Baldwin to speak. Will create largest archive of its kind in the nation.
Madison, WI – WYOU Community Television is pleased to announce that it will transfer ownership of the master video tapes of Nothing To Hide, the late David Runyon’s long-running television show, to the University of Wisconsin’s Memorial Library. A special reception marking the Memorial Library’s acquisition will take place on Friday, November 13th, from 4:30pm – 6:00pm in the Library’s 4th Floor Commons. Speakers set to commemorate the event include: Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Representative Spencer Black, Wisconsin State Legislature, Ken Frazier, Director of the UW-Madison General Library System, and Richard Russell, political activist and one-time WYOU Board Chairman.
WYOU volunteers and community representatives will gather at 3:30pm at WYOU, located at 609 E. Washington Ave and transport 25 boxes of tapes in a procession across the Capitol Square, along State Street and ending at the UW’s Memorial Library, 728 State Street.
Nothing To Hide ran during prime-time on WYOU from 1981 – 2001. At the time of Runyon’s death in 2001, “Nothing to Hide” was the longest-running LGBT television show anywhere in the world. David Runyon, the creator and producer of Nothing To Hide, honed his television and documentary skills at WYOU. The video tape archive is noteworthy for its range of topics. Included in the collection are lectures by nationally known authors and social critics, speeches by LGBT history-makers, and documentary footage covering local and regional events. Upon its acceptance into the Library System, the collection will become the largest LGBT cable access video archive of its kind in a public repository in the nation.
The preservation proposal for Runyon’s Nothing To Hide collection came from a group of faculty and staff at UW-Madison. Representatives of the proposal approached WYOU about its 800-tape collection as well as local LGBT advocacy center, Outreach, owner of 50 tapes from the collection. Outreach, Madison’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center is also donating tapes from its collection.
The Memorial Library will archive the collection, digitize the masters and place the shows in circulation for access by scholars, students and community members. This will create the largest public repository of such materials in the nation and will add another unique research collection to Memorial Library.
WYOU is the public access television station serving the city of Madison and Dane County in Wisconsin. The station has been a resource to the citizens of Madison since 1976 for the production and distribution of locally produced programs. WYOU producers include students and teachers, conservationists, social workers, accountants, activists, healthcare workers, independent filmmakers and members of local religious organizations. The WYOU mission is to stimulate and facilitate open community use of the public access station for the development of local television programming. The station educates the community in the use of digital cameras and editing software and provide facilities for independent producers to learn how to create programs.
Contact: Barbara Bolan at 608-258-9644 and barbara.bolan@wyou.org
