The presentation of this information will be as much of an experiment for me as 3M’s creation of a commercial line of video tape in only 22 hours.

On Thursday of last week, November 13, I posted the only online copy of the 3M video presentation of their “20 Years Of Video Tape” special that ran at the 1976 NAB show. That came from Neil Gjere, who has also sent along some extremely rare things you will be seeing here. Among them is a fantastic 18-page report written by Melvin Sater, who led the 3M project to develop the first commercial line of video tape.

Jonathan Winters presents Mel Sater an Emmy Award.

Before I post that, I need to post a few things that will get you familiar with the people and events that lead up to this, and this is the first introductory piece, or what the newsmen among us would call “a backgrounder.”

First, here is a 3M announcement that Mel Sater is receiving an EMMY for his work in video tape. In the section called “Sader’s Scramble,” you can read about the call from Ampex the day before video tape recording was introduced in 1956.

Here’s a 1982 article from a 3M house publication that commemorates Mel’s induction into the Video Hall of Fame.

And here’s a neat little profile of Mel Sater from 1984.

And now that we know something about the man behind the innovation, here is Mel Sater’s personal account of this historic achievement. Enjoy and share! – Bobby Ellerbee

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