Saturday, August 8, 2015

Stu Shostak-Vintage TV Pioneer..

For our first post in seven months I want to promote someone I consider a good friend. A kindred spirit really, as far as saving vintage television is concerned.


Stu Shostak has been mentioned before here but he is doing something now that I think deserves all our support if we love vintage broadcasting and being able to see it regularly at a reasonable cost..


First, some background:

Stu Shostak grew up in in the Los Angeles area, very much a "TV Kid" just  as I was growing up in the Canton area. Being in LA, he was close to many of the TV broadcast stations, and as he became a teen ager, he became fascinated with TV films, and doing internship at one of the stations he noticed how many shows on film were simply being discarded in the trash..Stu took to "rescuing" as many of these films as possible. Many of them kinescopes and one time only broadcasts could have disappeared forever if not for Stu's foresight.



Fast forward to 1979..Stu and a partner started Shokus Video, probably the first company to sell old TV Shows directly to the home market..By this time Stu had amassed hundreds if not a few thousand different titles, many which are very rare and one of a kind..

Shokus Video Website




In the meantime, Stu began a career as warmup comedian for 1970's and 80's sitcoms and became Lucille Ball's official film and video archivist.


In 2006 Stu began an Internet Radio Show, Stu's Show which airs Wednesdays 4-6PM Pacific Time (7-9 ET).  Here he, and wife Jeannine Kasun host many TV and animation greats, such as Ed Asner, Dick Van Dyke, Linda Kaye Henning, Jerry Beck, Mark Evanier,  William Schallert and many others.  Also producers and directors of classic TV that otherwise would be forgotten are also featured..The conversation is lively and sometimes will go overtime..

Stu's Show



Forward to The present..Stu has begun a "Shokus Video" presence on YouTube, with an eye toward starting a Roku (Internet Streaming TV Box) Channel in the future if there is enough support.  I would love to see a lot of our friends join Stu's YouTube Channel.  For all he's done to preserve Classic TV over the last 35 years or more.  He deserves as much support as we can give him..Here is a link to the channel, just started a few days ago..There will be some content never released on VHS or DVD..Check it out and more importantly, subscribe to it as I have..

Shokus Video YouTube Channel