The Deep Dish TV Records (1980-2021) contain audiovisual, paper, and digital materials documenting the public access network's productions, administration, event participation, publicity, media advocacy, and relationships with other media and political organizations. In addition to the production and organizational history of Deep Dish TV, the Deep Dish TV Records document the political topics that Deep Dish investigated, as well as the independent media scene and its most active members from the 1980s-2010s. Frequent collaborators include Paper Tiger TV, Free Speech TV, Democracy Now!, DIVA TV, Indymedia, and Alternative Radio.
The production history of Deep Dish TV from their 1986 Opening Series to their 2018 series We Interrupt This Program is reflected in this collection's broadcast masters, dubs, source footage and media elements on analog and digital video. Corresponding paper and digital files portray the production process in a range of documents, including calls for submissions, program proposals, budgets and expenses, projected timelines, production and licensing contracts, correspondence with producers, video stills, graphics, and cover art design.
This collection includes thorough documentation of the day-to-day administrative activities of Deep Dish TV, including Board of Directors and Steering Committee minutes, memoranda, and notes; financial documents such as budgets and expenses; fundraising strategy and related documentation such as merchandise sales and grant applications; mail received from viewers and mailing lists for outgoing communications; contact lists for research and outreach on a variety of subjects; carriage lists detailing the television stations that carry Deep Dish programs; and internal staff correspondence, job descriptions, and staff biographies.
Deep Dish TV's participation in numerous film festivals, video screenings, speaking tours, conferences, and exhibitions is reflected in paper and digital files such as event ephemera, awards, photographs, and audiovisual recordings.
Promotional materials, advertisements, and publicity for Deep Dish TV's programs and activities are also represented in this collection. These paper and digital files include press releases, press clippings, program directories, mock-ups for logos and graphics, flyers and posters for Deep Dish programs, outreach to producers, programmers, and viewers, files related to marketing and advertising, and demo reels, samplers, and PSAs recorded in analog and digital video.
The Deep Dish TV Records also hold research files compiled by the Deep Dish staff. These paper and digital files include press clippings and notes on topics related to independent media advocacy, political activism, and world events. They also include ephemera, correspondence, and promotional materials from a variety of television networks and media organizations that were also active in the public access scene. These files were referenced by the staff for research, networking, distribution and outreach.
