Archival Project: Arab American Television
Arab American TV (AATV) was a Los Angeles-based news and media syndicate that produced a bilingual, magazine-style television program on a weekly basis. It covered local and national community events, showcasing Arab Los Angeles's rich social, cultural and political dimensions. Prominent Arab newsmakers, celebrities and political leaders appeared on AATV frequently.
AATV also aired imported films, TV serials, plays, news and music videos from the region. In a sense, it served as a media bridge between the Arab diaspora in the US and the homeland. AATV operated from the early 1980s until the mid-2000s.
During its first decade, AATV was broadcast over-the-air throughout Southern California. The show captured the zeitgeist of southern California's Arab American communities. In the 1990s, it grew to reach a national footprint via the International Channel, which was available on many cable television carriers and satellite. It expanded its broadcast hours and put out daily entertainment programming. It was one of the only television programs connecting large parts of Arab America as a whole. In its final years, it became a live talk show that took callers and discussed issues concerning Arab Americans.
Professor William Youmans explained, "I acquired this collection and set up an in-house digitization lab to create an archive AATV." The collection includes about 4,000 videos on obsolete tape formats, hundreds of audio cassettes and 20 boxes of documents. The tapes are programs, as well as raw footage of events, interviews, commercials and social life.
The AATV project began with the media archaeological work of recovering video footage kept on antiquated media. "I took a hands-on approach by obtaining, repairing and maintaining the video equipment and digitizing many videos myself." Youmans added. He is starting to make the collection publicly available on YouTube and other platforms.
Youmans has been able to digitally preserve the collection of videos. He is calling for funding to pay for the safe storage of the digital files and to hire research interests to catalogue and publish the video details so the collection is searchable and sortable. This is vital for making the collection usable by the public and researchers, alike.
In the video below, professor William Youmans explains the origins, process and goals of the AATV Archive. This video was directed and edited by Zakir Tabini.