Phineas Whateley and Channel 94

Thought I’d share some recently uncovered info on the founding of TV Odyssey, courtesy of some work friends!

TV Odyssey began life as simply Channel 94 in November 1977. According to Deep Lake almanacs, the network’s founder, Phineas Whateley, had a long career as a miner until 1976–per public records, he filed paperwork to start a broadcasting company in June of that year.

The important thing to understand about public-access television is that it’s usually also government-access, meaning many public stations are also used by the local and state government. This wasn’t the case with TV Odyssey: it was fully community-driven, meaning there was probably very little editorial oversight from Whateley or anyone else. Public access TV is also generally pretty bare-bones in terms of technology—a public station is generally a transmitter, a studio, some cameras, and a whole lotta tape decks, even today. TV Odyssey, though, appears to have been much more state of the art, with Odyssey tapes showcasing crisp, textured video quality that not even present-day PBS can match.

Many point to the broadcast of the first episode of Fireside Chats with Phineas Whateley as the inaugural broadcast of Channel 94/TV Odyssey. Recently, though, I’ve seen people dispute this, alleging the existence of a rare white Odyssey tape titled “I1112144 10995 1912 61252612 Tone,” purported to be a recording of the first broadcast from the wee hours of the morning of November 5, 1977.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Feel free to fact check me, or respond with any new info

OH that's who Whateley Street is named after