WYOU bequeaths Runyon’s master tapes to Memorial Library

WYOU Community Television will transfer ownership of the master video tapes of “Nothing To Hide,” the late David Runyon’s long-running television show, to Memorial Library.

A special reception marking the Memorial Library’s acquisition will take place from 4:30–6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, in the library’s fourth-floor commons. Speakers set to commemorate the event include Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin; State Rep. Spencer Black; Ken Frazier, director of the UW–Madison General Library System; and Richard Russell, political activist and one-time WYOU Board chair.

Twenty-five boxes of tapes in a procession across the Capitol Square, along State Street and ending at Memorial Library.

“Nothing To Hide” ran during primetime on WYOU from 1981–2001. At the time of Runyon’s death in 2001, “Nothing to Hide” was the longest-running LGBT television show anywhere in the world.

Runyon, the show’s creator and producer, honed his television and documentary skills at WYOU. The archive includes lectures by nationally known authors and social critics, speeches by LGBT history-makers and documentary footage covering local and regional events. Upon its acceptance into the Library System, the collection will become the largest LGBT cable access video archive of its kind in a public repository in the nation.