Welcome to the Disney Channel Broadcast Archive! Thank you for your interest in contributing to this project and helping us to build a bigger and better guide to "the Happiest Channel on Earth"! Here are a list of questions you might have (and their answers). If you still have questions before you start contributing, please contact a staff member on their talk page or reach out to us on our Discord!
General
Q: What is "Newspapers"? I keep seeing it on schedule pages.
A: Newspapers is short for newspapers.com, an internet archive of newspapers. Any paper name followed up by "via Newspapers" means it was sourced from that site.
Q: What is "The Disney Channel Magazine"?
A: Back when it was a premium pay cable service, The Disney Channel had a monthly (later bimonthly) magazine that was given free to subscribers. It featured complete program guides, as well as information, articles and activities relating to featured programs. The magazine was in print from the Channel's launch in 1983 to 1997.
Q: What is a screenbug? I don't see any bug!
A: A screenbug is the little Disney Channel logo in the lower corner of the screen. They're one of the main ways we're able to figure out the dates some of our old tapes were recorded, so they're very important. Just so you know, though, Disney Channel didn't start using a bug until around 1996/97.
Q: Will you cover any of Disney's sister networks (i.e., Disney XD, Disney Junior) or the international Disney Channels?
A: Currently, no. Archiving nearly 40 years of broadcast history is already an extremely huge undertaking as it is.
Contributing
Q: How can I contribute to this wiki?
A: Good question! Here's a basic guide on how you can get started.
Q: I have old Disney Channel recordings (on VHS, DVD, etc.) and/or old issues of The Disney Channel Magazine! What can I do?
A: Wonderful! If you have old Disney Channel recordings or issues of the Magazine, please reach out and let us know! We're always interested in helping others date their old recordings and adding new information to the wiki.
Q: My VHS recordings have no commercials and/or no screenbug. Are they still of any use?
A: Yes! One of our specialties is figuring out when recordings were made, whether there are commercials or not!
Q: I want to contribute my old recordings, but I have no way to digitize them. What can I do?
A: No prob, Bob! Please reach out to our staff for assistance! We're always happy to help with preserving old broadcast footage. If you've digitized the footage yourself and want to share it with us, or if you have any other questions, shoot us an email at dischanbroadarch@gmail.com.