TTT classics you probably don't remember

By tomorrow evening the Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG) will have died, to be replaced by a reborn and repackaged TTT, just in time to broadcast the Independence Parade, having first broadcast it in 1962 for the inaugural celebration.

TTT's first broadcast, 56 years ago, also signalled the end of an era, with the lowering of the union jack and the raising of the red, white and black national flag at Woodford Square.

With a new look and new content expected to begin airing on Monday, TTT chairman Lisa Agard said one of the network's main goals is to be a critical stepping stone for developing an ecosystem for distribution of local content.

Agard said the station would hold a launch event tomorrow and the timing was definitely connected to Independence and TTT's first broadcast.

In an interview, Agard said viewers would really see the full effect of the new look, new personalities and the station's commitment to local content.

While viewers don't yet know what that local content will look like, Agard said the content will be sourced from already existing work from local creators.

The TTT brand is still strong in TT and across the Caribbean, people still recall local soap operas with a certain fondness.

Newsday understands that thousands of tapes from the station are stored in a warehouse, awaiting a proper archiving process, but for the most part they are stored in memories of viewers and the people who worked on them.

One such person is Thomas (Timmy) Mora, who started working in production immediately after school in the country's only television station. Mora has done his own archiving and published some of the work he helped produce.

The work is available on Youtube from his company Visual Arts and Production TT and agreed to share them with Newsday.

Title: Meena

Synopsis: Ghost story, complete with flying books and an exorcist with a bell and candle.

Memorable moment: Meena's outfit when she appears during the exorcism and the priest saying "Come into the dress, Meena!"

Title: Turn of the Tide

Synopsis: One of the first soap operas ever produced for local Television. Written by Horace Wilson.

Title: Calabash Alley

Synopsis: A classic soap opera about the life and love affairs within a local barrack yard. You probably remember this one.

Memorable: If your neighbourhood maco isn't as good as Miss Mabel, can that person even be called a neighbourhood maco?

Title: Sugar Cane Arrows

Synopsis: Soap Opera written by Debbie Jacob.

Memorable moment: Young David Rudder is swoon-worthy.