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The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club
The Official online home of TAGSRWC

The TAGSRWC website has been around for several years now and it has gone through a lot of changes in that time. I thought it might be fun to take a look back and see how it all started and how things changed over the years.

NOTE: Most of the links found on the "pages from the past" still work but some do not so if you click one and go to some strange place.....just click the "back" button on your browser.

HOW IT STARTED
What is now the TAGSRWC website began life as a web site for the "Mother Figure" Chapter & the "Who's Been Messin' Up the Bulletin Board? (WBMUTBB) Chapter website on America Online.  Allan Newsome wanted to learn to make web pages and thought his favorite TV show would be a great focus for the pages. Allan is a member of the "Mother Figure" Chapter and helped start the WBMUTBB Chapter (the first 'online only' chapter of TAGSRWC which started in November 1991) so it was just natural to create a web site for the two chapters. In late September1995 the first version of the WBMUTBB Chapter website was placed on the web. A gray background was added on October 12 and by October 18th the site had been split apart to give both chapters pages of their own.

When the WBMUTBB Chapter site hit the internet there were only two other websites about The Andy Griffith Show on the internet. The original logo of the site was picked by a vote of chapter members and was designed by WBMUTBB member Errol Helbling. By December 1995 the site had begun to have a more consistent look and feel.

1996
The WBMUTBB Chapter website continued to grow and change over the next several months and by October 1996 it had moved from the single page version you saw above to a multi-page site with more content. The site also changed to the somewhat familiar "frames" based version that you find on the present day site.  You'll also notice the logo changed slightly as a new drawing of Barney done by police sketch artist and WBMUTBB members Rod Sadler replace Helbling's original design. The pages background also changed to a darker "patrol emblem" look from the light gray version found in 1995.

If you have your speakers on, you'll also hear the theme of TAGS whistling your way. Weaver's Department Store was added to the WBMUTBB site sometime between December 1995 and October 1996 with the intend of helping TAGSRWC HQ support itself with online sales.

BIG CHANGES TO COME
The WBMUTBB website continued to grow over the next year. Chatrooms and other features were added and the sites logo changed again, but this time only slightly to make it more clear and easy to read.

WBMUTBB CHANGES TO TAGSRWC
In early 1998, the site had grown to large to continue to be hosted on AOL so it was time to begin thinking of moving to a new host. Just as Allan was about to go out and find a new home for the new TAGSRWC website he got a call from Pat Bishop.  Pat Bishop is the owner of the iMayberry.com domain and he offered to host the website on iMayberry.com. This was a wonderful move for the site.

In February 1998 the WBMUTBB site had moved to iMayberry.com. By early March 1998 (the menu frame is from 1996 as we couldn't find a 1998 version) the site was doing well and was beginning to draw more and more Mayberry Fans.

In mid-February a decision was made to take most of the content from the WBMUTBB site and change it over to a new site.....the official website of The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club. It couldn't have worked out better. TAGSRWC was going to have an official website and it would be hosted on iMayberry.com. You couldn't have a more perfect match. August 1998

A new logo was created for the newly formed TAGSRWC site, the background was changed slightly and all the content was moved to iMayberry.com.  Everything was okay, in Mayberry. The November 1998 version of the TAGSRWC web site shows what the first version of the TAGSRWC site looked like and the automatic playing of the whistling theme was removed. The reason for the removal was that some folks visited the site from work and they didn't really want their boss hearing the theme while they surfed....I can't imagine why not.

The WBMUTBB site was converted to be focused on WBMUTBB Chapter specific information and continues on today in much the same format today.

TAGSRWC MAKES SMALL CHANGES
The TAGSRWC site didn't change too much over the next year. Here's a couple of views: February 1999  and July 1999.

SITE REDESIGN
In January 2000 (present day menu frame is used), the entire TAGSRWC website was redesigned. Gone were the days of a dark background with light letter and enter the cleaner look of white backgrounds. Also gone was the logo for TAGSRWC that had been used since 1998. This design was refined and over time changed into the design of today.

I hope you've enjoyed our "Pages from the Past" and I hope over the years we'll have even more to add to this review.