Video Archive: KDLH-TV 1986 Weekend News Clip

This KDLH-TV evening news clip is from Sunday, Sept. 21, 1986 — 40 years ago today. It includes the famous segment on Duluth punks that appeared on Perfect Duluth Day in 2015, along with a follow up report on the aftermath of the American Spirit ’86 Road Rally.

The show was anchored by Kurt Ludlow, who is now at WSYX-TV, the ABC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio.

The opening story is about three crew members from the Polish freighter Ziemia Opolska who defected while their ship was docked in the Duluth-Superior Harbor. The incident occurred during a peak era of Cold War defections, as many Polish citizens sought to escape the oppressive economic and political realities of Poland’s communist regime.

The second story is about the then 86-year-old steamer Victory Chimes, which was docked in Duluth for about a year. As reported recently in the Duluth News Tribune, the historic three-masted wooden schooner sank in early July 2026 while docked in the Henry Street Basin in Brooklyn, New York. The ship was so beloved in Duluth that an image of it was incorporated into the city’s official logo for more than two decades.