Technology: Pre-VCR

The first show I ever recorded was 1983's G.I. Joe: The Real American Hero mini-series. Later I would record the Transformers mini-series as well. It took 3 tapes to get all five episodes. I remember racing home every week day from Vally View. After letting myself into our apartment at Valle Encantada, I would grab a fresh tape from my bedroom. Making sure the tape was completely rewound, I loaded it into the recorder. I would hit the record button along with the pause button and wait for the show to start. I flipped the channel on the TV to Channel 13 -- KCOP. The credits would be rolling on the previous show. I don't recall if it was the Jetsons or the Flintstones. I would call my mother and tell her to let herself into the apartment quietly as I was recording G.I. Joe. My mother would always be considerate and do that very thing. To insure the best recording I would have to balance the recorder near the large speaker on the front of our 1977 Zenith television. With a kitchen chair pushed up to the TV stand and the recorder balancing on its end right in front of the speaker, I would wait. Finally, the announcer would foretell that G.I. Joe was starting next. Clicking the pause button, the recorder would begin recording. Then for the next 30 minutes I would wait and make as little noise as possible. I remember replaying those tapes over and over. I knew those shows backwards and forwards. The shows were all perfectly played in my mind and imagination. Yet the audio was exact in every detail on magnetic tape. I would sit on my bed and play them over and over. I would even play them while I took baths and ate my dinners. Each and every show, along with all commercials, perfectly archived on the best Memorex tapes...or was it Maxell. Each tape was only 60 minutes so I had one episode on each side. Although, primitive, I loved it. The magic behind it was stupidly simple. Pre-VCR. Recorded on audio tape with my single cassette recorder that was the size of a lunch box. We didn't have the money for the Sony Beta machines or the new VHS recorders. Those were over $500 back in 1983. Yet this way, I could own a small piece of G.I. Joe or Transformers. The only thing I regret is not keeping the tapes. It would be a time machine to go back and listen to them with commercials of the day. The remastered DVDs that I have today, still remind me of watching those shows from back then but being able to hear those mono recordings would be the true treasure...