recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

[Mr H]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

When I had my first cassette recorder in 1972 I use to tape films off the tv.The first films I recorded were the Morecambe And Wise film That Riviera Touch and The Karate Killers one of The Man From U.N.C.L.E spin- off films cobbled together from two part episodes from the series.
I also loved taping radio shows especially the Radio 2 comedy sketch show Hello Cheeky and repeats of The Goons and Hancock's Half Hour

[darren]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Did anyone ever see the bob monkhouse programme about his huge archive of stuff hed recorded and also how hed go through the tv times etc and if the show started late he would correct the time

i did record stuff but wish id never got rid of the tapes but i was very young.

[George 1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Yes, Monkhouse was such a huge hoarder of recording TV programmes - I think that he certainly recorded every TV show that he appeared in during the 1980s and 1990s and had several TVs and VCRs around his home.

I also heard that Reg Varney of On the Buses fame used to do similar things in the 1970s - he recorded an LWT sitcom called On the 'Gate which was from 1976.

[George 1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Used the record the Friday Rock show, TOTP, I'm sorry i'll read that again

The Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance? Wasn't that one of the few programmes from Radio 1 that was on FM pre-1989? In the 88-91 Radio 2 frequencies.

[Richard1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Yes, Monkhouse was such a huge hoarder of recording TV programmes - I think that he certainly recorded every TV show that he appeared in during the 1980s and 1990s and had several TVs and VCRs around his home.

I also heard that Reg Varney of On the Buses fame used to do similar things in the 1970s - he recorded an LWT sitcom called On the 'Gate which was from 1976.

Dick Emery also was also another early home video taper. His collection contains early performances by Queen and Lenny Henry that had their master tapes wiped.

[George 1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Dick Emery also was also another early home video taper. His collection contains early performances by Queen and Lenny Henry that had their master tapes wiped.

Dick Emery and Queen - there is a joke there somewhere!

[Spiny Norman]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

I also heard that Reg Varney of On the Buses fame used to do similar things in the 1970s - he recorded an LWT sitcom called On the 'Gate which was from 1976.

Sadly the Valiant Varneys is 100% missing, it seems.


Back to music shows. Did anyone perhaps audio-tape the 1972 Engelbert with the Young Generation show?

[Johnny77]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

OMG yes I did too! When I was a kid and we didn't have a VCR until I became a late teenager, so when we would have special cartoon programs on I would park my tape recorder in front of the tube (worked surprisingly well as the speakers of the massive floor model were close to the ground) and make a recording of the audio. I actually still have a few with my brother laughing in the background, it's kind of like a nostalgic laugh track.

Also I would sit next to the recorder while watching and actually pause the recording to skip commercials so I was then all proud to re-listen to the program "advert free" afterwards. Kind of like TiVo commercial skip for the 80's I guess LOL

Yeah i had a few recordings where you could hear my mum in the background coming into the room and going "oops sorry" or "your dinner's ready"

[George 1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

We had a C90 tape with music recorded from local radio stations on it, and there were some "taped from the speakers of the TV" songs as well I between them. I have been racking my brains all these years as to which show they must have came from - if it was chart music with applause at the end, I would obviously say "Top of the Pops", but as it wasn't, identifying it was a bit trickier.

From what I remember, three songs were recorded - we were an ITV house and so I believe that they came from one of those shows, and it must have been recorded either on a Wednesday or Saturday evening in around 1982-1983. The three songs recorded were:

1) JOHNNY LOGAN - WHAT'S ANOTHER YEAR? - I know it wasn't from the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest as there are no other Eurovision songs on the same tape and the recordings were made at least a year or two later. I think that it was from an ATV/Central Wednesday 8.00 pm variety show such as Starburst or Entertainment Express, or a Saturday variety show like 3-2-1 or some John Hamp produced show from Granada. I think it was Logan himself singing as a guest, or it could be someone else performing it considering the other two songs.

2) JAVA JIVE (I LIKE COFFEE, I LIKE TEA, ETC) - No idea who performed it, but it was originally performed by the Ink Spots - I assume that it was obviously someone else who performed that song by the early 1980s, but who?

3) STAR OF THE COUNTY DOWN - Again, no idea who performed it which makes identifying it very difficult. I assumed that along with the Logan song (Irish Eurovision winner in 1980) that it must have been an Irish themed show and could have been shown on or around St Patrick's Day in its respective year. I would assume a show like 3-2-1 that was doing an Irish theme, but none of the ones on YT have any songs that match, although Johnny Logan is a guest on one of them circa 1982-1983. Newspapers don't give a wider synopsis in its TV listings to determine which show it was from - I believe that they were all from the same show.

Would old TV Times (if they are still around) be able to identify which show they were from? I know that one needs to be a university student to access the Genome-alike TV Times archive as they are only available for research in higher education establishments. It would be brilliant to find out which show the songs were from and when it was originally transmitted. I know it is a long shot of course...

[George 1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Addendum: the Varney sitcom was called Down the 'Gate, and not On The Gate - I seemed to have merged it with On the Buses!

[beccabear67]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Not heard of Down the 'Gate. I remember some show with 'Inspector Blakey' on his own or with his wife. I do have two DVDs of the old The Rag Trade with Reg V. I used to get him mixed up with David Jason sometimes believe it or not, when I first saw Open All Hours way back anyway.

My brother would audio tape things from our tv back in the '70s by taking the wires off one speaker and putting them into the tape input! I learned the trick to do some long-distance interviews by telephone by taking the wires from the receiver and patching them in to the cassette tape recorder input the same way. There would be a beep now and then which told the other party they were being recorded. That was in the early '80s and I only did two interviews that way for transcribing for a magazine I worked on. Way way back by Dad would tape on a reel to reel things from the television and radio, but with a microphone placed near the speaker. Somewhere is the entire 1967 Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey game for the Stanley Cup and another with the death of one of the Louvin brothers being announced a couple of times. I'm just glad some Doctor Who fans were taping things in the '60s, and also that some people taped unique performances from the BBC!

[George 1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

You're probably thinking of the OTB spin-off Don't Drink the Water from around 1975 - it has Stephen Lewis as Blakey (in which it is officially regarded as a spin-off) and Pat Coombs playing his sister - it was on YouTube not long ago and gets a mention in the Lewisohn Radio Times comedy book. I suppose that it was like a 1970s equivalent of the Yorkshire TV sitcom Duty Free, except that the entertainment value of DDTW was rather low even for 1970s standards. Bottle Boys, anyone?

[beccabear67]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

Thanks, I'll have to remember Don't Drink the Water now.

I love the old Ink Spots, although a lot of the songs are very similar Java Jive stands apart, but don't think I have heard any cover versions of it. The Platters often did cover Ink Spots songs though. If they did that would've probably been in the late '50s - early '60s, not early '80s. The only other thought is maybe the Flying Pickets?

[George 1978]

Re: recording TV on audio cassette / tape reel

I don't think it was the Flying Pickets, although it would have been recorded probably prior to their 1983 Christmas number one hit.

[johnnybear]

I was lucky as I had a small portable television set with a socket which blocked out the sounds from outside! So on reply all I got was the complete audio without coughs or bangs or thumps! In the early days I used a microphone on a table near to the TV set and always had my Mother coming in saying it's not on now is it and the like..! I had a few Planet of The Apes episodes on cassette, Doctor Who, Space 1999, Logan's Run and The Incredible Hulk! Then I went onto star Trek and The Outer Limits on BBC2 in the 1980s! Great times!
JB