Does anyone else remember the clip shows they used to have? This might have been back in the very late seventies, but more likely the early eighties? People would write in requests for bits of programs that they'd seen, and would like to see again -- this would be before video recorders were widely available, so that this was pretty much the only way to get to see something a second time. (Come to think of it, this was probably also very cheap television to produce. :) I only remember that this sort of program existed; I can't remember seeing any particular clip.
It's weird... there are a bunch of experiences that people don't have to put up with any more, like watching Due South on tapes that had been passed around and copied in communities, with random episodes missing and occasional old American advertising. Or copying computer games with a tape-to-tape cassette player. Heck, even making mix tapes for the car seems pretty rare, now.
I wonder how quaint YouTube will appear in twenty years time, or even ten?
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I'm not sure if I'm getting older, or the movies are getting longer -- or maybe it's this stomach bug that I've had for the past three or four days. Whatever it is, I'm starting to think that it will be a relief when Sunday rolls around.
Posted by svend at July 30, 2007 9:29 AMYes. It was called "I Like That One Too". Given these were the days of two channels only, there may have been a pun intended. It was definitely around in the early 80s (as late as '85 or '86 maybe).
The fall of the mix-tape prob goes hand in hand with the rise of CDRs, though blank tapes outlasted commercial tapes by some margin, not only because CDR wasn't yet an alternative, but also because the actual tape in commercial cassettes got to be of such low quality that you were better off pirating a CD to a blank tape.
Though "mix-tape" as a *term* lives on in hip-hop culture for any customised compilation showing off a DJ's prowess (and selection skills). Also often home-made or at least trying to look it, so you get CDs in slimline jewelcases with a single card insert...
Random aside: Mixmaster Mike got his name because when he started DJing in the 80s, he used tape decks rather than turntables. How's that for quaint?
Posted by: Andrew at August 2, 2007 9:27 AMAhhh Due South, I loved that program. And for some reason I was wikipedia and googling it the other day. fancy that.
b xx