April 15, 2006
Happy Birthday, Videotape!

In 1981 I worked on the last of these beasts at WNET13 in New York. My thanks to Paul Pekurney who patiently showed me how to thread the giant reels of two-inch wide tape and calibrate each of the four heads to make a seamless recording. I can still hear the deafening whine and rattle of the thing in operation. In the corner were a few new videocassette machines, only trusted for playing back promos and previews in the breaks, and the one-inch tape machines, state of the art at that point. A heavenly racket as Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers came off the satellites and spun back out for local broadcast. I'd found my place in an electronic cloud.

tvtechnology.com - The Videotape Recorder turns 50

Posted by Dave at April 15, 2006 10:46 AM