Last Wednesday when I was on Stu's Show talking about late night TV, I made mention of a device I made back in the sixties in order to not completely miss Johnny Carson or Dick Cavett on nights when I couldn't stay up late enough to watch one or the other. Several folks wrote in to ask me to explain more about it so I offer up this reprint from a 2010 posting on this site…
I loved watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and also The Dick Cavett Show, which were both on late and opposite each other. It annoyed the heck out of me that on a school night, I couldn't stay up late enough to watch either…and when there wasn't school the next day, I could only watch one. I used to sit up near the TV in my bedroom (which had no remote control) and switch back and forth between the two shows, which still meant I missed a lot. Finally one day, I had a brainstorm.
I went to a nearby Radio Shack. They have since removed the space and they now call them RadioShacks but otherwise they were the same then as they are now: Lots of neat stuff sold by people who have no idea what any of it is or what to do with it. I knew what to do with some things they sold. I bought a radio that could pull in TV sound, a timer and couple of audio cables. At home, I combined them with my beloved reel-to-reel tape recorder. Thereafter before I went to bed, I would study TV Guide and decide which late night show to record — Carson or Cavett. Then I'd set my invention accordingly. The timer was deliberately adjusted so that when it read "11:30," it was actually 11:29 to allow for pad. At the prescribed moment, with a series of clicks that sometimes woke me up briefly, it would turn the radio and the tape recorder on, record the audio to the selected channel for 95 minutes, then turn both off. The next day when I came home from school, I could enjoy the sounds of Johnny's program or sometimes Dick's of the night before.
On nights when I could stay up late, I would watch one show and record the other. I usually watched Johnny and recorded Dick because I found that Mr. Carson's show was usually more visual. Listening (only) to Johnny, you missed those great reaction shots and facial takes, and this was also back when he'd do a lot of physical stunts and demonstrations.
It was a great system…and yes, I regret that I didn't save every one of those tapes. After I listened to one, I'd record another show over it.
Ah, the things I had to do before I got my first V.C.R. a few years later. It's amazing to me how it is now very, very difficult to miss a major TV show you want to see. First off, we set our DVRs and TiVos, and I imagine some people are still time-shifting onto video cassettes. Secondly, shows get rerun more frequently and are often available online, either on the network's website or via YouTube.
So I have this mental image of myself at age 80 or so. In it, I seem to have a long, white beard — and if I want to have that beard when I'm eighty, I'd better start growing it now.
I'm on a porch, talking to people much younger than I am. And I'm saying, "You kids today don't know how well off you have it. Why, in my day, it was actually possible to miss your favorite TV program…"