Saw this on Facebook and yes, this was many for many many hours (though maybe 90s, not 80s)

[-]

C_beside_the_seaside@reddit

Pro tip: record the entire top 40 and then tape to tape edit your own Now album.

[-]

My old surround sound system setup was set for me to also record audio from the TV. I used to record all the songs that played on the cablevision channel guide. Mostly 80s and 90s adult contemporary. Whoever was in charge of that must've been a huge Bruce Hornsby fan cuz I got about a dozen of his songs off of there, and most of them weren't even his early hits like "The Way It Is".

I even used to rent movies from the video store, fast forward to the end, and tape the songs during the end credits since back then, the soundtracks weren't always in the stores. Film scores were next to impossible to find on the shelves.

[-]

sdujour77@reddit

Always pissed me off when I'd wait forever to record a song only to have the damn DJ talk over the first few seconds.

[-]

captainmidday@reddit

Yes!! I'm pretty well convinced this was intentional. Muttering DJ saying nothing at all for the first 10s or so. HA! Take that! Now you have to ask your mom to drive you to the record store.

[-]

Tylerdurden389@reddit

I even remember the same issue when watching Michael Jackson's "Moonwalker" on vh1 many, many years ago. At the start of "Smokth Criminal" during the end credits, the voice kept talking and talking about basically nonsense while th one opening synths were going with the heavy breathing. As the guy sounded like he was finishing up, I knew he was gonna finally shut his trap when MJ yells "OW!!" and the drums kick in.

And he did. I just laughed and figured it was the same story as all the radio DJs do. It's probably a clause in the contract that somehow continues to this day lol.

[-]

ScreenTricky4257@reddit

One reason that "You Oughta Know" didn't get as much airplay as it would have otherwise is that it both starts and ends with Alanis singing. No instrumental for a DJ to talk over.

[-]

p90rushb@reddit

Don't judge, but in 1994 I wanted to record 69 Boyz - Tootsee Roll, and when it finally came on the R&B station, the DJ added his own "whoomp whoomp whoomp" through the whole thing. I was too lazy to record it again so that's the version I listened to for months.

[-]

kcchiefscooper@reddit

i may or may not have sang along a few times. but i also could do a few popular cartoons at the time. it was a hit with a college nearby, and a Hardee's that I stopped at on the way home in the morning lol

[-]

madsci@reddit

To this day, I expect Roxette's 'Dangerous' to end with "...the most music, Y-97..."

[-]

SlackerDS5@reddit

Anxiously wait for the Dj to shut up so I can record the whole song without them talking over the intro.

[-]

ScreenTricky4257@reddit

Wait, we did? I just recorded an hour, then dubbed over the songs I wanted onto another tape.

[-]

Crystalyze13@reddit

Def 90’s. My most memorable recording was when I had the radio on while I was sleeping and the song I REALLY WANTED started playing and I instantly woke up and slammed record! Around the Fur by Deftones.

[-]

StupendousMalice@reddit

This is why you could call the station to make a request.

[-]

DoctorFenix@reddit

It's crazy to think about how our version of "music on demand" was literally calling a RADIO STATION and asking them to broadcast a single song for hundreds of miles so we could hear it.

[-]

kubenzi@reddit

"WHICH ONE OF YOU TAPED OVER MY BOZ SCAGGS"

[-]

DoctorFenix@reddit

Lido.

[-]

fairlyaveragetrader@reddit

You guys remember when we were kids and the parents would have these world war II ads or how to guides or this is how a car works type things that they would watch from time to time?

Yeah so anyway that's what we're doing right now 😂

[-]

Thom_Kokenge@reddit

Cassette tapes were at the height of their popularity between 1985 and 1992. So, more of an 80 thing dude.

[-]

debaser64@reddit

You mean songs like “Do the Bartman”?

[-]

mcham420@reddit

Not related, but kind of. There was a time in the early 90s that I swear there was a club mix of the sesame street theme song. I remember it so well.

[-]

mdmommy99@reddit

There definitely was one. I remember it too.

[-]

mcham420@reddit

I found it now. Smart E's Sesame's Treet

[-]

mdmommy99@reddit

Memory unlocked-- had completely forgotten about this and now it kind of made my day! You are awesome.

[-]

mcham420@reddit

Thank you! I believe I searched lazily a long time ago and didn't find anything. After my initial comment, I searched again. As soon as I heard that counting, it took me back, too. This was one I remember recording off a top 10 list from the radio.

[-]

Bex82000@reddit

I remember trying to get all my songs recorded before I left for the summer! I would go to my grandparents in rural Wisconsin where we didn’t get current music. Making mix tapes was a must in those days!

[-]

SilliestSighBen@reddit

Yes...in the 80's as well.

[-]

Meglade@reddit

Did the same with MTV videos in the early 90s (when they still played music lol). Handheld tape recorder (bigger than your average current dvd player). Held it up to the TV speakers.

[-]

Big_Baby_Jesus@reddit

I recorded the entire MTV top 20 show on VHS, then dubbed each song onto cassette tape.

[-]

rutlander@reddit

Thankfully my local station did a top 5 at 9m so you could reasonably expect what sings to come on

Thank you 97.5 WPST

[-]

captainmidday@reddit

If you lived in a small-enough market, you stood a pretty good chance of getting your song played by calling the radio station on a telephone and asking for your song to be played. I pulled it off a few times. On my Nth birthday I requested "Elvira" by "The Oak Ridge Boys" (...zzzoomg 🤦)

[-]

Chronic_Overthink3r@reddit

I used to do that. That was the struggle back then. Kids today have it so good.

[-]

marcusdj813@reddit

Thank goodness today's kids don't need to do that. We had some long waits!

[-]

Vegaprime@reddit

I'd call in and request it for my "girlfriend". Substantially increased the odds.

[-]

JimMcRae@reddit

In the early 90s I would record commercial free tapes of the weekly top 30 countdown show on our local modern rock station and make copies for friends. Some got re-recorded over so many times they just stopped working lol. Wish I still had one somewhere just for the nostalgia

[-]

Pluckt007@reddit

It got to a point where I would just record for 2+ hours so I could fast forward commercials. And my mom talking in the background. Lol

[-]

Bananas4Pirate_Booty@reddit

Finger nervously hovering over Record to get the first note of the song, but not the damn DJ’s rambling…

[-]

is_that_optional@reddit

And then slipping off the rec button and only pressing play because of your small kiddy fingers...

[-]

mcham420@reddit

I learned that if you pushed record and then the pause button, you'd have a better chance of not messing up and catching the song close to the beginning. I had a friend who had a microphone. We would play radio station. Switch from radio to tape while recording so there wasn't any music playing while we talked. We would be like, "Here's the new song from Boys II Men" and switch to radio, and it'd be like Tom Petty or something. Fun times.

[-]

Ltimbo@reddit

I did this with bohemian rhapsody after Wayne’s world came out. I’m sure you remember, they played this song repeatedly after the movie came out. I hate to admit now but I actually thought the song was current at the time. We didn’t have Google so I didn’t find out for years that the song actually came out in 1975.

[-]

Drum_Eatenton@reddit

I used to put my tape recorder by the tv to record songs from MTV

[-]

jackfaire@reddit

I never had this level of patience.

[-]

BustyPneumatica@reddit

We did it in the 80s for sure.

[-]

MissSassifras1977@reddit

I would always wait for Casey Kasem to do the top 40 countdown on the weekend.

And I was fortunate enough to live within range of a pirate station so I got lots of cool stuff from them too.

[-]

Not_the_Tachi@reddit

Dick Bartley had a show for this on Saturday nights when I was a kid. I really wish I could find them online.

[-]

kayla622@reddit

I hated when the DJs talked at all, but especially over the song I'm trying to record. I have Sirius XM in my car and I would pay extra if it would eliminate all the DJs--save for the guy on the Radio Classics channel, because he isn't irritating and doesn't ramble.

[-]

Not_the_Tachi@reddit

The best DJs + Music you can find are probably from the 60s and early 70s. Guys like the Real Don Steele in Los Angeles had a super tight style and even the commercials were super musical and catchy.

[-]

Hoosier_Daddy68@reddit

This was. 70s, 80s and 90s.

[-]

augustwest30@reddit

I think I’m too old for this group. I specifically remember doing this for I Love Rock & Roll by Joan Jett and the Black Hearts. Then, my friend got hold of the 45 and we spun that record over and over. I looked up when that song came out and it was 1981 😅

[-]

ksandbergfl@reddit

I spent entire summers, between school years, doing this in the early 80’s

[-]

Lazy_Match724@reddit

Here are some radio songs i bet you loved but have forgotten. Primitive Radio Gods- Standing outside a broken telephone booth(!). US3- Cantaloop. Natalie Merchant- carnival Paula Cole- Where have all the cowboys gone. Lo Fidelity Allstars- Battleflag. Gabrielle- Dreams. 1995 times🥰🥰

[-]

The_Lapsed_Pacifist@reddit

Not with you 100% but Lo Fi Allstars and US3 were fucking awesome.

[-]

OldCreezy@reddit

Yeah, i hated that primitive radio gods song when it came out.

[-]

supguy99@reddit

Why is the typing, font and spacing of the text of this meme so needlessly terrible?

[-]

ThresholdSeven@reddit

Psy op

[-]

ammonthenephite@reddit

And the pic from the 70s?

[-]

New-Honey-4544@reddit (OP)

Probably 20 year old meme lol

[-]

ThresholdSeven@reddit

Definitely 80s and 90s. I remember the first song I waited for on the radio to record in the late 80s. Paint it Black. I didn't know it as a Rolling Stones. It was the theme song for an old Vietnam War show called Tour of Duty that my parents watched. I loved the song for the intro, so I waited to record it on the radio when it came on. Also, all the songs from Top Gun.

[-]

DoggieMalone@reddit

Most def 80s. I remember waiting for “We are the World” to come on the radio so I could record it.

[-]

Crans10@reddit

I would just record the radio. listen to tap later. If I wanted to make a mix tape I had a dual cassette player to make mix tapes.

[-]

snark42@reddit

Same, but recorded radio to VHS since you got 6 hours. Then connected to tape deck to make mix tapes.

[-]

FineIJoinedReddit@reddit

I listened to those recordings so often that even now, if I hear a certain song, my brain fills in what came after it on the tape.

[-]

mr_Papini@reddit

Oh yeah, to this day when I hear "The Break-up Song" I except the dj to butt in over the fade-out with "That was Greg Kihn, and no, nobody knows what ever happened to the guy. . ."

[-]

tottalhedcase@reddit

No, you had to push record and play at the same time. So if you were smart, you'd get those set; then hit pause. Then when your song plays, you only had to unpause it to record.

[-]

queen-of-cupcakes@reddit

Today's youth will NEVER know the agony of waiting, finger poised, for that perfect moment, hoping your dad didn't burst in the room telling you to turn down those New Boys from the Block 🙄

[-]

wuh613@reddit

Shut up DJ!!! You’re killing my mix tape.

[-]

Res_Novae17@reddit

I always suspected the record industry paid them kickbacks to do that so we'd still have to buy the album.

[-]

Res_Novae17@reddit

My older brother wouldn't let me listen to some song off his cassette tape because it was "his" song for whatever reason, and then later got mad at me for recording it off the radio, like he even owned the airwaves.

Funny thing is I remember the exact song. It was called "The Postman Song," I think. You might remember it as going "Becauuuuse I looooooove youuuuuuu... I'll do aaaaaaanythiiiiiing..."

[-]

EvenIf-SheFalls@reddit

I spent much of the 90s and very early 2000s doing this!

[-]

RadTimeWizard@reddit

Hell yeah. 90s radio mix tapes.

[-]

Single-ch@reddit

I did this in the 90’s too.

[-]

FastWalkingShortGuy@reddit

I have the Metallica S&M broadcast from Madison Square Garden recorded over the radio on 107.3 in Boston on my boom box onto cassette tape. I test those cassettes a couple times a year to make sure they still work. They do.

[-]

eat_like_snake@reddit

The fucking struggle.

[-]

DamperBritches@reddit

I used to hold a take recorded up to the tv speaker to record tv theme songs

I specifically remember recording the TMNT theme

And also watching tons of the Adam West Batman show in reruns patiently awaiting the episode that has the Batgirl theme in it. So I could tape it.

Now you can get everything you want on YouTube in 3 seconds.

[-]

kcchiefscooper@reddit

And the cool DJ's would know the song was popular and not bridge all the way over so you didn't get much of them talking at the beginning and end

[-]

george-sterk@reddit

Definitely 80s

[-]

dishwasher_mayhem@reddit

You ever call a radio station until you got banned for requesting your favorite song every 10 minutes? Yeah...me neither.

[-]

LayThatPipe@reddit

Definitely 80’s as well. Source: Me.

[-]

LuisMataPop@reddit

Having my stero on record pause all the time. I have the feeling that music was a little more appreciated because many times it was difficult to get to it. I love streaming and it's convenience but I gotta say that the joy of finally score that record and just listen to it on physical media it's still unbeatable for me

[-]

New-Honey-4544@reddit (OP)

How many years did that take?

[-]