DS DILEMMA

[VAM]

I remember when the original Series was on there were times that I listened on my car AM/FM radio not to miss an episode.  My guess is that I am not alone resorting to extreme measures since we are talking pre-videotaping days.  Please share your experiences or those extreme actions taken to never miss DARK SHADOWS.

[Raineypark]

You LISTENED to it on the RADIO!!!!?  
How did THAT work, VAM??

Abbeymarch and I would tape parts of episodes (using a reel-to-reel recorder that bore a hideous resemblance to the infamous one from Dr. Lang's Lab!!) so we could listen to the dialogue over again.  

It's funny, but to this day there is dialogue from certain scenes that I can recite verbatim, even though I'd have trouble visualizing the acting!!

Raineypark

[Craig_Slocum]

I was a little girl at the time, can't recall any extreme actions. I do remember that my dad hated Dark Shadows (still does), and sometimes he came home from work before it came on, didn't want us to watch it, so sometimes we went to our neighbors and friends homes to watch it, usually right next door. My Mom was good friends with the woman, and she had a boy who was in my class.

[VAM]

You LISTENED to it on the RADIO!!!!?  
How did THAT work, VAM??

Yes, I listened on the radio in my Super Beetle. It was interesting hearing the screams and noises while visualizing the images. After watching the show for a time, I became familiar with the voices of the actors/actresses. I must say I prefer the televised broadcast. However, the radio certainly came in handy.

[Craig_Slocum]

However, the radio certainly came in handy.

The only Dark Shadows thing I remember hearing on the radio was Quentin's Theme. It played several times a day.  

[Gerard]

I learned to become a marathon runner.  At first, it was easy.  DS came on at three, and St. Mary's School let out at 2:55.  I and my friend would high-tail it to his house which was only a block away, so we made it in plenty of time.  However, when I switched to Washington Junior High, freedom came at 2:57, and it was a little less than a half-mile from home.  However, I would make it just in time.  

As a matter of fact, because of DS and the distance from Washington Junior High, my parents eventually had to put in new carpeting in the living room.  Just as three o'clock was ready to sound, I would come rushing in the back door (everyone knew to clear outta the way, or risk becoming flattened design patterns on the floor), leap up the steps, pull off my jacket as I tore through the kitchen, enter the corridor which connected the kitchen to the living room.  To the right was the dining room, to the left my bedroom, and in one motion I would throw my jacket through my bedroom door and onto my bed.  As I entered the living room, I would fall to my knees and slide across the carpet to the old black-and-white Admiral TV set and turn it on, just in time to see the opening slide of Collinwood.  After doing that so many times, I literally wore all the material off the carpet, right down to the padding.  After April 1971, there no longer was a reason for me to engage in that athletic event, so in May my parents had new carpeting installed.

Gerard

[jennifer]

Yes, I listened on the radio in my Super Beetle. It was interesting hearing the screams and noises while visualizing the images. After watching the show for a time, I became familiar with the voices of the actors/actresses. I must say I prefer the televised broadcast. However, the radio certainly came in handy.

i don;t remember it on the radio either but know my mother would not have put in on in the car(I'll remember this at mother's day!)Where  was this Vam?

jennifer

[Miles]

In my area, abc comes through as the very lowest frequency station on FM, and though I can't imagine watching a new episode of DS without picture, it comes in handy for listening to college football.  

[Luciaphile]

After April 1971, there no longer was a reason for me to engage in that athletic event, so in May my parents had new carpeting installed.
Gerard

ROFL!!!

Luciaphil

[Afan]

I was married with two children in the 60's, and if I could not see an episode, my fifty something Mother, who did not know a single character on the show, would sit patiently and watch it and try to write down what was happening for me!!!!! Three cheers for her.
Sometimes, my husband was recruited to do this!  It was so funny to hear their versions of what happened, but I had no other recourse in those days.  Didn't even have a tape recorder then!

Afan

[VAM]

i don;t remember it on the radio either but know my mother would not have put in on in the car(I'll remember this at mother's day!)Where  was this Vam?

East Coast frequency...

[Dr. Eric Lang]

When the series first went into syndication in the mid 1970's, the closest TV station showing it didn't quite reach us. This was before the days of cable. My sister had a black and white portable TV set that JUST BARELY picked up the station, and I'd go into her room every day and TRY to watch it. The picture was mostly snow, but I could vaguely make out shapes and movement, and the sound was okay. That was my first introduction to DS from the time Barnabas arrived. Later, a closer station that we actually got started showing it, but it was late at night, well past my bedtime. I tried to sneak out of my room and watch it in the family room some nights but got caught a couple of times.

[Angelique_s_Sis]

 Sh.h.h....my secret.  I was usually grounded for some infraction either in school or home but I was barred from the tv in the living room & snuck into a bedroom to watch it.   If I was ever caught - I turned off the tv & crawled under the bed.  Ah...those were the days!

[kuanyin]

Oh dear, I have a sad, guilty confession to make.  
In the days before VCRs, you all went to great lengths to watch the show. I had no hindrances. My mom was quite OK with me watching it, I got home from school in time. I may have been grounded at times, but I could watch t.v.

And so....I watched it off and on. I was a fickle viewer.  Perhaps, if it had only been forbidden, I would have valued it more!  

[Birdie]

I don't know anyone who listened on the radio.  But I know it is possible.  At my first full time job in dare I say 1977, I worked in a bank.  In one of the rooms upstairs two of the book keepers use to listen to soaps on the radio while they were balancing their work.

I was in grade school during the first run of DS and would race home like so many other fans.  My mother held DS over my head to keep me in line.

Birdie