Date: April 27th, 2025 7:24 PM
Author: https://imgur.com/a/o2g8xYK
In 1987, VCRs were just being released that included timers. You could run an antenna straight into the VCR and tell it to switch to a certain channel and start recording at a certain time, for a certain length of time. Like TiVo.
This was revolutionary for fans of Dr. Who, because PBS ran episodes of the show every weekend, but the episodes could be out of order. By timing their VCRs to record Dr. Who episodes, enthusiasts were able to compile personal libraries of episodes, which they would trade with other Dr. Who fanatics trying to compile complete libraries of episodes.
This was a local thing. You had to meet someone in person to exchange video tapes with them. And Dr. Who was such an obscure show that the community of enthusiasts was going to be small even in a big city like Chicago.
The reason the signal was interrupted during Dr. Who was to ensure that all of the people who were recording Dr. Who that night would have a copy of it. It was done by and for a member of that tiny community. You don't understand what he's saying because he's not talking to you. That's why they ran it during Dr. Who. The earlier break-in was a test run. Yeah, I know who did it.
By NSAM.
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5671343&forum_id=2...id.#48885954)