The engineers or technical minded may find this as interesting as I did - it's about a guy who was asked to recreate a vintage 1980s radio studio for an Australian TV show. But he found what you might expect - some of the equipment he needed either no longer existed or had somewhat disintegrated into dust. 

But he managed to make it happen anyway, from cart machines to reel-to-reel tape recorders, with remarkable accuracy. He outlines how he did it in both words and pictures in the article below. (ABC, in this case, is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation not the American network.)

"...the result was worth it: a 100% practical studio where the mics worked and the meters bounced, and no anorak would need to go unhappy.  Sadly, the flashing on-hold lights, the bouncing meters, the carefully synchronised studio clocks, and the working Cuemaster 4000 never made it in-shot.  No matter.  Three of us knew it could have worked, and the audio director was impressed."

Note the ashtray on the console. I was never a smoker but unfortunately inhaled more of it than I would have liked when I was working for a rock station in the 80s. To me, that may be the most accurate part of the set!

1980s radio studio recreated for ABC TV Show