ATC recordings around 1960
Can anybody please advise if ATC communications (especially 'tower' conversations) were routinely taped around 1960? The question particularly applies to what I would call 'second tier' airports (e.g. Speke and Eastleigh in UK).
The question came up recently in conversation with a non-aviation researcher who was commenting on the allegedly mysterious loss of a tape shortly after an incident in 1961. I expressed scepticism as they were quite early days in tape recorders - by coincidence I bought a Ferrograph in 1961, with short recording times and tapes were repeatedly re-used.