I'd forgotten all about C/FO because it had been such a long time since I'd heard of them.
It was really local groups who organized anime showings on college campuses who kindled me to take a more serious interest in anime.
Tape trading is where those groups from the 70s and 80s got their imported show from, but tape trading happened in all kinds of media, e.g. rock concerts.
Often we'd wind up watching 3rd or 4th gen VHS copies, i.e. grainy, washed out with bad sound, because we were so far down the chain.