Friday, February 20, 2009
1981: I Read the Electronic News Today, Oh Boy
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End of an era: Newspaper Death Watch
Note "Subscribe to Fred!" in this screenshot. Fred the Computer was a pioneering news BBS operated by The Middlesex News (Framingham, Massachusetts) during the 1980s. It had one of the earliest archives of newspaper movie reviews.
"Owns Home Computer": 1981 report on KRON in San Francisco (which then had 3000 computers):
"Newspapers via CompuServe," one of many cyber footnotes at David Carlson's Online Timeline:
"Owns Home Computer": 1981 report on KRON in San Francisco (which then had 3000 computers):
"Newspapers via CompuServe," one of many cyber footnotes at David Carlson's Online Timeline:
The 11 newspapers involved in the CompuServe experiment are: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, The Los Angeles Times, The Middlesex (Framingham, Mass.) News, The Minneapolis Star and Tribune, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Virginian Pilot and Ledger Star (Norfolk) and The Washington Post.
Each of the 11 newspapers transmits its daily, computer-stored, electronic version via telephone modem to CompuServe's host computers in Columbus, Ohio. At the time, CompuServe is the largest consumer online service in the United States with more than 20,000 subscribers. Its fastest modems are 300 Bps.
The experiment begins with the Columbus Dispatch in July, 1980. It is joined by The New York Times, The Virginian Pilot and Ledger Star, The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle between January and March 1981. From June to October 1981, the rest of the papers join in the following order: Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Atlanta, The San Francisco Examiner and The Middlesex News.
After seven months, Minneapolis is the first to drop out. In June, 1981, AP President and General Manager Keith Fuller is quoted as saying: "Since the newspapers began providing their electronic editions to CompuServe, CompuServe has grown from 3,600 subscribers in mid-1980 to more than 10,000 in the first quarter of 1981." However, most give the credit for the growth to Radio Shack, which introduces the first low-cost devices (the Videotex Terminal and the TRS-80 Color Computer) during the same period...
Source: "The Electronic Newspaper: Fact or Fetish," Elizabeth M. Ferrarini, "Videotex - key to the information revolution," Online Ltd, 1982, pp 45-57.
Labels: compuserve, death of newspapers, fred the computer, tandy, trs-80, videotex
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This is neat, thanks for the heads up. I enjoy following your blog, it's jam packed with all kinds of interesting stuff. :-)
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