80 Micro: the magazine for TRS-80 owners #ShackToberFest
Dave Farquhar recently wrote about 80 Micro, the magazine for Tandy/Radio Shack TRS-80 computer owners.
The TRS-80 was the most popular computer of its generation, in spite of the Trash-80 perjorative. It’s not that any of the other computers released in 1977 sold badly. But neither Commodore nor Apple had a chain of 4,000 retail stores to sell their computers in. Any of the three could sell you a computer, but Radio Shack was in the best position to make buying a computer convenient.
While Radio Shack was trying to figure out how to build enough computers to keep up with demand, magazine publisher Wayne Green was looking for an idea. A magazine he founded, Byte, had become the second most highly circulated magazine in the country, behind only Vogue, the legendary fashion magazine. But he lost control of it.
His new idea was to create a magazine dedicated to a single computer. And it made sense to launch a magazine covering the TRS-80 first, since it was the best selling machine. 80 Microcomputing launched in January 1980.
Read more in the article here. And in the comments let us know your TRS-80 rememberances.
On the heels of #SepTandy, Adafruit is celebrating #ShackToberFest, a celebration of all things Radio Shack and Tandy. Tag your social media posts #ShackToberFest!
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