Radio-Electronics
Encyclopedia
Hugo Gernsback
Hugo Gernsback , born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourgian American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with H. G...
started it as Radio-Craft in July 1929. The title was changed to Radio-Electronics in October 1948 and again to Electronics Now in July 1992. In January 2000 it was merged with Gernsback's Popular Electronics
Popular Electronics
Popular Electronics was an American magazine started by Ziff-Davis Publishing in October 1954 for electronics hobbyists and experimenters. It soon became the "World's Largest-Selling Electronics Magazine". The circulation was 240,151 in April 1957 and 400,000 by 1963. Ziff-Davis published Popular...
to become Poptronics. Gernsback Publications ceased operations in December 2002 and the January 2003 issue was the last. Over the years, Radio-Electronics featured audio, radio, television and computer technology. The most notable articles were the TV Typewriter
TV Typewriter
The TV Typewriter was a video terminal that could display 2 pages of 16 lines of 32 upper case characters on a standard television set. The Don Lancaster design appeared on the cover of Radio-Electronics magazine in September 1973. The magazine included a 6 page description of the design but...
(September 1973) and the Mark-8
Mark-8
The Mark-8 is a microcomputer design from 1974, based on the Intel 8008 CPU . The Mark-8 was designed by graduate student Jonathan Titus and announced as a 'loose kit' in the July 1974 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine.- Project kit :The Mark-8 was introduced as a 'build it yourself' project in...
computer (July 1974). These two issues are considered milestones in the home computer revolution.
Earlier publications
In 1905 Hugo Gernsback established Electro Importing Company to sell radio components and electrical supplies by mail order. The catalogs had detailed instructions on projects like a wireless telegraph outfit and were the predecessor of his first magazine, Modern ElectricsModern Electrics
Modern Electrics was a technical magazine for the amateur radio experimenter. It was created by Hugo Gernsback and began publication in April 1908. The magazine was initially intended to provide mail-order information for radio parts and to promote the amateur radio hobby, but it later became a...
(April 1908). Gernsback sold Modern Electrics in March 1913 and it became Electrician and Mechanic
Electrician and Mechanic
Electrician and Mechanic was an American science and technology magazine published from 1890 to January 1914 when it merged with Modern Electrics to become Modern Electrics & Mechanics. The new publisher, Modern Publishing, began a series of magazine mergers and title changes so numerous that...
. In May 1913 he started another magazine, The Electrical Experimenter
Electrical Experimenter
The Electrical Experimenter was a technical science magazine that was published monthly. It was first published in May 1913, as the successor to Modern Electrics, a combination of a magazine and mail-order catalog that had been published by Hugo Gernsback starting in 1908...
. Gernsback was an enthusiastic supporter of amateur radio. Gernsback started a magazine devoted to radio, Radio Amateur News (July 1919.) The title was shortened to Radio News in July 1920.
Radio News was a very successful magazine that enabled Hugo Gernsback and his brother Sidney to build a publishing empire. Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
was introduced in April 1926 and was the first magazine devoted to science fiction. In 1925 they launched the radio station WRNY. This was the first radio station to broadcast experimental television starting in 1928.
In February 1929 Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing was forced into bankruptcy. Everything was sold to pay off the creditors. At the last court proceeding in April 1929, Hugo Gernsback announced a new publishing company. "Mr. Gernsback said after the hearing that his new magazines would be Radio Craft, Science Wonder Stories
Wonder Stories
Wonder Stories was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, when his media company Experimenter Publishing went...
and Air Wonder Stories and that the first issues would be out in June."
The beginning of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
was not the best time to start a magazine but Radio-Craft survived. The paper shortages during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were even more difficult for magazines. Gernsback had to merge Radio and Television into Radio-Craft. A few months were combined such as the January–February 1942 and the August–September 1942 issues. The material shortages eased and the growing electronics industry during the war led to more advertisers and readers.
Radio Electronics
Hugo Gernsback first used the term "Television" in the December 1909 issue of his Modern Electrics magazine.By the late 1940s, television stations and home receivers were becoming a reality. Gernsback felt his Radio-Craft magazine needed a new name; it should be short and contain the word "Television". When the staff could not decide on a name, they sent a survey to 500 readers with 13 proposed names. Over 50% of the readers selected a name that was included just to expand the list, Radio-Electronics. Gernsback accepted his reader's verdict and used the title that did not use the magic word of the period. Radio-Electronics appeared as a subtitle in early 1948 and became the primary title in October 1948.
1950s and 1960s
Early radios and televisions used vacuum tubeVacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
s that had an operating lifetime of a year or so. (The transistor would not become dominant until the 1970s.) A typical television would have a dozen vacuum tubes and one or more would fail each year. Radio and TV repair shops were numerous and located in every neighborhood. A significant portion of Radio Electronics articles and advertisements addressed the service industry.
Technological advances such as the transistor, color television, stereo audio, computers and space satellites were prominently covered in the 1950s and 1960s. The typical Radio-Electronics cover would show a person interacting with new technology. Hugo Gernsback would write an editorial each issue; and the magazine would publish stories about the future such as automobiles automatically guided down the turnpikes of tomorrow. The April 1959 issue was 8.5 by 11 inches (22 by 28 cm) and had 140 pages. The monthly paid circulation was about 200,000 readers.
1970s
The tag line on the Radio-Electronics cover from July 1970 to February 1974 was "For Men With Ideas In Electronics". Almost all of the readers of electronics magazines were male. A Ziff-Davis survey in 1981 showed that 97% of the readers were male. In April 1972 the cover did not have the tag line and there was a letter to the editors from a female reader titled "Women With Ideas In Electronics." The editors asked readers to write in on what would be an appropriate tag line. The "For Men With Ideas In Electronics" returned the next month and stayed until March 1974 when the tag line was changed to "The Magazine with New Ideas in Electronics." In one last affront to the feminist movementFeminist movement
The feminist movement refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence...
, the June 1974 cover of Radio-Electronics has a young lady in a bikini by a swimming pool with that months feature project, a guitar amplifier.
Around 1971, many authors who used to contribute to Popular Electronics started writing for Radio-Electronics. There was some competition in digital logic projects between Radio-Electronics and Popular Electronics. In September 1973, Radio-Electronics published Don Lancaster
Don Lancaster
Donald E. Lancaster is a prolific author, inventor, and microcomputer pioneer best known for his magazine columns. He is also known for his "TV Typewriter" dumb terminal project, his book on technical entrepreneurship The Incredible Secret Money Machine, and his work on and advocacy of early...
's "TV Typewriter" and in July 1974 it published Jon Titus's "Mark-8
Mark-8
The Mark-8 is a microcomputer design from 1974, based on the Intel 8008 CPU . The Mark-8 was designed by graduate student Jonathan Titus and announced as a 'loose kit' in the July 1974 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine.- Project kit :The Mark-8 was introduced as a 'build it yourself' project in...
Personal Minicomputer". However, Popular Electronics published the most famous project in January 1975 with the MITS Altair 8800
Altair 8800
The MITS Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and sold by mail order through advertisements in Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics and other hobbyist magazines. The designers hoped to sell only a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were...
computer.
After Popular Electronics went under after attempting to become a computer magazine in the early 1980s, Radio-Electronics published many eye-catching feature projects like a series on cable TV descramblers. Some projects were designed by kit manufacturers like PAiA Electronics
PAiA Electronics
PAiA Electronics, Inc. is an American synthesizer kit company that was started by John Simonton in 1967. It sells various musical electronics kits including analog synthesizers, theremins, mixers and various music production units designed by founder John Simonton, Craig Anderton, Marvin Jones,...
, North Country Radio, Information Unlimited, Almost All Digital Electronics, and Ramsey Electronics.