ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Youth Advisory Board: Musa Mustafa This is the fifth in a series of episodes featuring interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. If you're just joining us: In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting 20 kids, aged 14 though 18, from around the U.S. to share their opinions about computers, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. This is an interview with Musa Mustafa, who was one of those kids. A March 25, 1983 article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel by Loretta Noffsinger said: "Computers without keyboards, toys that come to life at the sound of a child's voice and programs that shoulder the chores of thank-you letters — that's what the whiz kids see in the future. They envision a computer disguised within a toy to tell youngsters about the workings of the universe and others 'far beyond man's imagination.' And Atari is listening to them." Later in the article, Noffsinger wrote: "Musa Mustafa, 15, says he hopes to design an astronomy program to chart the location of stars and planets at specific times 'so that I can easily track them down in a telescope.' The Walnut sophomore, who will skip his junior year at Rowland High School, also envisions computers designing computers. This year, they're helping him make a movie about the 1984 Olympics. A combination of computer animation and film, the endeavor will 'open a new category' in the Los Angeles International Film Exposition this spring, he says." My interview with Musa took place on April 26, 2018. In it, we discuss Ted Kahn, whom I previously interviewed. Ted Kahn interview Compute! magazine article about Rowland High School animation 1989 LA Times article about Rowland High School animation Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper article

Youth Advisory Board: Robert Allbritton This is the fourth episode in a series of interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. Robert Allbritton was one of the 20 kids who, in 1983, were accepted into the Youth Advisory Board, a group of teenagers who were able to take a trip to Atari's headquarters in California, enjoy free 1200XL computers, and he even got to work at Atari's booth at the Consumer Electronics Show. Robert was, and still is, friends with John Dickerson, another Youth Advisory Board member, whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place on April 24, 2018. Interview with John Dickerson

Youth Advisory Board: John Dickerson This is the third episode in a series of interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. A quick recap: In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting 20 teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions about computers and video games, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. The group consisted of kids aged 14 through 18, mostly regular kids, some computer geeks, and a couple of celebrities. This interview is with John Dickerson, who was one of the computer geeks. There was an article about the Youth Advisory Board in the March 1984 issue of Enter magazine, with a quote from John: "'We were an added dimension to what they already do,' says 14-year-old John Dickerson. 'Atari's problem is that they don't get close enough to the consumer. We'll bring them a lot closer. But, so far, we haven't found out which of our decisions they really listened to.'" This interview took place on April 16, 2018. If you were a member of the Atari Youth Advisory board, I'd love to hear from you: email antic@ataripodcast.com. John on Twitter John's book "On Her Trail: My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star" Enter magazine article

Youth Advisory Board: Anneke Wyman This is the second episode in a series of interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. In 1982-1983, Atari invited 20 kids, aged 14-18, to be on its new Youth Advisory Board. Atari was looking for well-rounded, computer-literate kids, with equal representation of sexes and a mix of ethnic groups. Anneke Wyman (now Anneke Wyman de Boer) was one of those kids. A wire service article about the Youth Advisory Board, by Kathy Holub, ran in several newspapers around March 25, 1983. Here's an excerpt from that story: "The fat world of corporate perks isn't just for executives anymore. On Sunday, 14-year-old Anneke Wyman of New York flew to San Francisco on a prepaid plane ticket to dine out on pizza and attend her first corporate board meeting. ... "As members of Atari Inc.'s new Youth Advisory Board, they got the sort of pampering reserved for top corporate clients, including a private movie screening, a tour of San Francisco and all the food they could eat. "What did they do to deserve all this? They can't figure it out. 'It's almost a fantasy,' Anneke said, giggling. 'I had a three-minute interview calling from a pay phone at school. The dime ran out and I thought, well, I'll never hear from them again. A few weeks later, they told me I was in. Now I'm sort of nervous.' "The video game market, once monopolized by Atari, has become as fiercely competitive as the home computer and educational software markets, and Atari hopes the kids can keep the company on the right track on all fronts...The 20 young board members are expected to keep Atari in touch with its market. ... "Anneke has danced in about 60 performances of The Nutcracker Suite with the New York City Ballet and can write computer programs in four languages. Her career? 'I don't know yet,' she said. 'But I'm much better in math and science.'" This interview took place on April 5, 2018. A video version of this interview is also available. YAB newspaper article by Kathy Holub Atari Connection magazine article about YAB Video version of this interview

Youth Advisory Board: Kerrie Holton and Tina Bartschat This is the first in a series of episodes featuring interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting 20 teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions, test new software, and promote Atari's computers at trade shows. The group consisted primarily of regular kids - some computer geeks, but most well-rounded teenagers. The group also included a couple of celebrities: Todd Bridges, the actor who played Willis in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes; and Matthew Labyorteaux, the actor who played Albert on the show Little House on the Prairie, then Richie Adler on the adventure show Whiz Kids. The first (and I believe only) meeting of the Youth Advisory Board took place in March 1983 at Atari's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Was Atari genuinely doing in-depth market research into the opinions of teenagers? Or was the Youth Advisory Board a publicity stunt? Maybe it was a little of both. Either way, the idea is fascinating, and I wanted to ask the board members to share their memories of that time. In this episode are my first two interviews with Youth Advisory Board kids: Kerrie Holton (now Kerrie Holton-Tainter) and Tina Bartschat (now Tina Volker.) There's an article about Kerrie in the October 1983 issue of Family Computing (the first issue of that magazine) by Bethany Kandel. Titled "When Kerrie Holton Talks, Atari Listens", it features a great photo of Kerrie at her desk, sporting a tie and fedora, with a telephone handset in one hand and a cigar in the other, looking for all the world like a business mogul or 1920's mobster. On her desk there's an Atari 1200XL computer, floppy drive, printer, plus a frilly doll and Snoopy plush toy. Here's an excerpt: "While other seniors were busy bragging about which college they'd been accepted to, Kerrie had something else to show off—she'd been chosen to serve on the Youth Advisory Board of Atari, one of the best-known video game and computer companies in the country. Plenty of high school students have sat in study hall daydreaming about a V.I.P. tour of the inner sanctums of Atari, Inc.; Kerrie is one of the few who've been there. She took a private tour last spring, and was included in meetings with top officials, and discussions of Atari's confidential plans for software and hardware development." ..."Atari brought her to the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago earlier this year, and this fall will fly her to a special meeting to 'brainstorm' with the other 19 members of the YAB."" ..."Travel isn't the only benefit of being a YAB member. Kerrie's received an Atari 1200XL to review software, and a modem, so she can telegraph her latest opinions and recommendations to other YAB members and Atari's elders. 'When we say something, Atari jumps,' says Kerrie. "'It's great fun having someone listen to your opinions for a change, especially when adults are always telling us what to do. Now we get to tell them.'" [Interview with Kerrie] Next, my interview with Tina Vokler. There's an article about Tina in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper, dated June 16 1983, by Jan Ackerman. It features a photo of Tina typing on her Atari 1200XL, with an Atari joystick prominently in the foreground. "Sixteen-year-old Tina Bartschat of Upper St. Claie is multilingual. The pert, blond-haired teenager learned to speak German while growing up near Hanover, Germany, where she lived until age 10. She knows other languages, too, languages with such strange names as Basic, Pilot and Assembler, all machine languages. "These are the languages of the computer age, languages that are Greek to anyone who doesn't know a word processor from a printer. ..."'Basic is an all-purpose language,' she explains, leading the way to the Atari 1200XL computer in her bedroom. It comes equipped with printer, a taping system, a screen and a word processor. "Atari gave the system to Tina after she was picked to serve on a newly created Atari Youth Advisory Board, a select group of 21 computer-astute teen-agers from across the country, who will advise the computer and video games giant about how to cater to young consumers. Tina is the only teenager from Pennsylvania selected to the elite group, which held its first meeting in Sunnyvale, California March. Besides a free trip to the West Coast, she also was given an Atari system, worth more than $1,500. "She was recommended for the program by Mr. Saunders, a calculus and computer science teacher. She credits Saunders and Dr. John DeBlassio, a math and computer science teacher at her high school, with helping to sharpen her computer skills. [Interview with Tina] The interview with Kerrie Holton-Tainter took place on November 17, 2017. (A video version of that interview is also available.) The interview with Tina Volker took place on January 27, 2018. If you were a member of the Atari Youth Advisory board, I'd love to hear from you: email antic@ataripodcast.com. Video of the Kerrie Holton-Tainter interview Family Computing article about Kerrie Photo of Kerrie and the other YAB kids Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about Tina Photo of Tina and the other YAB kids

Hal Segal, Association of Time-Sharing Users Hal Segal was founder and president of the Association of Time-Sharing Users, and the Association of Small Computer Users, and several other groups dedicated to early computer systems. The Association of Time-Sharing Users was formed in 1974: it published a newsletter, which Hal wrote, as well as directories of terminals, applications, database management systems, and so on. Group members held meetings in various cities around the United States. Hal is also author of the books How to Select Your Small Computer Without Frustration and How to Manage Your Small Computer Without Frustration, which were published in 1982 and 1983 by Prentice-Hall. This interview took place January 9, 2018. A video version of this interview is also available. Video version of this interview Computer Terminals Directory — Association of Time-Sharing Users About Hal Background in ComputerWorld magazine

Steve Englehart, Atari Advanced Games Group Steve Englehart worked in the Advanced Games Group of Atari, where he developed ideas for new computer games. He was the designer of E.T. Phone Home!, Final Legacy, and Garfield for the Atari 8-bit machines, and worked on several unfinished games. He wrote the manual for Eastern Front: 1941. This interview took place on November 17, 2017. A video version of this interview is available. Video version of this interview Steve's web site ANTIC Interview 67 - Ted Richards, Atari Connection Magazine

Jack Smyth, The Learning Company and Add-On Software Jack Smyth was the first CEO of The Learning Company, the educational software publisher best known for Reader Rabbit and Rocky's Boots. He was also involved with Add-On Software, a company that sold CP/M software for several computer platforms, including the Atari 8-bit line. The company built a hardware card, for use with the Atari 1090XL peripheral expansion box, that would have added CP/M functionality to Atari computers. That device was never sold, or at least was not widely available. This interview took place on March 8, 2018. After the interview, Jack sent me anl Add-On Software CP/M catalog (primarily focused on the Apple II) which I have scanned and uploaded to Internet Archive. Teaser quote: "I took my 5-year-old daughter with me to see how my daughter liked the software. ... Well my daughter loved it, and so I bought the company." Add-On Software catalog Add-On Software CP/M flyer 1984 InfoWorld article interviewing Smyth 1983 CP/M add-on announcement AtariMania's list of Learning Company software

Bryan Talbot, APX Cartoonist Bryan Talbot published one program for the Atari computer: Cartoonist, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the fall 1983 APX catalog, where it was awarded first prize in the systems/telecommunications category. This interview took place on December 8, 2017. "I was just trying to contemplate what to do, and finally — I'd been going to all the missionary classes and I did the thing that they taught us to do. I just knelt down on the floor and I grabbed my 810 drive, and I prayed that God would fix my drive." Cartoonist in the fall 1983 APX catalog Cartoonist Manual and Disk Image

Dwight Johnson, Lake County Atari Computer Enthusiasts Dwight Johnson was founder of Lake County Atari Computer Enthusiasts, a users group based in Waukegan, IL. He started the group in April 1983. The group still exists today as a general PC computer users group, and is now called Lake County Area Computer Enthusiasts. This interview took place on April 12, 2018. Lake County Area Computer Enthusiasts