1975

BYTE Magazine

Wayne Green (1922–2013), Virginia Londner Green (dates unavailable)

Wayne Green and his ex-wife, Virginia Londner Green, created BYTE magazine in 1975 based on the tremendous popularity of the computer-related articles that appeared in their amateur radio magazine, 73. The two hired Carl Helmers, the self-publisher of a monthly newsletter called the Experimenter’s Computer System (ECS), to be the editor. BYTE took over the newsletter’s mailing and, with the backing of Green Publishing, expanded significantly. BYTE is generally considered the first personal computing magazine, representing a passionate community of interest that would turn into a computer revolution.

The first issue of BYTE came out around the same time as the initial home-computer kits began to hit the market and had several firsts, including Microsoft’s first advertisement. Early issues of BYTE covered topics such as: “Which Microprocessor for You?,” “Assembling Your Assembler,” and “Build a Graphics Display.” The magazine also considered the more philosophical aspects of early personal computing, such as “What Is This Process—Designing a Program?” and the practical reasons one would want to build or have a PC in the home—for example, checkbook balancing, recipe converting, game playing, and even hosting a computerized remote security system.

BYTE was also famous for its illustrated covers by artist Robert Tinney (b. 1947), who would use his nontechnical eye to craft visual metaphors based on each issue’s theme while accounting for the bigger concept of how computers fit into popular culture. BYTE had a listing of “computer clubs” in California, Colorado, Connecticut, North Carolina, New York, and Texas. Among them was Silicon Valley’s “Homebrew Computer Club,” which played a role in Steve Wozniak’s invention of the Apple computer. And BYTE was home to science fiction author Jerry Pournelle (1933–2017), who wrote a popular column, The View From Chaos Manor. BYTE remained dominant into the 1990s, when declining readership and advertising revenue resulted in the sale of the magazine to CMP Media in May 1998 and suspended publication two months later. CMP made several attempts to run BYTE as a web-only publication until 2009, when it entered the halls of computer history.

Cover of the July 1982 issue of BYTE, the first personal computing magazine.