A stylized logo for “The Famous Computer Cafe.” The logo resembles a vintage neon sign, featuring a tall, vertical structure with multiple components. The topmost part of the sign has a depiction of a small satellite or atomic model, labeled with “The Famous.” Below this, in bold block letters, reads “COMPUTER”. Extending downwards, the word “CAFE” appears vertically in a similar bold style. Both “COMPUTER” and “CAFE” have an arrow motif, with the word “CAFE” positioned inside a large downward-pointing arrow, which is embellished with numerous small lights around its perimeter. The entire logo is rendered in a palette of dark blue and yellow, giving it a striking, retro look indicative of classic neon signs.
A previously lost cache of celebrity and historical interviews from a long-dormant radio show have been discovered, digitized, and made available for all.
The Internet Archive is now home to 53 episodes of The Famous Computer Cafe, a 1980s radio show about the new world of home computers. The program included computer industry news, product reviews, and interviews, and aired from 1983 through 1986 on radio stations in southern and central California.
The creators of The Famous Computer Cafe saved every episode on reel-to-reel tapes, but over the years the tapes were forgotten, and, ultimately, lost. Earlier this year archivist Kay Savetz recovered several of the tapes in a property sale, and recognizing their value and worthiness of professional transfer, launched a GoFundMe to have them digitized, and made them available at Internet Archive with the permission of the show’s creators.
While full of time-capsule descriptions of 1980s technology news, the most exciting aspect of the show has been the variety and uniqueness of the interviews. The list of people that the show interviewed is a who’s-who of tech luminaries of the 1980s: computer people, musicians, publishers, philosophers, journalists. Interviews in the recovered recordings include Timothy Leary, Douglas Adams, Bill Gates, Atari’s Jack Tramiel, Apple’s Bill Atkinson, and dozens of others. The recovered shows span November 17 1984 through July 12, 1985.
Many more of the original reel-to-reel tapes — including shows with interviews with Ray Bradbury, Robert Moog, Donny Osmond, and Gene Roddenberry — are still lost, and perhaps are still waiting to be found in the Los Angeles area.
The stories of how The Famous Computer Cafe was created — and saved, 40 years later — is explored in an episode of the Radio Survivor podcast. The podcast interviewed show co-creator Ellen Fields and archivist Kay Savetz, providing a dual perspective of how the show was created and how it was recovered.
The recovery of these interviews, 40 years after their original airing, holds out hope that many more relics and treasures still await discovery.