Buzz
In May 1981, Isaac Asimov jotted in his diary, “I’ll never learn how to use it,” just as Radio Shack delivered a Tandy TRS-80 Model II microcomputer to his New York City apartment. The boxes remained sealed until a Radio Shack technician arrived a week later to assemble the system in Asimov’s living room.
Powering up the computer marked two pivotal moments for the 61-year-old author: it signaled the end of his reliance on typewriters and catapulted his image into the homes of over 30 million Americans through Radio Shack’s widely circulated catalogs.
In the early 1980s, as the personal computer market exploded, companies sought to ease consumer fears by enlisting celebrities. Talk show host Dick Cavett promoted IBM, Alan Alda became Atari’s spokesperson in a $10 million deal, and Bruce Jenner endorsed Activision. Spectravideo even featured Roger Moore, leveraging his James Bond persona to associate their PCs with cutting-edge technology, as noted by company spokesman Bob Griffin.
Radio Shack, a leading electronics retailer under Tandy, opted against celebrity endorsements in their TV commercials, choosing a more reserved strategy. Their confidence stemmed from the TRS-80, which dominated 1980 as the top-selling personal computer, with over 200,000 units sold.
The next year proved pivotal for Radio Shack as they prepared to launch updated TRS-80 models, including affordable options, a color-screen variant, and a compact portable version. Around the same time, they lent a high-end Model II unit (priced at $3499) to renowned futurist Isaac Asimov, who used it to pen an article on word processing advancements for
Asimov overcame his initial hesitation about switching from typewriters after receiving hands-on guidance from a Radio Shack technician. The employee trained him on the Model II, its pinwheel printer, and Scripsit software. By late 1981, Asimov had mastered the system and agreed to an open-ended endorsement deal with Tandy, noting that their pocket PC mirrored the futuristic technology he envisioned in his 1951 novel, Foundation.
VintageComputingDespite embracing the TRS-80, Asimov never fully abandoned his manual typewriter. He continued to rely on it for initial novel drafts, later transferring revisions into Scripsit for editing. He also utilized the software for letters and shorter works. Wary of floppy disk reliability, he habitually printed nearly everything he composed on the TRS-80, doubting the durability of 5.25-inch storage media.
Asimov’s greatest appreciation for the TRS-80 lay in its ability to correct his frequent typos, such as confusing "seep," "seem," and "seen," or mistakenly typing “t4he.” In The Roving Mind, he expressed his delight:
Gazing at the text on the screen, I eagerly hunt for errors to correct. With a few keystrokes, “F1” and “u,” followed by “F2,” transform “cold” into “could,” erasing all traces of the mistake. Then, as the printer hums – br-r-rp, br-r-rp, br-r-rp – each flawless page fills me with immense pride.
Radio Shack distributed over 30 million catalogs during this period, with Asimov attracting more customer engagement than any other spokesperson, including Incredible Hulk actor Bill Bixby. By the mid-1980s, Asimov’s iconic mutton-chopped image even graced ads for the company’s stereo systems.
Thanks to Scripsit’s user-friendly design, Asimov estimated he saved roughly 15 minutes per magazine article compared to typing. The author of over 500 books humorously remarked, “I am a one-man book of the month club. How much faster can I possibly get? Honestly, who would even want me to?”
