Editing Popular Electronics (section)

== Merger with ''Electronics World'' ==
[[File:Popular Electronics Jan 1972.jpg|thumb|right|''Popular Electronics'' had a major update starting in 1971 including merging with ''Electronics World''.]]
''Radio & Television News'' became ''Electronics World'' in 1959 and in January 1972 was merged into ''Popular Electronics''. The process started in the summer of 1971 with a new editor, Milton S. Snitzer, replacing the longtime editor, Oliver P. Ferrell. The publishers decided to focus on topics with prosperous advertisers, such as CB Radio and audio equipment. Construction projects were no longer the feature articles. They were replaced by new product reviews.<ref name = "Siliconnections 168">{{cite book | last = Mims | first = Forrest M | author-link = Forrest Mims | title = Siliconnections: Coming of Age in the Electronic Era | publisher = McGraw-Hill | year = 1986 | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-07-042411-1 | page = [https://archive.org/details/siliconnectionsc00mims/page/168 168] | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/siliconnectionsc00mims/page/168 }}</ref> The change in editorial direction upset many authors. Dan Meyer wrote a letter in his SWTPC catalog referring to the magazine, ''Popular Electronics'' with ''Electronics World'', as "PEEW". He urged his customers to switch to ''Radio-Electronics''.

[[Don Lancaster]], [[Daniel Meyer (engineer)|Daniel Meyer]], [[Forrest Mims]], [[Ed Roberts (computer engineer)|Ed Roberts]], [[John Simonton]] and other authors switched to Radio-Electronics. Even Solid State columnist Lou Garner moved to ''Radio-Electronics'' for a year.<ref>{{cite magazine | author = Lou Garner |date=August 1972 | title = State of Solid State |magazine= Radio-Electronics | volume = 43 | issue = 8 | pages =23–25 | publisher = Gernsback Publications }}</ref> [[Les Solomon]], the ''Popular Electronics'' Technical Editor, wrote 6 articles in the rival ''Radio-Electronics'' using the pseudonym "B. R. Rogen".<ref name = "Siliconnections 168"/> In 1972 and 1973 some of the best projects appeared in ''Radio-Electronics'' as the new ''Popular Electronics'' digested the merger. The upcoming personal computer benefited from this competition between ''Radio-Electronics'' and ''Popular Electronics''.

In September 1973 ''Radio-Electronics'' published Don Lancaster's [[TV Typewriter]], a low cost video display. In July 1974 ''Radio-Electronics'' published the [[Mark-8]] Personal Minicomputer based on the [[Intel 8008]] processor.<ref>[http://chc61.fgcu.edu/titus.aspx Jonathan A. Titus]</ref> The publishers noted the success of ''Radio-Electronics'' and Arthur P. Salsberg took over as Editor in 1974. Salsberg and Technical Editor, Leslie Solomon, brought back the featured construction projects. ''Popular Electronics'' needed a computer project so they selected Ed Roberts' [[Altair 8800]]<ref>{{cite magazine | author = H. Edward Roberts |author2=William Yates |date=January 1975 | title = Altair 8800 minicomputer |magazine= Popular Electronics | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages =33–38 | publisher = Ziff Davis }}</ref> computer based on the improved [[Intel 8080]] processor. The January 1975 issue of ''Popular Electronics'' had the Altair computer on the cover and this launched the home computer revolution.
(However, Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs incorrectly identified the magazine that ran the article as ''[[Popular Mechanics]]''.)

The magazine was [[digest size]] ({{nowrap|6.5 in × 9 in}}) for the first 20 years. The cover logo was a [[sans-serif]] typeface in a rectangular box. The covers featured a large image of the feature story, usually a construction project. In September 1970 the cover logo was changed to an underlined serif typeface. The magazine's content, typography and layout were also updated.<ref name = "PE Sep 1970">{{cite magazine | last = Ferrell | first = Oliver | title = The New Look |magazine= Popular Electronics | volume = 33 | issue = 3 | pages =7–8 | publisher = Ziff-Davis |date=September 1970}}</ref> In January 1972 the cover logo added a second line, "including Electronics World", and the volume number was restarted at 1. This second line was used for two years. The large photo of the feature project was gone, replaced by a textual list of articles. In August 1974 the magazine switched to a larger [[Letter (paper size)|letter size]] format ({{nowrap|8.5 in × 11 in}}). This was done to allow larger illustrations such as schematics, to switch printing to offset presses, and respond to advertisers desire for larger ad pages.<ref name = "PE Aug 197">{{cite magazine | last = Salsberg | first = Art | title = Our New Look |magazine= Popular Electronics | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | page =4 | publisher = Ziff-Davis |date=August 1974}}</ref> The longtime tag line, "World's Largest Selling Electronics Magazine", was moved from the Table of Contents page to the cover.