In my posts covering the first season of Computer Chronicles, I noted that some of the episode recordings included interstitial segments presented by Herbert Lechner, who also occasionally guest hosted for Gary Kildall during this 1983-84 period. These segments were part of a “telecourse” marketed by Wadsworth Publishing Company as part of its “continuing education professional series.” The idea was to pair the first 26 Chronicles episodes with a companion textbook for students to follow along and learn more in-depth about the topics discussed on the show. Lechner authored the book (as H.D. Lechner) in addition to hosting the special segments.

Although Stewart Cheifet is long remembered as the host and executive producer of Computer Chronicles, he was actually not the first person to host the program. Before Chronicles went national on PBS in 1983, there was a locally aired live version on KCSM-TV hosted by Jim Warren, which started airing in September 1981. Unfortunately, there were apparently no recordings kept of any of the Warren-hosted episodes.

James Clarke Warren, Jr. (1936 - 2021)

Jim Warren passed away on the morning of November 24, 2021, at the age of 85. While he may be considered a footnote in the history of Computer Chronicles, his impact on the personal computing industry as a whole was far more significant. Born in July 1936, Warren began his career as a high school math teacher in the 1950s before earning his first of many college degrees. Indeed, Warren would eventually complete three master’s degrees–including one in computer engineering from Stanford–and stopped just short of earning a doctorate in that discipline.

From time to time, I’ll be posting these “Special” blogs, which only indirectly relate back to a Computer Chronicles episode. Basically, a “Random Access” item or an offhand reference made during a show will send me down an interesting rabbit hole. But since the normal posts are long enough, I thought it made sense to segregate these tangents into their standalone posts.

Space-Age Technology for the Retail Makeup Counter

For this first special, I want to expand upon this “Random Access” item from the last episode I covered, which aired in March 1985: