Revisiting Computer Corner

A still frame of the original Computer Corner animated logo.

For more than 15 years, the Computer Corner news segment broadcast on WFAA-TV served up a weekly snapshot of a nation’s transformation from the analog to the digital world.

It appeared at just the right time.

Computer Corner was born in the spring of 1993, when fewer than 1 out of 4 households owned a personal computer. It was my mission to provide a user-friendly, high-tech, low-jargon conduit to help demistify the experience of computing.

This was also a time before the word “internet” entered the popular vernacular. The World Wide Web was pretty much the exclusive domain of the academic world; home access was still a couple of years in the future.

Spanning two decades in two different centuries, I wrote, produced and hosted this segment that helped North Texas viewers understand and appreciate the latest technological developments.

I had a chance to speak with Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Mark Cuban (before he became a nationally-known figure) and even the late Charlton Heston (who was the voice behind a Bible software offering).

Now I’d like to share that journey with you, with the hope that it will help document in a unique way this tumultuous time in technology.

Each Computer Corner segment aired just once, usually on Wednesdays, on WFAA’s midday news broadcast. I estimate there’s about 48 hours of content in all. While not all of it has been preserved, I’ve started work on digitizing what I have from VHS and Betacam tapes and (in the later years of the segment), recordings made directly to a hard drive from digital broadcasts.

I hope you’ll enjoy what’s to come and share your reflections on this remarkable time in technology.