Death Of Atari Explorer

From The Ahl Collection

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Some time in the the spring of 1990, David Ahl was fired as publisher of the Atari Explorer magazine. According to Dave,

"Atari was also irritated with me because I insisted on running objective, honest reviews and refused to edit out things that were critical of Atari. The publishing contract was given to our senior editor, John Jainschigg, who happily published whatever Atari wanted. John, with the remainder of our staff and Atari PR people, managed to produce 5 issues of Atari Explorer in 1991 and 1992 before Atari threw in the towel entirely." 

This Death of Atari Explorer memo, undated, but likely written in the spring of 1990, from David Ahl to Jim Fisher outlines the winding down of Atari Explorer from Ahl's point of view.

Original Atari Explorer Spring 1990 Editorial

From The Ahl Collection

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Were you an avid reader of the Atari Explorer magazine? Did you read the editorial by John B. Jainschigg on page 6 of the Spring 1990 issue?

Well, as it turns out, the original editorial What Ever Happened to the March/April Issue? by Betsy Staples was censored and quashed by Atari. 

If I come across a better source document, I will rescan it.

Atari Explorer Ransom Letter

From The Ahl Collection

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Humorous Atari Explorer ransom letter from spring 1990. Created by Atari Explorer/Atarian publisher David H. Ahl due to slow payment of  the printing costs by Atari for the final issue of Atarian magazine 

One April 24th, 2019, I asked David Ahl about this:

Hi Dave, Among your papers, I found an Atari Explorer ransom letter. Any insight on who created it? Mack Printing or someone at you company as a joke? I read in some of the legal documents that Atari wasn't paying the printer for the last issue of Atarian, and that the printer was holding Atari Explorer as ransom until they got paid. Regards, Bill

His reply

Bill: Okay, I confess. I made up that ransom letter. Obviously, we did not send it to Atari since you have the original. What you read is absolutely correct. Nintendo and Sega were devastating Atari's video game business and they didn't want to pay for the 3rd issue of Atarian so we (Betsy and me) along with Mack Printing forced the issue. In return for this, my company, SBI, lost the Atari magazine contract. Atari was also irritated with me because I insisted on running objective, honest reviews and refused to edit out things that were critical of Atari. The publishing contract was given to our senior editor, John Jainschigg, who happily published whatever Atari wanted. John, with the remainder of our staff and Atari PR people, managed to produce 5 issues of Atari Explorer in 1991 and 1992 before Atari threw in the towel entirely. Dave

There is more detail in this Tramiel cross examination.

Atari Vs. Nintendo March 10, 1992 Tramiel Cross

From The Ahl Collection

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March 10, 1992 Tramiel cross examination during Atari Corporation vs. Nintendo of America lawsuit. 

Testimony touches on the demise of Atarian magazine, and the bad blood between Atari and Atarian magazine publisher David Ahl.