Mike: I started there in April of 1985 (hired by Dave Allikas), as I was finishing up college. I was first hired as Managing Editor at Ahoy! and later promoted to Executive Editor. I worked there from 1985-1990, even though the
magazine was killed in early 89, I was there until the following September in '90 working on Ahoy's AmigaUser (which was killed later in May of 89) and some other projects before I left. My primary duties at Ahoy! were selecting all the type-in programs for the magazine each month and reviewing all program
submissions received from freelancers, running the Tips Ahoy! column (tips and tricks), proofing and editing the galleys of articles ( back before the days of desktop publishing), and I use to contact all the software and game companies for product review, plus a lot of other things too including writing some reviews and I even programmed some utilities for both the C-128
and Amiga. :-)
Paul: What are some of your fondest memories of working
at Ahoy? Who do you remember best, and what influenced you during your time with the magazine?
Mike: David Allikas was definitely my biggest influence since he was my boss and editor and basically showed me the ropes (a really great guy). But my fondest memories were of Cleve Blakemore--besides being a brilliant programmer, he was also quite a personality. Both very controversial and very funny (just read some of his post on the usenet, he's still active, just search for his name). We had hired him just after he got
discharged from the Army. He relocated, at his expense, from Virginia to NYC just so he could take the job with the magazine. He also was very dedicated to physical fitness--he had won the triathlon several times in the Army. Tim Little and Morton Kevelson were also interesting characters. Tim basically showed up at our doorstep looking for work after being expelled from college for hacking grades on the school's computer. Morton looked like an old-time college professor. All were very talented but quirky individuals. Made for an interesting work environment to say the least.
Paul: How was Ahoy! put together from issue to issue? Was
there a consistent format used from month to month, or did it vary depending on the issue and content covered?
Mike: It was a pretty consistent format from month to month like you said. We had a pretty good formula going for us and the readers seemed to like it.
Paul: Finally, what happened to Ahoy! after the January
1989 issue? What caused the magazine to cease publication?
Mike: Basically the publisher ran out of money to publish it, plus the Commodore market was quickly dying. The problem wasn't that Ahoy! wasn't successful, but rather that the other publications that the company (Haymarket Group/Ion International) was publishing sank the company. It was sad seeing the fruits
of our labor being dumped into something else. You see, Ahoy! did
rather well up until 1988 and was making good money. What happened was that the money that was being made with Ahoy!, was being sunk into two other magazines (Chocolatier and Feeling Great/AIM (Authritis Information Magazine)/Mature Health--went through three names). What finally sank the company was when one of the investors pulled his money from the company because of how much he was losing. I quit before things really got bad and they had to lay people off.
Have fun and let me know if you'd like to hear more.
-Mike