Radiosoftware represents a fascinating chapter in the history of computer science in Italy. At a time when the spread of personal computers was still in its infancy, this pioneering program helped to make software accessible to a wider audience, using a mass communication medium like radio. The initiative, inspired by local and international experiences, anticipated the evolution towards forms of digital software distribution that would characterize the following years.

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Radiosoftware, initially called Radiotext, was an Italian radio program dedicated to computer science, broadcast by Rai Radio 3 between 1984 and 1989. This innovative program distinguished itself by its ability to directly transmit software encoded as audio, an absolute novelty at a national level. The program was part of the current affairs section “Un certo discorso” until 1986, before becoming autonomous. In addition to insights into the applications of personal computers, Radiosoftware offered listeners the opportunity to record the radio signals containing the software onto audiocassettes. These signals, composed of sound impulses incomprehensible to the human ear, were transmitted in the same format used by computers to record data on audiocassettes. At the time, audio cassettes were a very common storage medium for home computers, making this method of software distribution accessible to a wide audience.

The initiative was presented as a form of “microtelematics” and as the first national experiment of this kind in Europe. Radiosoftware was inspired by the experience of “Open”, a program produced locally by Controradio in Florence. In reality, it was not the first national broadcast of software via radio in Europe: similar initiatives, based on Basicode, already existed in the Netherlands from 1978 (“Hobbyscoop” by NOS) and in the United Kingdom from January 1984 (“The Chip Shop” by the BBC).

The History of Radiotext

Radiotext, the precursor to Radiosoftware, debuted on June 29, 1984, within the container “Un certo discorso”, broadcast on Fridays at 3:30 p.m.. The space dedicated to Radiotext lasted about half an hour and started at 4 p.m.. The following Sundays, until July 1st, a repeat of the program was broadcast at 2 p.m.. Each episode of Radiotext transmitted at least three different software programs, respectively for the ZX Spectrum 48k, Commodore 64, and Olivetti M10 computers. In the Sunday repeat, the software part underwent a slight variation: the application transmitted on Friday for Spectrum was transmitted in a version for Commodore 64 and vice versa.

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Each episode focused on a general theme, such as graphics, fashion, the Cannes Film Festival, music, data protection, and the Los Angeles Olympics. The software transmitted was also related to the theme of the episode. They were mainly utility applications, often consultation databases on practical topics or entertainment. Listeners were invited to send their own programs to the editorial staff and sometimes a selection of this “homebrew” software was also broadcast. The spoken part of the program could include interviews on topics not strictly related to computer science, but relevant to the theme of the episode, such as those with Elio Fiorucci or Gianna Nannini.

Radiotext was curated by Lega Informatica/Arcimedia, an association based in Rome that promoted the spread of personal computer use among the Italian public, in collaboration with the Research and Experimentation division of Rai. The print magazine “Sperimentare con l’elettronica e il computer” took care of conducting a survey on the program’s listenership among its subscribers and made the listings of all the software transmitted by Radiotext available at its editorial office.

From Radiotext to Radiosoftware

The subsequent cycle of broadcasts took on the definitive name of Radiosoftware and began in November 1984. The program continued to be broadcast within “Un certo discorso”, on Fridays at 3:30 p.m., while the Sunday repeat at 2 p.m. was moved to “Antologia di Radiotre”. This second season continued until June 1985, with repeats broadcast during the summer. The duration of Radiosoftware increased to one hour. The Apple II was added to the three computer models already covered, and MSX and BBC Micro were also planned.

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The production of the program was still entrusted to Lega Informatica, with the collaboration of the publishing house JCE. JCE informed readers about computer radio programming through some industry magazines and provided part of the software for the broadcast. Sandro Petrone, who at that time was part of the curators of “Un certo discorso”, also contributed to the creation of Radiosoftware, taking care of the information part.

The third season of Radiosoftware began on February 7, 1986, again on Fridays at 3:30 p.m. as part of “Un certo discorso”, and continued until June 1986. The program was divided into three parts:

  • “Hard & soft news”: This contained the typical content of a computer magazine, such as listener mail and hardware and software reviews, and made use of the collaboration of print magazines.
  • “Studying with the computer”: This was dedicated to educational software for middle schools, high schools, and conservatories, with the activation of listening centers in various Italian institutions.
  • “Radio + computer science”: An area of research and experimentation on other possible interactions between radio and computer science.

Software transmission continued for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, MSX, BBC Micro, and Apple II computers, with the planned addition of the Olivetti M24 and Macintosh. However, these last two models required an acoustic coupler to receive the software, while for the previous home computers, it was sufficient to connect the radio to the computer. The program encouraged listener participation, re-proposing a special section called “Osservatorio Radiofonico del Software Autoprodotto” (ORSA), which gave space to software created by listeners.

The Evolution of Radiosoftware

Radiosoftware became a standalone program, no longer part of “Un certo discorso” (which ceased on January 1, 1988). At the end of 1986, broadcasts began lasting about an hour, on Saturdays or Sundays at 11 p.m..

Another cycle of Radiosoftware began on March 22, 1987, every Sunday at 11 p.m. for about an hour, continuing until June 1987. Organized in collaboration with the Enrico Fermi Industrial Technical Institute in Rome, this cycle focused on the use of educational software in the classroom, even for non-computer science subjects. Experiments were conducted with program reception centers in 60 Italian schools. The software was developed in the MS-DOS environment, with the possibility of adaptation on other systems such as CP/M.

During this period, a hardware and software interface between the radio and the computer, created by the RAI Research Center in Turin, began to be used. There were also plans to market this interface, at an initial price of around 90,000 lire. The system, standardized by CCIR under the name RAI-Radiosoftware, offered a transmission speed of 4800 bit/s in packets, significantly faster than the previous direct recording on cassette, and used biphase modulation. The hardware connected to the RS-232 port of the computer and was independent of the operating system; to support different computers, it was sufficient to change the relative management software. For some machines, such as the Olivetti M24 and M28, it was possible to create the interface as an internal card.

In 1988, the program was broadcast on Saturdays at 10 a.m., lasting one hour, until about July. Episodes dedicated to educational software continued, always in collaboration with the ITIS Enrico Fermi and now also with the Ministry of Public Education.

In 1989, Radiosoftware was broadcast every day from Monday to Friday at 7:45 p.m., but only for 10 minutes, between February and June. The broadcasts were based on the MS-DOS operating system. A new cycle was planned for the beginning of 1990, but there is no confirmation of the existence of other editions on national channels after 1989.

The RAI Research Center also successfully experimented with the possibility of transmitting the Radiosoftware signal through television, using the second carrier of stereo audio when this, in a monaural program, was not used.

The Radiosoftware method, a few years after its introduction, was gradually flanked and superseded by telesoftware, a system for transmitting software via Televideo. Rai telesoftware, defined in collaboration with the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Ministry of Public Education, offered software for educational purposes and for the visually impaired.

The subsequent spread of the internet made the distribution of computer software via radio or television obsolete. The data encoding of the Radiosoftware system was reused several years later by Rai for the development of the Italian Traffic Message Channel.

The Reception of Radiotext and Radiosoftware

The Radiotext experiment was a great success in terms of audience, which led to the birth of the more lasting Radiosoftware. The newspaper “La Repubblica”, at the time of the second series (the first with the title Radiosoftware), described the program as an experiment worthy of interest for those who owned one of the computers for which the software was broadcast. However, the need for good reception quality was pointed out in order to be able to record working programs. A good radio was needed, and it was necessary to carefully follow the technical guidelines provided in each episode.

According to a survey conducted by the magazine “Sperimentare con l’elettronica e il computer” in November 1985, after the second edition of the program, Radiosoftware was not well known among users. Those who had listened to it considered it a good idea, especially for the availability of free software and for its role as a reassuring guide in the use of computers. The highlighted flaws were the large parts of the broadcast dedicated to software for computers other than one’s own or to software that was not interesting to the user, and the quality problems of the recording, which did not always give working results.