# RePlay Magazine Podcast - Eddie Adlum Part 2

**Source:** Replay Magazine Podcast  
**Type:** podcast_episode  
**Published:** 2025-10-10  
**Duration:** 33m 21s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** Buzzsprout-17985624

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## Analysis

Eddie Adlum, founder and publisher of Replay Magazine, reflects on his 50-year career covering the arcade and amusement industry. He discusses coining the term "video game," witnessing the rise and fall of arcade gaming in the 1970s-80s, the impact of home video on the industry, and Replay's survival as a print magazine. He recounts relationships with industry legends like Nolan Bushnell, shares stories about pinball and jukebox operators, and expresses cautious optimism about pinball's recent resurgence.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Eddie Adlum coined the term 'video game' in Replay Magazine as an alternative to 'television games' or 'TV games' — _Eddie Adlum directly states this in response to interviewer's question about coining the term. He explains his reasoning: 'And I said to myself one day you know this business about TV games television games we've got to come up with something better than that like jukebox works... I said video game type away it stuck that's how that happened.'_
- [HIGH] Replay Magazine has only raised subscription price $5 in its 50-year history — _Eddie Adlum states: 'Do you know that we only raised the subscription price $5 in the 50 years we're in business?' He explains the recent increase to $65 was because Playmeet's book cost $60._
- [MEDIUM] The video game market crashed on June 5th, 1982, very abruptly — _Eddie attributes this quote to Chad McMurdy of San Francisco: 'Eddie, on June 5th, 1982, at about five in the afternoon, the video game fell off the cliff.' Eddie confirms: 'I had just started in the business, and that's exactly what happened.'_
- [MEDIUM] Nintendo invented home video with the Alligator clips device that connected to TV sets — _Eddie states: 'And you know what? It happens, you know. what home video was blamed remember what we call home video do you know who invented home video nintendo no oh give me a break he did he invented corn up and he invented home with the alligator clips you put on the back of your tv set'_
- [MEDIUM] Space Invaders sold over 300,000 machines with knockoffs; Mrs. Pac-Man sold 200,000 machines — _Eddie states: 'space invaders itself they say so with knockoffs over 300 000 machines that's an insane amount of machinery' and 'Mrs Pac-Man you know better than the pac-man 200 000 machines sold'_
- [HIGH] About 25 companies jumped to make Pong knockoffs after the original's success — _Eddie recalls: 'About 25 companies by the way, jumped the game. Knocked it off... Everybody and his brother was making a Pong. With different names of course.'_
- [HIGH] Billboard magazine offered to buy Replay Magazine during the video game era, but Eddie's wife Tippi declined the sale — _Eddie recounts: 'Billboard's president And the publisher of Amusement Business, Howie Lander, his name was, the two of them took me and my wife out to lunch here in Hollywood... And my wife, Tippi, said, I don't want to sell it. I love what I do for a living.'_
- [MEDIUM] The record industry saw a 50% drop in revenue after video games emerged — _Eddie cites a conversation with Sheila Schlender from Columbia Records: 'says half they own you epic records all in columbia' about how much revenue was lost due to video games._
- [HIGH] Pinball machines are making a comeback with manufacturers like Jersey Jack and American Pinball — _Eddie states: 'the pinballs are coming back really coming back as you know we got Jersey Jack in there and American Pinball I hope for them and others and thank you Gary thank you he never gave up'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I want to thank you for making me and my family financially secure for the rest of our lives."
> — **Eddie Adlum**, Early in interview, recounting conversation with Nolan Bushnell at Hall of Fame dinner
> _Demonstrates the profound financial impact Nolan Bushnell's video game innovation had on those in the industry, particularly those who covered it early. Also shows Eddie's gratitude and willingness to acknowledge others' contributions._

> "I love you."
> — **Nolan Bushnell**, At Hall of Fame dinner, in response to Eddie's thanks
> _Eddie notes Bushnell 'had a few' drinks, suggesting emotional honesty. Illustrates the personal relationships and mutual respect between industry pioneers._

> "Eddie, you don't go into a bar to watch television. You go in the bar to promote a dame and get drunk."
> — **A.D. Palmer, World's That Said It Best**, When discussing why video jukeboxes failed
> _Encapsulates a fundamental misunderstanding by manufacturers of consumer behavior and venue dynamics. Explains why several video jukebox concepts (Scopatone, Cinebox, Filmotech, etc.) failed._

> "because they see the gold at the end of the rainbow and they don't count the steps between now and then"
> — **Mickey Greenman**, When discussing failed video jukebox concepts
> _Articulates a key business principle about why entrepreneurs chase proven-wrong ideas despite evidence of failure._

> "over in Japan, space invaders is better than steamed rice"
> — **Stan Jiraki**, When discussing Space Invaders' phenomenon success in Japan
> _Illustrates the massive cultural impact and addiction-like appeal of Space Invaders in Japan in the late 1970s._

> "the video game fell off the cliff"
> — **Chad McMurdy**, June 5th, 1982, describing the sudden industry collapse
> _Captures the abruptness and severity of the 1983 video game crash, marking a pivotal industry moment._

> "Eddie, I got nothing to do. Says the most important man in the coin machine business."
> — **Bill O'Donnell**, Phone conversation after being denied a casino license
> _Reflects the melancholy of a legendary operator forced out by regulatory action despite his industry prominence._

> "I'm in the jukebox business. Right?"
> — **Eddie Adlum**, Discussing the transition from jukebox to video game coverage
> _Marks the identity shift Eddie experienced as the industry transformed around him and his publication._

> "he needed a job that's his famous line I needed a job and he loves to talk and all he likes you know what he likes to do likes to talk and he likes to make pinball machines"
> — **Eddie Adlum**, When discussing Gary Stern and American Pinball's resurgence
> _Captures Gary Stern's motivation as rooted in practical necessity and passion rather than pure profit motive, explaining his persistence in reviving pinball._

> "You know who had the stories? Was Jerry Monday? Did you ever hear of him?"
> — **Interviewer (Andy?)**, Late in conversation, suggesting other interview subjects
> _Shows interest in connecting with other industry historians and personalities for potential future podcast episodes._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Eddie Adlum | person | Founder and publisher of Replay Magazine, 50-year veteran of arcade and amusement industry journalism. Coined the term 'video game.' Age 86 at time of interview. |
| Nolan Bushnell | person | Co-founder of Atari, pioneer of video games. Inducted into AAMA Hall of Fame. Purchased Abigail Folger Mansion in Portola Valley, San Francisco and hosted distributor photo op there. |
| Al Alcorn | person | Programmer of Pong at Atari under Nolan Bushnell. Credited as programmer of Pong and similar primitive video games. |
| Ralph Baer | person | Pioneer who worked on primitive video games in a lab, predating Pong. |
| Replay Magazine | product | Trade publication covering arcade and amusement industry. Founded by Eddie Adlum 50 years before this interview (approx. 1974). Survives in print despite internet competition. |
| Atari | company | Video game manufacturer founded by Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn. Created Pong and early home video systems. Eddie worked with their distributors. |
| Gary Stern | person | Leader of American Pinball company. Son of Sam Stern. Credited by Eddie with never giving up on pinball. Passionate about pinball machine manufacturing. |
| Sam Stern | person | Father of Gary Stern. Iconic figure in coin machine business. Met Eddie on Broad Street (Coin Machine Row) in Philadelphia. Worked at Iris C.A. Robinson Company. |
| Jersey Jack | company | Modern pinball manufacturer helping drive pinball resurgence. Mentioned alongside American Pinball as part of pinball's comeback. |
| American Pinball | company | Modern pinball manufacturer helping drive pinball resurgence, founded/led by Gary Stern. |
| Cashbox Magazine | product | Trade publication covering music and arcade industries. Eddie worked as California sales manager when it had 18-20 full pages of ads weekly. Later closed by George Albert. |
| Billboard Magazine | product | Trade publication that attempted to acquire Replay but was declined by Eddie's wife. Still publishing but struggling compared to historical peak. |
| Tippi Adlum | person | Eddie's wife. Declined Billboard's acquisition offer of Replay Magazine, saying 'I love what I do for a living.' |
| Chicago Coin | company | Arcade and pinball manufacturer known for making pinball games. Mentioned as maker of 'Twinkie' game that Eddie owned. |
| Midway | company | Arcade game manufacturer that made rifle games and other arcade cabinets, part of the early arcade business. |
| George McCullough | person | First guest on Replay Magazine podcast. Writer for Replay for 35+ years. 'Smart cookie' according to Eddie. Brother Terry died young. |
| Mickey Greenman | person | Wrote for Replay Magazine briefly. Made insightful business observations that helped Eddie understand industry dynamics. Knows everybody in the industry. |
| Art Dadis | person | From Jersey, used to build pool tables at United Billiards. Old friend of Eddie's who called with early tip about Pong's success. |
| Lou Walcher | person | Pinball distributor in San Francisco. Provided early report to Art Dadis about Pong's success generating money in arcades. |
| Sheila Schlender | person | Employee at Columbia Records. Told Eddie that the record business saw 50% revenue drop after video games emerged. |
| Bill O'Donnell | person | Legendary coin machine operator from Atlantic City era. Denied gambling casino license by government. Father of young Billy O'Donnell who fenced with Eddie. |
| Ira Dettelman | person | Sales manager at Iris C.A. Robinson Company distributor in Los Angeles. Son of owner Al Dettelman. 'Everybody knows Ira.' |
| Joey Kamenkow | person | Inducted into AAMA Hall of Fame alongside Nolan Bushnell. Hosted Hall of Fame dinner where Eddie thanked Bushnell. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** History of video games and arcade industry, Coining the term 'video game', Rise and fall of arcade gaming (1970s-1980s), Eddie Adlum's 50-year career in amusement industry journalism, Replay Magazine's history and survival in print media, Pinball resurgence and modern manufacturers
- **Secondary:** Jukebox and pinball operator culture and history, Impact of video games on music/record industry, Failed video jukebox concepts (Scopatone, Cinebox, Filmotech, etc.), Organized crime and mob involvement in jukebox business

### Sentiment

**Positive** (0.78) — Eddie is nostalgic and celebratory about his 50-year career and the industry's evolution. He expresses pride in Replay's survival and longevity. While he acknowledges industry downturns (1982 video game crash, record industry decline), he maintains an optimistic, reflective tone. He's genuinely grateful for the interviewer's time and the opportunity to share stories. The tone is warm, conversational, and appreciative of the industry and the people in it.

### Signals

- **[historical_signal]** Eddie Adlum recounts the origins of video games, naming Nolan Bushnell and Al Alcorn as key figures, and details the Pong boom and subsequent 25+ companies making knockoffs. (confidence: high) — Direct firsthand account from early industry observer; corroborated by known industry history.
- **[historical_signal]** Eddie claims he coined the term 'video game' as an alternative to 'TV games' or 'television games' and published it in Replay Magazine. He analogizes to how 'jukebox' became standard terminology. (confidence: high) — Direct first-person account of deliberate naming decision: 'And I said to myself one day you know this business about TV games television games we've got to come up with something better than that... I said video game type away it stuck that's how that happened.'
- **[market_signal]** Video game arcade market experienced abrupt collapse on June 5th, 1982, per anecdotal account from industry figure Chad McMurdy. Eddie confirms the timing matches his industry entry. (confidence: medium) — Quoted attribution to Chad McMurdy, San Francisco operator; Eddie confirms accuracy of timeframe.
- **[sentiment_shift]** Shift in Eddie's industry prominence and recognizability. He notes that at early shows, distributors and operators constantly engaged him, but by recent years at spring shows, very few people acknowledge him despite his 50-year tenure. (confidence: high) — Eddie reflects: 'There was a time when I went to a show that I couldn't walk 60 without somebody grabbing me today if I go to the spring show that your guys and the AAMI put on I can walk from the front of the hall to the back wall nobody stops me.'
- **[business_signal]** Replay Magazine has survived 50 years largely by maintaining conservative pricing ($5 raise over entire period) and keeping operational costs (printer, postal, paper) manageable. Eddie credits the magazine's value and reader loyalty. (confidence: high) — Eddie states: 'Do you know that we only raised the subscription price $5 in the 50 years we're in business?' and describes current pricing strategy and cost pressures.
- **[industry_signal]** Organized crime associations damaged the reputation of jukebox and arcade operators historically. Eddie references 60 Minutes segment on mob ownership of jukeboxes and how it affected public perception of the industry. (confidence: high) — Eddie recounts letter writing to 60 Minutes/Mike Wallace to defend the industry against mob stereotypes and his personal experience watching the segment from his basement.
- **[design_innovation]** Multiple attempts to introduce video/film jukeboxes (Scopatone, Cinebox, Filmotech, Discotech) all failed because operators and venue owners misunderstood consumer bar behavior. A.D. Palmer captured the core insight: people go to bars to socialize, not watch TV. (confidence: high) — Eddie catalogs: 'Panorama, Scopatone, Cinebox... Filmotech, Discotech... None of them work. Nobody wants to play them.' A.D. Palmer explains: 'You don't go into a bar to watch television. You go in the bar to promote a dame and get drunk.'
- **[market_signal]** Record industry experienced approximately 50% revenue loss following emergence of video games as entertainment competition. Columbia Records, Epic Records reported significant declines. (confidence: medium) — Eddie cites conversation with Sheila Schlender at Columbia Records about revenue halving. Also notes impact on Cashbox, Billboard, and Record World publications.
- **[product_strategy]** Billboard Magazine attempted to acquire Replay Magazine during the early video game boom but was declined by Eddie's wife Tippi. Eddie speculates Billboard's management later decided against pursuing the acquisition independently. (confidence: high) — Eddie recounts lunch meeting with Billboard president and Amusement Business publisher Howie Lander. Wife Tippi's response: 'I don't want to sell it. I love what I do for a living.'
- **[sentiment_shift]** Eddie expresses cautious optimism about pinball's resurgence through Jersey Jack and American Pinball, specifically crediting Gary Stern's persistence despite lack of financial motivation. (confidence: high) — Eddie states: 'the pinballs are coming back really coming back as you know we got Jersey Jack in there and American Pinball I hope for them and others... he's not in it for the money i don't think he ever was and he honors his father.'
- **[personnel_signal]** George McCullough has written for Replay Magazine for 35+ years, identified as first guest on Replay podcast. Eddie describes him as a 'smart cookie.' (confidence: high) — Eddie states: 'George McCullough 35 years he wrote for you' and mentions George was his first podcast guest selection.
- **[content_signal]** Replay Magazine launched a podcast featuring long-form interviews with industry figures. First episode was George McCullough; the Eddie Adlum interview was split into at least two episodes due to length and content. (confidence: high) — Interviewer explains: 'The initial interview was so entertaining and just kept going on for over two hours that we broke it up into two episodes.'

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## Transcript

 Well you can get him Frankenstein, you can get him Frankenstein, you can save that girl of mine, you can get him Frankenstein. Hi everybody, welcome to the Replay Podcast. Today is part two of our interview with Eddie Adler, publisher and founder of Replay Magazine. The initial interview was so entertaining and just kept going on for over two hours that we broke it up into two episodes. And episode two promises to be just as fascinating. We really appreciate you tuning in. If you have any comments, drop them below in the chat. And enjoy episode two with Eddie Adlam. You've been in every phase, the ups and downs of the industry. And shortly after you started replay, Nolan Bushnell and his friends introduced the video game, and you were right there. You coined the name video game, if I remember correctly? Yeah. And how do you recall those years where it was just crazy town and everybody was buying everything? That's a great question. I'll abridge it by saying something. I made it into the very first Hall of Fame crowd that the AAMA and so on put up a couple of shows ago and of course one of them was Nolan and afterwards Joey Kamenkow who was also inducted into the Hall of Fame hosted everybody to dinner that night at the convention across the street at whatever that Italian restaurant is right across from the Las Vegas Convention Center. The whole bunch of us had our own room and we're all eating and stuff. I'm getting old and I start to get tired. We were all shooting back and forth, stories, war stories, everything. I says, Nolan said, like you are now. Nolan sat at the other side of the table from me. I says, Bushy, I got to tell you something before I go. I always wanted to do this and I have a chance now. He says, what? I said, I want to thank you for making me and my family financially secure for the rest of our lives. And he said something crazy. He says, I love you. Yeah, I think he had a few. And I left. And I'm happy I did it because, flashback, I'm at Cashbox. The phone rings. It's a guy named Art Dadis from Jersey. He used to build pool tables, United Billiards. An old friend of mine, Artie had great stories. Artie says, Ed, and I can imitate him, come from the South, Ed, I just talked to Lou Walcher. He was a thing in the industry in San Francisco, a ballet distributor. I just talked to Lou. He says there's a game out there that has a television set in it, and the people love it, making money. So I forget the name of it, ping pong or some darn thing. Oh, I says, I'll have to look it up. The next thing that happens is they get an ad in that cash box, just a quarter page ad, Pong. I said, how is that? And it wasn't Atari, it was something else what they called themselves, I forget. Well, anyway, I did some research, as you're supposed to, and I found out what it was. And I found out what Atari was. And I found out there was this good Mormon boy named Nolan Bushnell who ran the joint and a guy named Al Alcorn who programmed this thing similar to what was a primitive video game at the time that a guy by the name of Ralph Baer had been fooling with in a lab. At any rate, out came Pong. The thing was dedicated to only do that one thing, and that was it, just play Pong. But Nolan and Alcorn struck genius because the game, as you know, was a two-player, incredibly competitive, easy to understand and got harder to play as you went along. So Pong opened the door. And I was writing because everybody, about 25 companies by the way, jumped the game. Knocked it off. That was where the words first came from. About 25. Everybody and his brother was making a Pong. With different names of course. and I was writing about these things on the typewriter of course in the magazine and I said to myself one day you know this business about TV games television games we've got to come up with something better than that like jukebox works some people don't like the name but that's what the world calls music box pinball machines some don't like that we used to call them pin games now we call them pinballs and I says oh you know billboard calls the movie jukeboxes which all died a horrible death they call the movie jukeboxes audio video machines video that sounds nice i said video game type away it stuck that's how that happened and uh people sometimes say would you get any money for that i says no i says neither did the guy that invented the word boat get any money for that it's language what are you kidding it's a breathing thing language. So as it went along, everybody, as you know, and his brother, including Rothola, got into the video game business. And of course, everybody who was not in the video game business wanted to get into it too, because you see, this street is paved with gold. And indeed it was. Indeed it was from about, oh, I don't know, they made money during the mid 70s. And then in 1978, came the real thunderclap. And that was Space invaders out of Japan. And this was just out of its mind what was going on. There were stores in Japan, Stan Jiraki told me this, he says they were vegetable stores, throwing out the vegetables, moving in machines, you know, instant arcade. He says it was nothing but money. He says, Eddie, he said the greatest thing. He says, over in Japan, space invaders is better than steamed rice. so here we go and the rest of that is pleasant history the greats you know the namco games you know gallagher and the the pac-man my god you know mrs pac-man you know better than the pac-man 200 000 machines sold space invaders itself they say so with knockoffs over 300 000 machines that's an insane amount of machinery and an insane amount of money collected on location that was brought to banks, turned into zeros, lots of zeros. The guys went nuts. But alas, nothing is forever. And it closed rather abruptly. I think it was Chad McMurdy of the McMurdy brothers in San Francisco and Los Angeles who said, Eddie, on June 5th, 1982, at about five in the afternoon, the video game fell off the cliff. That's what he said. You know, I had just started in the business, and that's exactly what happened. Yeah, yeah. I mean, just one day it was there, the next day it was not. Yeah, and then we went around wringing our hands saying, why did this happen? Could we have prevented it? And all of this. And you know what? It happens, you know. what home video was blamed remember what we call home video do you know who invented home video nintendo no no no oh give me a break he did he invented corn up and he invented home with the alligator clips you put on the back of your tv set oh yeah genie lipkin was a sales manager up at atari nolan was of course nolan joe keenan worked for him uh some of the Ray, her name Williams and we all went up there all the distributors early on in Atari history They were the new Seabird only they were making games And AMOA then MOA saw all of this going on and says we got to put an A in front of our name for amusement And they did. And it was just like, we went up there. Nolan had bought the Abigail Folger Mansion up in the Portola Valley in San Francisco. the place had I don't know 85 rooms something insane it was crazy it was an upstairs downstairs thing it had a part of the house you couldn't see unless you went through a secret door and Nolan bought this joint and all the distributors went up there and I remember so clearly uh George Opperman was their photographer at Atari and and Bushy got all the distributors together for a photograph and and we shot the show the machine the picture from the top of a roof some tennis building or something down there. I remember it was down. And George Opperman is at the camera, and he says, Eddie, do you know these people? And Randy, I knew almost every one of them. There was at least 50 distributors down there, almost every one of them. And if I looked at that picture today, maybe I'd catch half. And I'd say, what's his name again? Like, I can't even remember the founder of MOA. At any rate, I would say, John Brady, John. What? Move a little bit to your right. You're hitting. Okay. Everybody, please make sure you can see the camera because the camera is looking to see you. So, you know, right. They were all down there. They were all down there. And that picture still exists on the back of one of the replay ads. The tower used to always be on the back cover of Replay. So, you know, video was everything, you know. And I was one of the ones who stupidly thought that it wouldn't stay, that it would stay forever. Anyway, bottom line is Replay has a place. The magazine business in general, like the newspaper business, isn't doing so good, okay? There's exceptions. It's Vanity Fair, of course, the New York Times, which is not failing. But you're struggling, okay? And that is because the Internet. And that is because you can turn the machine on and you can see the important stuff that's going on. In our blog, we have one of these newsletters. There's other newsletters. There's that guy from Cambria, California. I figured he's got some sort of a thing running. And that's fine. That's good. But you know what, magazine, you can pick it up, you can put it down, anytime you want. You can read anything or you can read everything. You can read nothing. You can look at the ads. You can see what's going on the chart. You can look in the blue pages in the back to see if anybody's selling used equipment that you might want. You can do this, you can do that, but you know what you end up doing? You know more, you know more after you looked at a replay every month than you did before you picked it up. And that's what we do, and we do it straight. And that's what we're proud of in this 50th anniversary that we're celebrating, as you and I speak to each other. And I'll shut up now. And if you believe that, I'll tell you another fairy tale. No, I mean, I keep it right here. I love that cover, too. Right here on my desk. You always need to find something. What's the future for Replay? How are we going to do this 10, 20, 30 years from now? Well, the people who are doing it now will continue to do it when I'm dead, I hope. And I'm 86, you know, and that hospital just reminded me of something. You know, death isn't some thing in the future. It's a reality, and it happens, and it will happen to me. And all I do really right now is I do the business parts, okay, the financial aspect. I do that. You know, taxes, licenses, crap, this, that. You know, they're paying the bills, paying the payroll. We have some fun bills, like printer bills. We have some fun bills, like the post office bill. They love to raise, raise, raise, raise. Do you know that we only raised the subscription price $5 in the 50 years we're in business? Really? Five bucks. And do you want to know why I did it? Why? Because Playmeet was selling their book at $60. And I said, my book is better, so we're charging $65. But that's an admission, but that's a true story. But today, $65 in today's money is what? What? $15 in those money? No. So at any rate, yeah. And the same thing with the ads. Barry says, what do you think? I says, I think we're going to keep the price. What do you think? I think we're going to keep the price. What do you think? I think we're going to keep the price. And you want to know why? I keep the door open with this money, with this price. Door's open. if the day comes when the post office the printer and all of that crap oh let's not forget the paper merchant okay these guys they raise their prices to the point where you have to raise the ad price and i hope that people will say well it's about time they did it it makes sense i hope anyway again i don't want to run an ad on replay i just want to answer your question it's the replay podcast go ahead okay it's true you know i didn't see i keep seeing the word replay written up on the wall yet oh yeah it's uh it's our little oh i i like terry's i like when i terry and i have a love-hate relationship you know i mean who does it with that guy right let's be honest he's he's just a piece of work he's just a piece of work when we used to go to the uh the row conventions years ago all right uh they used to uh first the big thing was the new phonograph right see i use the word phonograph. Today's jukebox is not a phonograph. It doesn't play. But back then when they made phonographs, Ro, they used to have a big deal every year to see the new one. You know, clap, clap, clap. Joel Friedman, Jerry Gordon, all those guys who get out there and dress like women and walk around and have a good time. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a that's a way to do it. But Terry also was like me. He was only interested in the jukebox. He wasn't interested in the vending part that Roe had. Roe made, I don't know if you know it, or you might remember, full-line vending at one time. Everything, soda machines, milk machines, this, that, and the other thing, they made all that. So that would come after the jukebox part of the presentation, and Terry and I would go to the bar every time. We would go, him and me, no other buddies around, and we'd talk, and we'd do this, we'd do that. I remember once he borrowed a stamp, I bugged him about it, but I knew his background from Capitol Records. He wasn't too verbose about that, by the way. Terry was with the promotion department of Capitol Records, and he worked with a guy named Bill Valenziano there. And Bill Valenziano, when I worked for Cashbox, was a friend of mine, and I got in a deal with him and lost some serious money. And Terry left to do this. So how's Bill Valenziano? You see him lately? I says, put your hand down and don't talk about that guy, okay? But it wasn't Valenzuela's fault. He fell on some hard times. Record business, that's a fickle trade. You talk about fickle. I left Cashbox when we were doing about 18 to 20 full pages of ads a weekly issue. And I was the salesman out here in California. And a guy named Marty was in New York. And it was fine. It was good money. The boss was doing fine. We had a house in Palm Springs, the whole shot. And then he and I had our difference. And then came video games. And Randy, inside of those few years, the record business fell in half money wise of what it had made before video. And I know that from Columbia Records, a good friend of mine named Sheila Schlender, who worked there, says, Eddie you know how much money we made last year since those things came out What He said she says half they own you epic records all in columbia come on big big deal these depressed records up in uh santa maria california the whole shot she uh she told me something i wasn't aware of they were really on their knees the record business and what did that do to cash box and billboard and record world first of all record will quit right away they saw the handwriting on the wall uh cash box struggled billboard is still struggling finally after many years george albert closed cash box and there was billboard left billboard is nowhere near what it was it's but it's still there and i don't know how they make the money but they don't they wanted to buy replay by the way during the video yeah they're they're president because billboard had a lot of magazines including amusement business if you remember that one that was one of my competitors they went billboard's president And the publisher of Amusement Business, Howie Lander, his name was, the two of them took me and my wife out to lunch here in Hollywood. I says, what's up? And the guy says, we'd like to buy your magazine. And I went, oh, is that right? And my wife, Tippi, said, I don't want to sell it. I love what I do for a living. And, you know, to my wife, I wasn't going to argue, but I have to tell you something. I really thought about it. I thought, how cool would this be? I'm only in business a few years. and build wood of all people. The people I used to compete against with Cashbox wants to buy my magazine. And no, she said no. They never tried an independent shot at it. I think they probably did their homework. And I think when they finally came up with it, whatever decision it was, the video game was on the slide down, you know. So there it was. But we survived. We survived. Redemption now, you know. cranes thanks to guys like you all over the place i remember when cranes were illegal i do back in jerry's back in the day and everybody went on the rotary machine for the ronson cigarette lighter in the middle which was probably glued down but we didn't care and then the claw would get around it squeeze you get out of it and then pop more fun i know all right i'm gonna play again in month of dime all the way over to the to the ronson cigarette lighter yeah asbury park before uh humpy what's his name come on the boss oh bruce uh springsteen oh yeah yeah okay sorry before bruce hung a guitar around his neck we were playing in the arcades in in asbury park and ocean grove yeah yeah i love the arcades, Andy. Randy, I love the smell. I love the smell of the wooden cabinets, the stuff that was only brought out for the summer and then locked up for the winter, getting moldy and smellier. And out they come, the Chicago coin games, the midway rifle games, the Seabird gun. Ah, bang. Yeah, the bear gun. A lot of people make nothing but money with those things. 25 cents get into booths Sam Stern make a record booth and you know what we'd record be four of us in one of his booths 25 cents every filthy word in the english lexicon we would be screaming on top of each other and then the speaker would play it for the whole arcade and we'd be on the floor laughing yes more fun anyway i could go on are you uh you ever thought about writing a book? Guys have asked, but I said, excuse me, I said, I'm in publishing business. There's no money in it. And there isn't. It would be a labor of love. It would be a labor of love. Well, it strikes me that we haven't even scratched the surface here. You just have so many great stories, and I'd read it. You know who had the stories? Was Jerry Monday? Did you ever hear of him? Oh, I met Jerry Monday, sure. Yeah, Jerry could tell stories. Alan Weisberg, who runs Apple Photo Boots now. Alan can tell stories. And he should be on stage. He should be on stage because his delivery is pristine. And he can dentalize it, too, which makes it even funnier. Let me tell you about the first time I met Myron Sugarman. He can do that. Now picture this. And you'll paint this picture of him and Sugar, you know, which was really my father's name. You know, that's another thing. I knew the Greeks. I knew Shugie. I knew Bill O'Donnell, Bowie. The government wouldn't give them a license to open a park place, the gambling casino in Jersey City, in Atlantic City. Yeah. I called him once. I says, this is after we got out of Bowie. I says, Bill, Lewis Boasberg from New Orleans wrote this glorious tribute to you. And it's very embarrassing. Did you see it? He says, yeah, he mailed me a copy. I says, can I run it? He says, go ahead if you want. I says, okay. And he says, how are you doing? He says, I'm okay. I says, I didn't mean to bother you. He says, Eddie, I got nothing to do. Says the most important man in the coin machine business. Eddie, I got nothing to do. oh ah bill you know but then he he went the wife went crazy his son and i used to fence young billy o'donnell who ran the pinball he was he was mean but uh but he uh he ended up good ended up a good boy so anyway i can carry on but i'll tell you i knew them then i know I know some now there was a time when I went to a show that I couldn't walk 60 without somebody grabbing me today if I go to the spring show that your guys and the AAMI put on I can walk from the front of the hall to the back wall nobody stops me I don't believe that I would stop you but you would yeah I know but there are very few very few very few and that's okay it's okay but at one time it was just crazy you know and uh fame i was i was a big fish in a small pond and then the small pond became a big pond and we ended up undercover of time with the pac-man guy and we were just i've been in video game business It used to be, I'm in the jukebox business. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see any of those guys? What guys? Those guys. When people ask me that question, I refer them to a program that 60 Minutes of CBS had on the air. I think Harry Reasoner was the spokesman. And it was about the jukebox business in New York City. and if you go into a bar you'll find a jukebox and it's always working but the payphone may not be and why is it always working because the mob owns the jukebox and i got so hot but i grabbed mickey greenman who knows everybody i says that's bullshit he says write write me a letter to the editor and I'll give it to my friend Mike Wallace. You'll do that? He says yes. So we did and I wrote the letter and he gave it to Mike and it was on the air. I was literally playing a Chicago coin pinball in my basement in New York, right? Game called Twinkie. Great game, great game. They made great pins. Sorry Gary, but they did. And I'm flipping away and I look up at the screen and I see my name. I said, Tiffy. She says, what? Come here. What? I said, I'm on television. Look, that's my name. And I caught half the letter. And then Reasoner got back on. Oh, no, Mike Wallace got back on. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Thank you Ed for sending in this letter It was partially redacted I saw them do that They used to do that cover up some stuff I didn write anything wrong I said in a nutshell I don know an industry out there that hasn had an interference from the people you talking about Not one not one But I will tell you something. The industry that I'm in, I love this industry, is full of hardworking guys, many of whom came out of Europe with the idea, I want to be in my own business. I said, they walk around. Some of them are fat. Some of them are skinny. They walk around with heavy coin bags or no coin bags. They're jukebox and game operators, and they're my people. and the next day I got a call from one of them who said I like what you wrote he says thank you end of sermon on that one yeah but yeah I've been asked you've been asked, we've all been asked remember when it was a thing that people thought oh oh oh you know today nobody thinks that anymore But we used to call it the black eye, remember? That was the rat, for sure. Yeah, my father ran for public office one time, and that's what brought him down. They said, you know, he's one of them. That's right. He runs jukeboxes. That's right. I remember that. I was very young. Oh, sure. Yeah. That's what it was. Yeah. We're having fun today, you and me. Yeah. Well, this has been an absolute honor, and I just really appreciate you taking the time and supporting this thing that Key and I came up with. It's been so much fun talking to people like you, but this is the Super Bowl for me. So thank you for giving me a couple hours of your time. Randy, you earned it. It's not like a favor. You earned it. I watched some of the ones you've done, and I love it because I know the guys. I know Gary. I know Terry. yeah who was your first one george mccullough george of course yeah george he was smart cookie george mccullough smart cookie wrote he wrote for me for many years now 35 years he wrote for you yeah oh yeah he's uh yeah i knew his brother terry who died young yeah he was one of the first arcade operators who was like well here i go i called george because i've known george forever and he's a dear friend I said George I need you to be number one here first of all uh because you're you know you're kind of your own little legend in the business second of all I don't know what I'm doing and I need a you know I need a test here and uh so we actually had we actually had to record his twice he was I said I gotta call you back and we gotta do it all over again he goes okay he's a good boy really God love him we've had yes any good good good people in this business so many sharp smart scheming dreaming doers you know just and then and you know one of the guys you don't I'm not sure you don't know Mickey Greenman his name was Mickey wrote for me at the replay for a few minutes he had so many great things he would say and I always remember something about business that he helped me with I says Mickey Matt Hockman who used to work for Roetzer. He just came out with a movie jukebox. I says, don't these people learn? How many are we going to go through? Panorama, Scopatone, Cinebox, my favorite title, you ready? Filmotech, Discotech. Yes, that was the name of the machine. Came out of Philadelphia. Joel Friedman, beating that dead horse to death. The video jukebox, right. The video jukebox that Roe had. None of them work. Nobody wants to play them. A.D. Palmer from World's That Said It Best took the cigar out of his mouth and he says, Eddie, you don't go into a bar to watch television. You go in the bar to promote a dame and get drunk. Okay? So I said, okay, A.D. You know, A.D. was a smart cookie too. And here's Nat Harkman with this thing. Why? And Mickey Greenman says, because they see the gold at the end of the rainbow and they don't count the steps between now and then. He says, those are the guys that come up with outrageous ideas even though they've been proven wrong and they get hurt. And Matt didn't make it in the movie jukebox business. So I look at that and I say, nice try. Nice try. If it's going to be a TV and a bar, it's going to be a sports game. Preferably it's going to be nothing. If it was up to me, I'd put my foot through it. But I'm not an all-time coin on and take a look at that the dark game take a look at that the pinballs are coming back really coming back as you know we got Jersey Jack in there and American Pinball I hope for them and others and thank you Gary thank you he never gave up he needed a job that's his famous line I needed a job and he loves to talk and all he likes you know what he likes to do likes to talk and he likes to make pinball machines that's what he likes to do and he does that and it's just amazing he's not in it for the money i don't think he ever was and he honors his father i remember sam first time i met sam was in the street in philadelphia broad street between all those distributors that was coin machine row back then and he was walking up down and said sam hey I says what you doing he says I'm going to the ATE show that was the English show I'm looking for some cleaning fluid you're what I'm talking to the an icon of the coin machine business yeah he says I always get food on myself on an airplane I said well good luck I don't know I don't live here you know I see I'll see you when I see you God bless Sam Stern he was at Iris Ira. C.A. Robinson Company was the big distributor for many years here in Los Angeles. Owned by a guy named Al Dettelman and sales managed by his famous son, Ira Dettelman. Everybody knows Ira. New Ira. And down there they had an open house. It was 5,000 operators. They were just selling video games left and right new and used up in the air up in the air over guys heads i could see it was a cocktail machine coming over hold on watch out watch out get out of there put it down here you get your money take it throw it on the truck and uh here's uh here's sam stern in the middle of all that and i go i says hi sam he said oh yeah yeah what's up you know this you know this and that He says, I don't work the cash box anymore. Oh, what's the matter? I said, I got my own. What? Magazine? I said, yeah. You got one? I gave him one, one of the first ones. And he says, roll the drums. Yeah, I can run an ad in here. Thank you, Sam. I'll be in touch. And Randy, before I run you into the wall with all of this talk, I'll be in touch. If you want to call it quits here, it's okay. Well, I knew we would have at least a couple of episodes. We may end up making three out of this one. Time flies, but it's been wonderful. It's been a highlight for me from a career-wise. And we haven't been great friends, but I've known of you, and you've always been so polite and nice. It's just a real joy to sit here and talk to you for a couple hours. Thank you for saying all those things, and ditto. And thank you to Ingrid for helping us out with the technology. And you can thank Key for some of these bullets, including Crazy Leslie. God love them. I made him say this on the blog. All right. Appreciate you, Andy. Thank you very much. Bye-bye, Randy. Take care. Game over.

_(Acquisition: groq_whisper, Enrichment: v3)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: e4e5f4da-9c0a-4ad5-a2e9-5198afa79d04*