ANTIC Interview 345 - Youth Advisory Board: Musa Mustafa - a podcast by Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold

 

This is the fifth in a series of episodes featuring interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. If you're just joining us: In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting 20 kids, aged 14 though 18, from around the U.S. to share their opinions about computers, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. 

 

This is an interview with Musa Mustafa, who was one of those kids. 

 

A March 25, 1983 article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel by Loretta Noffsinger said:

 

"Computers without keyboards, toys that come to life at the sound of a child's voice and programs that shoulder the chores of thank-you letters — that's what the whiz kids see in the future. They envision a computer disguised within a toy to tell youngsters about the workings of the universe and others 'far beyond man’s imagination.' And Atari is listening to them."

 

Later in the article, Noffsinger wrote: "Musa Mustafa, 15, says he hopes to design an astronomy program to chart the location of stars and planets at specific times ‘so that I can easily track them down in a telescope.' The Walnut sophomore, who will skip his junior year at Rowland High School, also envisions computers designing computers. This year, they're helping him make a movie about the 1984 Olympics. A combination of computer animation and film, the endeavor will 'open a new category' in the Los Angeles International Film Exposition this spring, he says."

 

My interview with Musa took place on April 26, 2018. In it, we discuss Ted Kahn, whom I previously interviewed.