ETI was launched by Modern Magazines, a publisher of specialist magazines based in Rushcutters' Bay, Sydney. The magazine was started at the suggestion of Kim Ryrie, the electronics-enthusiast son of Colin Ryrie, who owned the publishing company. They hired Collyn Rivers to be editor, and, uniquely, set up a development laboratory to produce designs for publication. Whereas other magazines in this market relied on designs submitted by freelance amateur designers, ETI's editor could commission cutting-edge designs from the in-house laboratory, which was run to professional standards by Barry Wilkinson. It was the quality of these designs which set ETI apart for its competition, and ensured its success, initially in Australia and then in overseas markets.
The first overseas edition was published by a subsidiary of Modern Magazines and edited and published by Halvor Moorshead for the UK market. Halvor syndicated the magazine in Germany and the Netherlands, and in 1978 entered the North American market with a Canadian Edition. In the Netherlands a translated version was published as "electronica top internationaal" by "Radio Rotor", a mail order company for electronic hobby equipment located in Den Dolder and Amsterdam.
The ETI network offered travel opportunities for its young journalists. Steve Braidwood, who worked on the UK edition as a student in 1973 and joined as assistant editor in 1974, went to Sydney in 1976-77 as acting editor and then to Canada in 1977-1979 as editor and publisher. He was succeeded as editor in Canada by Graham Wideman (see[1]).
The Canadian operation was bought by Halvor Moorshead in 1979, when the Australian company was acquired by Kerry Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. The UK company was sold to Argus Specialist Press (a subsidiary of BET).
