TWX (magazine)

TWX was a trade magazine published by the Long Lines Department of AT&T Corporation.[1] The magazine first appeared in June 1944 and was published sporadically, ceasing publication in March 1952 after 41 issues.[2]

TWX magazine took its name from the Teletypewriter Exchange Service, which was developed by AT&T Corp. in 1931.[3] The TWX service was sold to Western Union in 1969,[4] but it remained an industry standard until 1981, when it was converted to the Telex II system.

Free subscriptions to TWX magazine were offered to companies that were using AT&T's equipment and services. As such, the content tended to focus less on the technical aspects of telegraph/Teletype operations and more on practical usage in an office environment. Each issue featured industry news, product evaluations, and testimonials from office managers extolling the virtues of the teletypewriter.[2] Although most of the articles were published without a byline, some of the magazine's content has been attributed to science-fiction writer William Tenn, who was working as a technical editor for AT&T's Bell Labs at the time.[5]

Although TWX magazine boasted a circulation of 8,000, most of that was due to its free circulation to AT&T's clients and partners. Few people actually read the magazine, and those that did accused it of being little more than "twenty pages of fluff and advertisements for products with a niche market at best".[2] Although the TWX system itself remained viable for several decades, TWX magazine shut down in March 1952.