1993 is often marked as the year the Internet “went mainstream.” The Mosaic web browser (released by NCSA in January) [link] was the first to make the World Wide Web accessible to ordinary people—images inline with text, point-and-click navigation, bookmarks. It spread like wildfire. Tim Berners-Lee’s protocols (HTTP, HTML) had been around for a couple of years, but Mosaic lit the match.

Until then, the Internet was largely academic and government-funded. Companies like AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy were still running their own walled gardens, but suddenly the “open” Internet looked much more attractive.

1993 saw the launch of the first graphical web magazines (e.g. Wired’s early web presence, the Internet Underground Music Archive). Newsgroups (Usenet) were still the beating heart of online culture: technical forums, fandoms, flame wars, and the infamous “Eternal September” (AOL unleashing new users onto Usenet).

Fewer than 100 websites existed at the start of 1993. By year’s end, there were over 600—an exponential curve was beginning. Internet users worldwide numbered around 14 million. Compare that to billions today. In hindsight, 1993 feels like the “hinge year.”

Before: academics, researchers, and a few hackers exchanging text. After: browsers, commercialization, and the first glimpse of the Internet as a global medium for culture, business, and daily life.

In 1993 I had been working for Learfield Communications for eight years. The company operated regional radio networks throughout the midwest and there wasn’t much interest in what most of my co-workers referred to as “that Internet thing.” I, however, was smitten and quickly became very annoying on the topic. Over the course of the next five years I pissed away a lot of company resources (money and man-hours).

After retiring in 2012 I made some notes on that period. A half-assed history, if you will. This morning I uploaded those notes to ChatGPT and it came back with a timeline.

1993–1994: Early Signals

• Internet begins morphing into the World Wide Web.
• Learfield explores creating a low-cost alternative to AP for radio affiliates.
• First banner ads appear (Hotwired.com, October 1994).
• A St. Louis company registers MO.net; Learfield doesn’t contest.

1995: First Steps into the Web

• April: University of Missouri demo of Netscape Navigator at Learfield offices.
• Spring: Dan Arnall (journalism) and Allen Hammock (computer science) recruited via MU’s J-School. They form Echo Communications.
• May 22: Clyde Lear memo acknowledges Learfield’s interest in the Internet’s advertising potential.
• May 31: Strategy meeting at Lake of the Ozarks.
• August: Learfield registers Learfield.com.
• September: Mark Cuban calls—his new company AudioNet (formerly Cameron Audio Networks) seeks sports streaming rights.
• October 31: Clyde Lear memo proposes $80,000 equipment + $35,000 annual ops for live Internet broadcasts.
• November 6: Memo announces contract with Echo Communications, plan to stream nine university sports broadcasts.
• November 10: Meeting with Mark Cuban in Kansas City—he offers 10% of AudioNet for ~$500k–$1M (Learfield passes).

December:

• Agreement signed with AudioNet for Internet distribution of Learfield sports programming.
• Clyde memo sets Jan 6, 1996 as launch date for live basketball streams.
• New Learfield LLC formed for Internet project, named Straylight.

1996: Going Live

• January 6: First live basketball broadcast streamed on the Internet.
• January 13: Exclusive live Internet coverage of Republican GOP candidate debate from Iowa.
• Spring: Radio Iowa launches Campaign Countdown for caucus coverage.
• July 1: Official launch of Straylight as its own company (Learfield majority-owned, with employee investors).
• July: Arnall, Hammock, and Steve Mays visit Mark Cuban’s Dallas warehouse operation.
• Learfield begins registering domains for all networks.

1997: Expansion & Relocation

• July 1: Straylight opens new office in Seattle to be closer to Internet startup scene.
• Allen Hammock appears on The Derry Brownfield Show.
• Clyde Lear’s October memo highlights products: Gamecruiser (audio, chat, stats, fan pages) and AdActive (interactive ad platform).
• November 12: Clyde memo notes Straylight’s new basketball website, AdActive still in development but sales weak.

1998: The End of Straylight

• July: Straylight stops working on Gamecruiser; focuses entirely on AdActive (“intelligent ad banner”).
• October: Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner visit Learfield in Jefferson City.
• December: Straylight ceases operations (just months before Cuban sells Broadcast.com to Yahoo! for $5.7B in April 1999).

That’s the arc: from cautious curiosity in 1993 → bold launch of Straylight in 1996 → expansion to Seattle in 1997 → shutting down by end of 1998.