Walkman History 101


Discussing the beginnings of the walkman probably requires a brief look at the audio scene in the ’70s. The audio industry was enjoying success in the growing home stereo market, and the implementation of the transistor for a portable AM band receiver created a pocket radio “boom” in the ’60s which continued well into the ’70s. “Boomboxes” or battery-powered one-piece stereo systems were growing in popularity near the turn of the decade, with sound eminating through two or more loudspeakers. Consumers appreciated the ability to listen to high fidelity sound without being confined to sitting near a home stereo system. Pocket-sized micro and mini-cassette players were also successfully sold by companies like Panasonic, Toshiba and Olympus.

So, was the development of a “personal” stereo system an obvious step in the evolution of audio? Shu Ueyama of Sony cites that this invention was purely accidental. Organizational changes were taking place at Sony in 1979 and the tape recorder division was pressed to market something soon, or risk consolidation. They came up with a small cassette player capable of stereo playback. The invention was born from a tweaked Pressman (Sony’s monaural portable cassette recorder) and a pair of headphones.

Sony chairman and founder Akio Morita heard of the invention and was eager to market it. The final design of the TPS-L2, the personal stereo cassette player was completed on March 24, 1979. Sony then formulated a unique marketing campaign to sell the contraption. But first, what to call it?

The name needed to present the idea of portability, so they considered Stereo Walky. Unfortunately, Toshiba was already using the “Walky” name for their portable radio line. The new product was a descendant of the Pressman so Walkman was proposed next. Senior staff responded to this name with doubts, as it sounded like a Japanse phrase clumsily made English. The name would fly in Japan but the product would be marketed in the US as the Sound-About and in the UK as the Stowaway.

Again, senior staff thought twice about the naming conventions–globally marketing a product with regional labels would prove costly, so Walkman was ambivalently accepted as the name of this new personal stereo system.

The next task was marketing the product. The story behind Sony’s market research was legendary: they didn’t do it! Said Akio Morita in a 1982 Playboy interview, “The market research is all in my head! You see, we create markets.” But how does one convince the public they need a product that they’ve never owned or seen? The first step was to get the word out to people who had influence on the public, like celebrities and people in the music industry. Sony sent Walkmans to Japanese recording artists, tv and movie stars free of charge. They also began an innovative marketing campaign, targeting younger people and active folks. The Walkman was engineered carefully to make it affordable to this market, priced to be around 33,000 yen (Sony was 33 years old at the time. Coincidence?) The imagery Sony successfully used around their Walkman gave the feelings of fun, youth and most importantly, freedom. Their invention allowed one to bring an exceptional listening experience anywhere.

The Walkman craze began in Japan and reached the US by 1980. Other audio companies jumped on the personal stereo bandwagon, and by Spring of 1981, at least two dozen companies were selling similar devices, many of which were marketed with catchy names of their own. Toshiba had their Stereo Walky, Infinity had their Intimate, Panasonic sold their Stereo-To-Go, GE marketed their Escape, and even discount audio producer Craig followed suit with the Soundalong. Styles and colors varied from the Walkman, but several key features were found on early models: two headphone jacks (listen with a friend!) separate left and right channel volume controls, and a neat but impractical “hotline” switch, as Sony called it. Pushing this button turned on an ambient microphone so the listener could hear the noise around him instead of the music. Strangely enough, all of these features disappeared from portables a year or two later.

While one may be tempted to criticize these other companies as Walkman “wannabes,” We should instead appreciate their accomplishments, for together they provided us with what we refer to as the walkman “Golden Age.” A marketing person described this movement accurately. “During any product development,” he said, “the first few years are associated with innovative design and quality.” He’s absolutely right. Many personal stereo products emerged and surpassed the Walkman in terms of features and price. Sanyo’s M5550 was smaller than the Walkman, more durable with its all-metal chassis and contained a variable tape speed dial. Aiwa, owned by Sony since 1969 created a product line initialized by their TPS30, a personal stereo cassette recorder. Akai’s PM-01 had FM tuning capability through the aid of a cassette-shaped radio module. What an incredible concept: in an effort to confine the space of a personal stereo, how can one add features at the same time? The logical, yet nonetheless remarkable idea was to place a radio within an audio cassette chassis and engineer it to send the audio into its cassette player home. Toshiba had the same functionality and offered an AM module, also.

Companies like Infinity worked at sound quality. Their Intimate offered Dolby noise reduction. Koss sold their radio-only Music Box with a set of their well-reputed over-the-ear headphones, and offered circuitry to notify the user when he or she was listening to audio that was “too loud.” High grade stereo component manufacturer Proton even stepped into the ring and sold a model that included some hi-tech circuitry previously available only on $1000+ stereo equipment.

Many groaned after seeing the $150 price tags of Sony and Toshiba and settled for their $20 earphone-clad radios until names like Unic, Randix Audiologic, Craig and Yorx came along cheap personal stereos. Discount manufacturers seized the opportunity during the portable stereo craze. Products similar in shape and functionality (but not necessarily quality) were marketed as the Walkman, using photographs of people on the go, in sneakers, roller skates and on bicycles. Fortunately, these companies made a personal stereo available for everyone.

Competition was strong as throughout the early ’80s and new ideas were popping all of time: Sony feeling the pressure worked on engineering their Walkman line be smaller, while still looking and sounding better. Long Island, New York audio company Mura decided to focus on the radio-only stereo, so they enhanced functionality in their Hi Stepper line. One model even offered TV audio reception. Popular US electronics distributors like Radio Shack, Sears and JC Penney also jumped on the bandwagon by selling their own personal stereos. Overseas audio manufacturers like Grundig and ITT were selling similar portables that rivaled the quality of Japanese brands. JVC announced the “be-all” of portables in 1982: the CQ-F22K. This was the first portable stereo that included all of the features we’re accustomed to having today, like Dolby noise reduction, auto-reverse and AM/FM tuning. Perhaps the most exotic feature offered on a personal stereo at the time was the wireless feature discovered on some gray market Aiwa CS-J1 units. They apparently transmitted an audio signal that would be received by special headphones. Sony offered their affordable Walkman II, or WM-2 in a small, shapely all-metal chassis. This remains the most successful model of all time, selling 2 1/2 million units. By 1983, Everyone was shopping for a personal stereo.

As with any fad, many groups raised concerns with the Walkman. Were we at risk while performing daily activities like driving or walking around town oblivious to the world around us? Would we go deaf or catch brain damage? Would we turn into anti-social creatures, encapsulated in our little personal stereo world? Of course, these concerns didn’t slow the Walkman movement even slightly.


We caught MTV’s tongue-in-cheek airing of “Video Killed the Radio Star,” but teenagers didn’t think twice about strapping on a pair of samarium cobalt headphones and banging their heads to Autograph’s “Turn Up The Radio.” The generation gap widened as young people became “wired.” With the exception of school, many kids spent their waking days with a personal stereo on the hip.

Several initial players in the personal stereo market dropped out as the ’80s endured, but Sony, Aiwa, Toshiba, Sharp, Panasonic and Sanyo thrived. Product lines widened from $25 “disposables” to $200 professional-grade models. Niche models popped up, like Sony’s durable Sports line, and Aiwa’s featured-packed J Series recorders with stereo microphones and wired remote controls. Perhaps Sanyo and Sharp enjoyed the most success with their inexpensive portables, aimed at young and price-conscious buyers. If you were sick of wasting AA batteries, you had solar-powered walkmans available, like Sony’s WM-F107 and Mura’s Sun Stepper. Sony and Panasonic even offered models that contained two cassette drives, so you can listen to one cassette right after another, or dub a copy of an original recording.

We also noticed the blossoming of an industry to provide aftermarket accessories for personal stereos. We’ve all had to buy a second set of headphones at some point, some of us purchased little desktop speakers allowing our little personal stereo to become a home one of sorts. Unitech marketed a cushioned vinyl travel bag for your walkman that contained little stereo speakers inside. Simply pop your unit into it and you’ve got a boombox. Signatech sold a trendy vest that sported loudspeakers on the shoulders and special walkman “pocket” for an audio source.

The walkman craze (note the lower-case “w”, as the name was entered into the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986) continued its run, and prices dipped as functionality rose. By 1985 many models featured graphic equalizers for even better sound, tape direction change and auto-reverse features for ease of use. The average model required two batteries, as opposed to the typical four in 1980. Sony announced a belt-free “direct drive” mechanism for remarkably low wow and flutter (terms that describe the warbling noise in audio cassette playback). Panasonic offered their “Radio Card,” the thinnest pesonal stereo radio ever.

1986 marks the year that we identify the beginning of the end for the walkman, for it was in this year that Sony announced the D-50, a portable audio device that played a new digital medium called the compact disc. The public was eager to hear the “perfect” sound of the CD so they rushed out to grab a “Discman.” Audio companies again followed Sony and began focusing their efforts to this new technology. Walkmans didn’t wane in popularity initially, for all pre-recorded music was available in cassette form and there was no consumer CD recorder at the time. As we approached the turn of the decade, features digital tuning, clocks, alarms, rechargeable batteries, wireless headphones and logic controls. But the walkman novelty had worn off, replaced by the CD and later the mini-disc.

Today, personal stereo cassette players and radios bear little resemblance to their predecessors from years prior. They’re absolutely disposable, averaging $20 in price and offering key features like pastel and chromey colors, rounded edges and clear plastic chassis. Obviously little effort is put into the design or engineering of the walkman, for manufacturers believe the audio cassette is a dying medium, soon to be replaced with the digital technology of hard disks and RAM cards.

This sad state is what drove us to build this site. We hope you can appreciate the obsolete device we call the walkman. It changed our perception of sound and became a cultural icon. It was a gadget with soul.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Boombox Future?

You’re viewing a hopeful vision of the future in portable stereos. Many thanks to Dwayne Colon for dreaming up these amazing designs.


Sophisticated Sony Concept design with twin mini-disc recorders! We’re big fans of the multi-colored digital display.


Bred from good stock, this is the RC-M100, a descendant of the classic JVC RC-M90. This one is improved by offering 10 inch woofers, graphics equalizer and dual cassettes.


Look familiar? This JVC resembles a model from 1983 but has been enhanced with modern-day bells and whistles. Cassettes replaced with mini discs recorders and a 10-band eq. But thankfully, the backlit display for the tape controls remains intact. Indeed, the wood accents are a nice touch.


Say hello to the Holy Grail of tomorrow: Panasonic’s RX-5350 Rev. B. Inspired by the legendary RX-5350 but this one has a digital displays for clock and tuner and yes, a fluorescent display for the equalizer! Don’t rush off to buy one just yet, this is but an idea in Dwayne’s head.


Twenty years have passed and the classic GF-777 has evolved in a big way. Now sporting a matte black finish, digital controls and mini-disc recorders we can only guess the sound is even better than it was. But thankfully the super woofers remain intact so it’s guaranteed to be just as loud.


Ocassionally, companies re-issue products purely for sentimental purposes. This Conion ghettoblaster would be a perfect example. This C100-FXL remains true to the original, only a few enhancements have been made, like 10 inch woofers and a equalizer. Like the red or would you prefer the traditional silver?


Sony walkman fans will remember the legendary Boodo Khan walkman, but imagine that deep bass emanating from this beast! That’s right, it’s the Sony Boodo Khan in boombox form.

Nerd Watch Fun!

In the Summer of 1980, Casio erected the world’s largest wristwatch as a billboard in New York City’s Times Square. It measured 36 feet wide and 64 feet high, and the watch actually worked! The display showed time in hours, minutes and seconds and displayed the date & day every 15 seconds. Does anyone know when it was taken down? Photo from Popular Electronics, 9/80.



Sting spotted at NYC club Limelight wearing (gasp!) a Casio J-100 Jogging calculator watch, 1984. Photo from so8os by Patrick McMullan.



Here’s an exclusive, a catalog scan showing the variations of the Seiko G757, arguably the make’s most desirable digital watch.



Famed video game author Archer Maclean is not only a classic arcade collector, he’s a digital watch enthusiast, too! He provided the scan above of an article from the British electronics mag ETI, detailing the digital watch lineup for 1976. Great stuff! He writes,

“Well, like many other watch collectors I am firmly in the 70’s mold. In the mid 70s I would skive off school and use my dinner/meal money to get on a train and go into London’s west end to play the very early video games, as well as look at all the gadgets in the back street shops full of gadgets. I had very little money, but my lust to build little electronic gadgets, and build very early homebrew simple microprocessor computers, and the desire to write entire arcade games on these machines, meant that I would find entrepreneurial ways to generate some extra cash.

Even at the age of 13/14/15 I was building electronic gizmos and whole computers for a profit. This would find its way into more computer gear, AND digital watches. LED and LCD watches were then hi-tech must have gadgets. Sadly I was not able to buy all these, and merely had one or two. I use to subscribe to the electronics magazine (the one attached) and I even ended up doing some work on that very magazines electronic products. Now, one day in 1976, I saw the attached article. I must have spent days pouring over that. I read everything I could. I had wonderlust. A lust which has survived to this day.”


In 1983 Giorgetto Giugiaro, a prolific Italian designer (you’ve seen his work on Maseratis, Ferraris and Alfa Romeos) teamed up with Seiko to create a very cool digital Speedmaster line. They were offered in three colors: black, olive green and silver. They offered an array of timekeeping functions useful only to a professional racer, but since when do watch functions have to be practical? Toward the end of the 1990s, Seiko re-released the digital Speedmaster; this new line included a very interesting gold tone version, as well.

Visit to Seiko Museum in Tokyo


In late May of 2004, Paul visited Tokyo for vacation and spent an afternoon in the Seiko Institute or Horology. It is, for all intents and purposes a museum of Seiko timepieces. Two floors are devoted to displays of horological instruments through the ages, the third is a library that makes available old catalogs, brochures, periodicals and books related to horology.


Most of the Institute’s visitors are students and professionals of jewelry making and horology but they occasionally receive goofy sort like Paul, a watch nerd who drools over the classic digital marvels of this great watchmaker. Below are photographs of the visit.

The Institute was not documented in any of our maps, finding is was quite a task. It’s in the northeastern part of the city. For visitors to Tokyo, call ahead to make an appointment for your visit. Take the Tobu Isesaki Line north from Asakusa and get off at the Higashi-Mukojima stop, walk west toward the river. Have a good map handy. The address is:

3-9-7 Higashi-mukojima
Sumida-ku
Tokyo, Japan
Tel: 03-3610-6248


Seiko founder Kintaro Hattori, the fellow pictured here started it all back in the 1880s with a clock sales and repair business. In the beginning he handled only American and European clocks for the wealthy residents of Tokyo. In case you didn’t know, Seiko means “precision” in Japanese


Eventually Hattori began building his own timepieces; his clocks displayed the international time system and were among the first of Japanese origin. This one dates back to 1892.


Hattori’s first wristwatch: “Laurel” manufactured in 1913. Indeed, you will not find an older Seiko than this one!


The curator told me this is Seiko’s first top shelf watch, called the “Grand Seiko.” The Grand Seiko is a popular line sold only in Japan, competing with top European makes like Rolex and Omega. This particular piece is supposedly one of the most valuable and collectible Seikos of all–it’s the watch that generates the most interest from the museum’s visitors.


I’m so upset about the blur in this photo. It shows Seiko’s first digital timepieces, the 05LC and 06LC from 1973. We believe they were sold in Japan only. If anyone has one they wish to sell to us, please let us know!!


Marvelous digital technology from the 70’s here, two world time models and the initial calculator watch in the middle. I wanted to mention the A239 was displayed upside down, but I kept quiet.


Here are some models from the late 70’s. Can you spot the Moonraker Memory Bank? Wonder why they hadn’t replaced the batteries in these?


And more!


Some of the LCDs from the early 80’s. The Memo model at the end is one of my favorites. It’s stores 7 messages in memory and displays them on that cool dot matrix display at the press of a button.


As seen in the 007 film Octopussy, here’s the famous TV watch in its complete form. The receiver, that walkman shaped device was capable of tuning in UHF and VHF frequencies. There were two versions of the TV watch; The one pictured is the DXA001, the sporty model.


Check out this Seiko calculator watch promotional display. It’s a real, working calculator and it’s no surprise that the buttons on this version are easier to push than those of the original watch!

Turbo Sonic Boombox Shop, Tokyo

I was extremely fortunate to visit Tokyo and one of my most anticipated visits was to a little shop in the west end of the city called Turbosonic. This shop sells nothing but vintage boomboxes and stereo accessories! I believe this may very well be the only ghettoblaster store on the planet. If you don’t have the ability to hop on a plane and check out Turbosonic, hopefully the photo tour below will suffice. You can also visit their website.

I finally arrived after a frustrating 90 minute metro ride and one hour search for the shop. The shop is on the 7th floor of a building pretty close to the subway station. But if you don’t know Japanese (like me) getting around can be very difficult.

The left wall…see anything you like? Some of the most sought after radios are present on these shelves: The Sanyo Big Ben, Panasonic RX-7200, RX-7700, JVC RC-550, 2 Sharp turntable boomboxes!

The owner keeps a select collection of headphones and vintage audio tapes under glass. Somewhere in there is a new in the box Soundburger!

As you enter the shop you instantly notice that all of the TV boomboxes are displaying the same thing–these hypnotic videos synched to ’80s homegrown beats. Very cool effect.

The owner also collects 12″ vinyl.

More classic radios against the back wall. Check out the Pioneer Disco Robo in his own little cabinet.

That arcade shaped thing was homemade by the owner’s friend who’s an expert in plastic. The illustration in the back was done by some well-known Japanese designer. It also serves as the illustration for the “official” Turbo Sonic t-shirt.

Shouro and Hisami are the owners of the shop. Incredibly nice people–they kept bringing out stuff to show, old catalogs, brochures, articles, etc. I wish I could’ve stayed longer!

I was pretty overwhelmed by all the stuff in here. Just now I’m noticing the boombox in the back with the color tv.

If you can make it to Turbo Sonic, please check it out. You can take the Marunouchi or Chuo Line to the western part of the city, the address is: Turbo Sonic, ACP Building 7F, 4-23-5 Koenji-Minami, Suginami-Ku, Tokyo. tel: 03-3313-5717.

I had a hard time finding it, but it’s just a 2 minute walk south of the Koenji stop on the Chuo Line. It’s on the 7th floor of an office building with a white facade and a large green sign on the roof.

UPDATE: Their shop has moved to the Shibuya district, a much more accessible neighborhood. Please visit if you can!

Are You Wired?


Welcome to Pocket Calculator’s Classic Walkman Museum. Our goal here is to provide you with the most complete vintage walkman & portable stereo information source anywhere. As trivial as the subject may be, we realize there’s a following out there in search of information on the history, technology and collectibility of personal stereos and walkmans. The museum provides information on the birth and Golden Age (1979-1989) of these devices through photos, information and opinions.

Most of us have no trouble taking this little device for granted, and perhaps that’s only indicative of its success. We struggle to name another invention that has reached such ubiquity in such a short period of time. Sadly, this little gadget has fallen into decline in recent years–gone are the days of sharp styling, state-of-the-art engineering in a small, yet feature-laden package. We’re left with hackneyed, disposable descendants, most of which are bulkier than those made 15 years earlier.

All is not lost. The best of the best will live here, immortalized within these digital walls. We’re proud of our effort, but realize this undertaking is far from complete. In the first 20 years of the walkman’s existence, there were literally hundreds of models produced by dozens of manufacturers. Drop us an email to provide feedback, personal stories, information or photos (sure, we’ll take donations too!) and we promise to add it to the site!

Walkman Museum Introduction

 

 

 

Welcome to our visual presentation spotlighting ten years of audio technology. We’ve amassed a diverse and colorful collection of personal stereos and wish to share them with you. Perhaps you’ll uncover one you owned at one point and you’ll be reminded of the enjoyment and sense of freedom you felt when you strapped those foam headphones on and hit the play button.

When you realize that you simply can’t relive that experience with any modern-day audio device, perhaps you’ll appreciate our effort to keep this magical gadget from fading into obscurity.

James Bond 007 & The Seiko Digital Watch

When you think of 007’s marvelous spy gadgetry, what comes to mind? It’d have to be the multi-purpose wristwatch–a timepiece facade cloaking a laser, poison dart or explosive underneath. The Rolex Submariner is probably the recognizable Bond accessory, but some very sexy Seikos graced the screen during the Roger Moore years.


Seiko’s 0674-5009 watch from the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me. In the movie, this “fax” Watch prints messages from headquarters with a little impact printer.


Seiko M354 Memory Bank Calendar watch from the 1980 film Moonraker. Complete with explosives!


Roadside Seiko billboard in the hills of Rio de Janeiro, spotted in Moonraker.


Famous Sports 100 model of the Seiko G757 modified to track a transmitter in 1983 film Octopussy.


From Octopussy, Seiko’s TV Watch tested in Q’s lab. The real version has a black & white screen.


From the 1981 Bond film For Your Eyes Only, a modified Seiko H357 Duo Display receives messages from HQ on a scrolling LED marquis.

Aiwa Collection


In 1980, Aiwa entered the walkman scene with the TP-S30, the world’s first personal stereo recorder. Though the company’s major shareholder was Sony, there was an understanding that healthy competition between the two brands would be profitable for both companies. This competition was certainly enjoyed by consumers in the ’80s as we saw many beautiful and feature-packed models. We believe Aiwa distributed several releases worldwide but with model numbers which varied by market locale. Unfortunately, at least one gadget was never officially offered outside of Japan: the 1982 OnAir CassetteBoy, a personal cassette that worked with a small transmitter to push a signal to an FM radio headset–the first wireless walkman!

Aiwa’s models were small, complicated marvels of audio technology. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Aiwa reached a pinnacle with some high-end models with features like voice navigation, BBE sound processing, Dolby C noise reduction and amorphous playback heads–features normally found on home stereo equipment. Sadly, in the early 2000s, Aiwa’s product line dried up unable to endure the fierce competition in an rapidly evolving portable audio market.


l-r: Aiwa TP-S30 w/ case, SC-A1 personal speakers, HS-P2, HS-J02, CS-J1


l-r: Aiwa HS-J400 MKII, HS-J08, HS-U07 w/ radio module, HS-P07, HS-F07


l-r: Aiwa HS-T200, HS-P09, HS-P9M, HS-J350, HS-J800, HS-T700


’80s US & Japan Aiwa Portable Audio Brochures


Back to the Future‘s pivotal brain-melting scene involving an Aiwa portable cassette player.