Hello. This is 6 Minute English from
BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.
And I'm Georgina.
Hello, Georgina. How are you today?
Georgina? Georgina!
Oh sorry, Neil, I didn't hear you - I was
listening to music on my headphones!
Ah, I see! Listening to music stored on
your mobile phone or iPod
when out on-the-move
doesn't seem like a big deal now, but the
concept of personal portable music didn't
exist until 1979, when the Japanese
electronics company, Sony,
launched the Walkman.
Years before iPods and MP3 downloads,
the Sony Walkman was the first
widely available
portable music player. It revolutionised
the way fans listened to
their favourite bands.
In this programme, we'll be taking
a nostalgic look back at the
1980s and the birth of the
Sony Walkman.
And, of course, we'll be learning some
new vocabulary as well.
Now, it may not seem so revolutionary
to young people nowadays, but
back in the late 1970s
portable music players were unheard of.
The idea behind the Walkman was simple
- a high-quality stereo
cassette player, small
enough to hold in your hand, allowing you
to walk down the street listening to your
own soundtrack.
They became so popular that by
the time production of the Walkman
ended in 2010, Sony had sold
over 220 million machines worldwide.
So, my quiz question is this:
when the original Walkman
model first went on sale in 1979,
how much did it cost?
Was it: a) 50 dollars?, b) 100 dollars?,
or c) 150 dollars?
Things were a lot cheaper in 1979, Neil,
so I'll say b) 100 dollars.
OK, Georgina - we'll find out later if that's
right. Now, the inspiration
behind the Walkman
came from Sony chairman, Akio Morita.
He saw Japanese teenagers listening
to heavy transistor
radios carried on their shoulders and had
a vision of a smaller stereo
which could be
held in the hand.
However, few of Mr Morita's colleagues
had faith in his idea for a portable
music player.
Here's Andrea Koppen, of Sony UK,
speaking to the BBC in 1989, taken
from the BBC World
Service programme, Witness History.
People were very sceptical - they couldn't
believe that people would
want to walk around
with headphones on and sort of carry this
cassette with them - and he actually
laid his job on
the line and said, 'If it doesn't take off,
I will resign'... and they didn't have much
money at the time, so their advertising
was very tight- and they decided
to give it to
students to try... and so people saw them
on the trains, in campuses,
in towns and the
newspapers picked up on it immediately.
The Walkman was designed to be used
with headphones - a pair of padded
speakers worn over the
ears so you can listen to music
without other people hearing.
Akio Morita was confident his stereo plus
headphones idea would
take off - suddenly
start to be successful and popular.
In fact, he was so confident of success
that he laid his job on the line -
an idiom meaning
to risk losing something important,
such as your job or reputation.
Luckily, he didn't lose his job because
many people started buying the
new Walkmans, something
the newspapers picked up on - noticed
or gave particular attention to.
Morita's idea was a massive success.
Released at the start of the
summer holidays for Japanese
students, within 3 months the entire
first run of 30 thousand Walkmans
had sold out.
Meanwhile, music lovers outside of
Japan were desperately trying
to get hold of the new
machines. Among the first to buy one
was music journalist, Tim Jarman.
Here he is speaking to Farhana Haider, for
BBC World Service's Witness History:
It was made available in the US in June
1980. The Walkman was
especially popular with the
16 to 24 age group.
They thought it could be a niche product,
that might not sell, but it really caught
the public's imagination in every market
that it was offered in.
When the Walkman was sold to the rest
of the world and became
popular with youngsters,
people thought it was a niche product -
something marketed for sale
to a small, specific group.
But instead, people of all ages began
wearing Walkmans to listen to
their favourite music
on the move, and the new invention
caught the public imagination -
an idiom meaning,
made the public interested in
or excited about something.
Many put the Walkman's success down
to its perfect combination
of sound quality, small
size and affordable price.
But exactly how affordable, Georgina?
Remember my quiz question?
Yes, Neil. You asked how much the
original Walkman cost when it
came out in 1979.
What did you say?
I thought it cost b) 100 dollars
Well, Georgina, things were cheaper in
1979, but not that cheap - the
actual price was
c) 150 dollars.
That's around 530 dollars today!
In this programme, we've been looking
back at the iconic Sony Walkman,
the first portable
stereo made up of a cassette player plus
headphones - pairs of padded
speakers worn over the ears.
Sony chairman Akio Morita was so
confident his invention would
take off - become popular
and successful - that he laid his job
on the line. That means
risked something important,
like his job.
His colleagues at Sony worried the
Walkman was a niche product -
a product targeted for
sale to a niche, or small and
specific, market.
But luckily for him, the Japanese
newspapers picked up on his idea -
noticed it and gave
it particular attention. As a result,
the Sony Walkman caught
the public imagination
- made the public excited
and interesting in it.
That's all for this programme.
Until we meet again at 6 Minute
English - happy listening!
Happy listening!