University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, June 21, 1989
9
Portable stereo turns 10 July 1
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The technology behind the Walkman portable cassette player might never have developed without these words from Sony Chairman Akio Morita; “TURN DOWN THAT MUSIC!”
Morita, seeking to soften his children's blasting stereos, asked his development team for something that would let the kids rock out without deafening dad. Working from a model developed by Sony founder Masurai ibuka, model TPS-L2 rolled off the assembly line a year later—the first Sony Walkman, unveiled July 1, 1979.
In the decade since, the Walkman and its imitators have become ubiquitous, with tiny headphones appearing on millions of heads worldwide — traffic-bound commuters, long-distance runners and house-cleaning parents as well as their rock 'n' rilled kids.
"The Sony Walkman has in fact changed the way the world listens to music." said Tom Harvey, president of the Sony Consumer Audio Product Company. "It's changed our lifesites."
Go argue. As the Walkman marks its 10th birthday, it has become a cultural phonemonom, as American folk songs are being played by the Walkman's first decade include:
■ Walkman: A Space Odyssey.
■ specially adapted Walkman was sent into orbit attached to astronaut Jake Garn, recording the sounds of his bowels for posterity. This was a scientific experiment.
■ Illegal Walkman. Teachers at the University of Illinois were warned of students using Walkmans to play "real crab sheets" during tests.
■ Walkman: The Movie. Michael J. Fox, faxing an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo through a Walkman, convinced his 568-bound father there was life on other planets in "Back to the Future."
The Royal Walkman. Princess Diana owns a gold-plated number that she plays while relaxing in Buckingham Palace.
The Walkman wasn't an immediate sensation. Initially it was called Soundabout in the United States, Slowaway in the United Kingdom.
'T.
The Sony Walkman has in fact changed the way the world listens to music. It's changed our lifetimes.'
- Tom Harvey president, Sony Consumer Audio Product Company
Freestyle in Sweden and Walkman in Japan and other world markets.
But Morita argued for uniformity, and sales in the United States, 37,000 units in 1979, took off after the Walkman name was adopted in May from then on, the personal stereo deck set up and running.
"Retailers told us, 'You guys are absolutely out of your minds. It doesn't even record, and it costs $200. It's never going to go anywhere.' Harvey said. "The next thing I know, we've got back orders for 1/2 years."
By 1982, Time magazine was hailing the Walkman as the gadget of the year. By 1984, Sony had cranked out 10 million which climbed to 30 million more than it had grown and more than 50 million — about half of them worn in the United States.
While the first model had a retail price of $199.95, today's Walkman prices run as low as $14.95 for an FM, radio-only model. There are 44 Sony models: water-resistant, with AM-FM radios, with recording capabilities, that freaks now have the Watchman, a tiny portable TV set; die-hard audiophiles have the Discman, a portable CD player.
Meanwhile, the trademarked Walkman name entered everyday language as a synonym for a personal stereo, just as Klenex came to stand for a facial tissue. Walkman is even an entry in the dictionary.
Birthday celebrations for the Walkman include one of the originals going on permanent display at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City, and Tiffany's will produce 36 special Walkmans to be presented to as-yet-unchosen innovafors in music and technology.
by Julie Rehm Kansan staff writer
Students see art come to life Four playwrights' works chosen for weekend production
Every amateur playwright dreams of seeing his or her work brought to life in a stage production.
That dream will become a reality for four University of Kansas student playwrights this weekend.
At 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, the Lawrence Community Theatre, 15th and New Hampshire streets will present staged readings of four one-act plays written by students enrolled in a script writing class. The class was taught Spring 1989 by Paul Lim, lecturer in the department of English. Admission is $3 and $2.
"Out of my 17 students, four handed in scripts that I felt deserved to be done." Lim said.
Lim said he was surprised by the attitudes expressed in Heiny's play.
"When I first read the script," Lim said, "I was surprised at how shocked people were that the
Lim and Doyle Haferfield, Overland Park senior, are directing the plays James Erdahl, resident resident, designed the sets.
Lim said the four plays covered the spectrum from comedy to tragedy.
"All the different characters tell why they think she married him, but no one really knows," Heiny said.
The first play, "People Will Tell You," written by Katherine Heiney, Midland, Mich., 1898 graduate, is a comedy. Six characters share their reactions of shock when an attractive, young college woman pursues and marries her older, married math professor.
character would go for an older, married man."
The second play in the production, "Brick by Brick," was written by Shauna Pedego, Kansas City, Mo. senior. The play examines high school counselor's attempts to trouble a high school girl
"It (the play) deals with the psychological walls people build up in their minds," Pedego said. "A lot of the character's problems are caused by her alcoholic stepfather."
The third play, "Sylvia," was written by Robert Popper, Kansas City. Mo. senior. In the play, an elderly man is commissioned to be her husband, the only love of her life. Not all of her memories are happy, however.
Lim said Popper's play was the most traditionally structured of the four.
"You get a full story, a beginning, a middle and an end, which isn't always the case in real life." Lim said. "This is the case with a question mark. They end with a question mark. Robert's play is complete."
The final play in the production, "Cartwheels for My Father," was written by J.D. CmaCauley, Lombard, III. senior. This play plays a young man's reaction to learning that his father is dying of cancer. McCauley is also performing the role of the young man in the play.
McCauley described the play as "very autobiographical." He said his father died of cancer two years ago and that he was inspired to write the play by a "particularly nasty" nightmare he had.
J. D. McCauley, Lombard, III., senior, portrays a young man dealing with his father's death from cancer in "Cartwheels for My Father."
and cries," McCauley said. "I never did that."
The production is dedicated to the memory of McCauley's father, Edward Downes McCauley, whose
"The guy (in the play) screams
photograph will appear on the set.
"I asked Joe if it would bother him to have a picture of his father on the set, and he said, 'No.' " Lim said.
Justin's father, Daniel, said Justin drove off in his toy car while he was cleaning the family's garage. The father said he found Justin just after the accident and took the boy and his toy car home.
Child's fun causes real crash when toy car enters highway
The Associated Press
CLACKAMAS, Ore. — A driver who caused a three-car collision did not have a license to show a sheriff's
The 2½-year-old boy drove his battery-powered toy car onto a suburban road Sunday and triggered a collision by drivers in adult-sized vehicles, he said, him, said Clackamara County sheriff's deputy Michael F. Helmstedt.
deputy and now he won't be eligible for one until the year 2003.
That's when Justin Aronson turns
16.
Two cars and a small pickup truck were damaged but no one was hurt. Helmstedt said.
Helmstedt wrote in his report that he interviewed everybody involved in the accident except for Justin. "He couldn't talk vet." Helmstedt noted.
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