Sony Watchman was must-see television

To understand Sony Watchman, you have to go back. Way back. Back in the day when “TV” wasn’t just a way to refer to any piece of content between 20 and 89 minutes long, it was available on every screen everywhere for a few dollars a month. In 1982, when Sony first started selling its new set, the “TV” was a piece of furniture. It was probably massive, and was often made largely of wood. Sony helped change all that.

to This episode of Release dateWe take the full story of the guard. David Pearce, Alison Johnson, and Victoria Song begin with the story of the Walkman (although that’s another episode in itself), which for all intents and purposes was the first truly portable music player. Walking down the street and listening to music was a cultural revolution, and made Sony a more important hardware maker.

The Watchman wasn’t the first portable TV — news junkies the world over had devices from Casio, Sinclair, and others meant to “keep you informed on the go” — but it had some clever upgrades over the competition. Most important was the flat-panel display picture tube, which took traditional CRT display technology and turned it into a much smaller form factor. It still takes a pretty large pocket, but you can successfully hide the thing at church or at a business meeting. And thanks to the continuing blessing of broadcast television, there was always something worth watching. And so people did.

In the end, Watchman ran for nearly two decades, but you know how the story ended. No one has a “portable TV” anymore, and in fact Sony lost the race long before the smartphone came along. But in its heyday, Sony’s portable monitor was a thing. It also raised questions about social isolation and what will happen when we fill the world with screens, the likes of which we are still grappling with today. For better and for worse, the world has never gone back.

This is the third episode of Release date. (The first two were about hoverboards and BBM). If you want to find the show, there are three good places to go:

Thank you to everyone who has already watched or listened to the show and sent their comments! We’re already working hard on the next batch of episodes, and we want to hear everything you think we should do, not do, or do differently. Seriously, please tell us how we decide what makes the Hall of Fame. In the meantime, if you want to dive into Watchman like we did, here are some links to get you started: