GREAT VIDEO !!!!! I worked for Sony for 8 years stating in March 1995 after I retired from the Navy as a Gun Fire Control Tech. Aiming the 5 inch Gun with Radar, Computer and Gyros. First with Analog Tube Computers then Transistor then Microprocessors. I saw it all. I spent 13 months at Great Lakes in Electronic School in 1976. Spent my first 2 years at Sony in San Diego making Picture Tubes. Then 2 years in the Calibration Lab where we went to every Sony High Tech Lab picking up and dropping off Test Equipment. I saw the first HD TV being hand made with over 5000 components. At indoctrination they gave us the history of Sony and the Rice Cookers came up. Was told that they were burning down houses due to the thermostat contacts welding together causing overheating and the wood catching fire. Never heard they did not sell any. ??. My first of 3 Navy Ships was stationed in Japan. I fell in love with the Japanese Work Ethic and jumped at the chance to work at Sony. Got a Divorce and transferred to the Bristol, PA Sony Service Center 150 miles from my home. Spent 4 years there fixing everything from TV's, TiVO, Phones, and lots of Play Station 2's... Here is a Bootleg Video of the 32 inch CRT Production taken after I left and the CRT Plant shut down and was torn down. Sony was Secret about it's production. I worked in the area at the 10 min point of the video to pack off for training as my 17 inch Monitor Line was being built. Glen was a young Engineer and took the video. ua-cam.com/video/yNkIgVwr_nQ/v-deo.html
Thank you so much for another outstanding presentation, sir. The 1954 Texas Instruments transistor radio was just about $600 in today's dollars. A 1960 transistor radio cost about $115 The 1903 Ford Model A retailed for about $26,000 The 1919 Ford Model T retailed for about $8,100 In 1997 the first Phillips flat screen (Fujitsu) TV at 40" went for $28,000 Today Walmart has this TV in modern form for $159 on sale A 1959 Microwave oven from Litton (Raytheon) was about $14,000 Lord knows Walmart will give you one of the things on Black Monday if you get there early enough My point with this is that so very many early products have to survive being "expensive" like Sony's early tape recorders, but men with vision and courage survive these early stages and are an inspiration.
One of your best episodes! Sony has always commanded a top of market brand, but now it makes more sense. They had some legendary leaders who walked the walk.
They have also, unfortunately, also stuffed up massively several times because they wanted a proprietary format for those sweet sweet monopoly dollars.
Back to the Future 3 “No wonder this circuit failed. It says “Made in Japan”” “What do you mean Doc. All the best stuff is made in Japan” “Unbelievable”
Now, how about in this "Made in China" age huh? 😅 (Even though most of the best mass produced Electronic parts are still being made by the longtime US, EU and Japan other than Taiwan, South Korea and the latest, Vietnam)
Thanks for your content, I’m a industrial designer working as a fixture designer at a electronics plant ( nothing to do with my field) and at bad days when I understand sh/7 about the process I’ve had found your videos and the histories very inspiring and comforting. Thanks.
Sony *WAS* a behemoth growing up in the 1980s. They had so much $$$ they bought Columbia Tri-Star Pictures in cash!! Every motion picture (endless Spider Man pre/sequels among them, yes) displays the proud SONY logo. But transistor miniaturization can only go so far and, these days, SONY is just coasting on their entertainment assets. To me, SONY needs to reinvent themselves. They can be more than they are now.
@@jeremyludlow4439What? Sony, with a consortium of other companies, created the 8mm video format in 1982. Sony released one of the the first Video8 cameras in 1985 - the original Handycam. The first Mavica prototype was shown in 1981 and released to the public in 1988. Sony most definitely did make cameras in the 80s.
Very very interesting. In 1958 when I was 14, I attempted to make a tape recorder. I cut paper into long thin strip's and used a metallic paint for the coating. I made my own record/replay head. Did it work? Best I could do was getting a few weird noises. 😂 I was working on my own. Later I constructed many tube and transistor radios and years later constructed a 22 inch colour TV making most coils and boards myself. Had to buy a delay line and the scan coils for the Trinitron CRT. But that was my last project as work and family got in the way.
I am somewhat younger. When I was young cassette tapes were really popular but I couldn't afford a radio with a cassette deck. After I could read at 7 years old. I went to the library and started reading a lot of books about electronics. Bought myself a soldering device, started etching my own designed circuit boards, and bought the components and magnets to solder them on. After 2 tries when I was 8 years old it was kinda working and could play regular cassette decks. I still use it too this day 30 years later. Just the cassette tape didn't survive that long but the player is still working fine. After that I worked on the new mp3 codec and got hired to create the revolutionary iPod I was just 18 years old. Then I met my wife got kids and because of family and time constraints decided to give up my good earning job and started working 8 hours jobs on the band in a cassette factory
The transistor is an invention. However it's also a discovery of sorts for anybody who doesn't know about it. Sorry I'm just being pedantic. Idle hands and all.
I worked for SonyNL from 1983 to 2010. First servicing / repair on division Betamax, Video8 and Hi8. Later dealer support and had access to all service manuals (at a time PDF didn't exsist). I received a book about Sony. The first product was a rice cooker. Not so much succes it had. I also met Akio Morita when he visited SonyNL Badhoevedorp. Very, very nice man he was. I had a great time and many memories are left.
Morita and Ibuka remind me a lot of Matthew Bolton and James Watt, "Bolton and Watt" of steam engine and industrial revolution fame. Both intelligent but one being the better deal maker and salesman and the other the engineering and science genius, yet both pairs where much more collaborative and equal than many business + engineer/science relationships across history which often strayed into parasitic in nature.
I would have loved to immerse myself in semiconductor physic's. I just love that kind of tech. Some people were in the right place at the right time. Or the right people were at the right place at the right time.
@rockpadstudios go for it 😊, nothing is stopping you from learning about it right now. That's literally the only reason I'm interested in learning about physics 😂😂. Things to know about semiconductors 1.Silicon has 4 electrons in the outter shell & elements with 3 or 5 (boron , phosphorus ect) electrons in the outer shell are mixed with silicon to enable electrical conductivity . 2. Different charge carriers are used as part of the flow of electricity depending on the ionisation of the silicon such as electrons or electron holes. 3. Silicon dioxide(impure silicon mixed with the oxygen from steam bath)is used as an insulation layer on top on silicon to make it more stable & prevent electrical leakage. 4. When different elements are added to silicon to enable electrical conductivity it's called doping & the different elements create a p or n type (positive/negatively) charged region where electrons or electron holes flow as the electricity itself & the n & p regions attract the opposite. 5. The planar process is used to physically embedd dopped regions inside the silicon but fun fact 😮😮 early versions of the transistor called messa transistors used to deposit the dopped regions ontol of the silicon wafer so it apparent looked like tiny hills or mountains ⛰️ but this design didn't work right & was discontinued
@@cryptocsguy9282 Thanks for the info. I did take a masters level course in semiconductor physic's when I was in college and I continued to study throughout the years. It's just that I ended up up writing embedded firmware which has been a great career. If I retire (which might be soon) I was thinking of getting a master degree. I find science fascinating. It is too bad much of higher education is a con game now. It must have been great to be there in the early days when the real questions were starting to be asked. To be at Bell Labs or TI in the early days must have been great.
One can often simplify the high-frequency part of the radio to be just one "high frequency" converter transistor, the rest of the circuitry runs at a relatively low 455 kilocycles per second and audio frequencies. We put "high frequency" in quotes as the transistor only has to be able to just barely amplify by a factor of 1.4 or so. That was doable with relatively crude technology. It took like ten more years for companies like Philco came up with real "high frequency" transistors that could work up to 30 megacycles per second.
Slight correction. The narration said that the superheterodyne principle is used in "all FM radios". Actually it is used in all radios since at least the '30s. Your cell phone is just a fancy radio and could not function without superheterodyne. Nor could your TV (cable or over the air).
@steveinmidtown Hoerni too who invented the planar process plus Atalla at bell labs with the MOSFETs & before that the surface passivation technique for creating the silicon oxide insulation layer 😮😮😮😮😮🤔🤯🤯
In 1963 I remember kids listening, on the school bus, to the new Beatles tunes on their 6-transistor SONY radios. Everybody was buying those small SONY radios. Two revolutions at once.
The very first transistor radio was a joint project between Texas Instruments and the Regency Division of Industrial Development Engineering Associates. The radio was designed by Idea Incorporated and manufactured and marketed by Industrial Development Engineering Associates. The Regency TR-1 was released on October 18, 1954. The very first solid state computer was made by Bell Labs, MIT Labs, and other US companies. So, how did Sony master the transistor? If it were not for the engineers and scientists of Bell Labs, there would be no transistor.
In 1962, my older brother begged my parents for a transistor radio. Before long, they were everywhere. Boys used to bring them to school so that they could catch part of the World Series baseball games between classes.
Nice segment. I had read Akio Morita's "Made In Japan" - so was nice to hear a modern day take to the origin story around their success with transitorization (radios, tvs, color tvs , other consumer electronics goods, etc.). In addition, my wife knew an early employee or two of Sony, who experienced Sony's rise in the 1950s (and maybe 1960s?).
Fascinating story. It's really inspiring to hear about how with preseverance and ingenuity Morita, Ibuka and their team changed electronics industry forever and laid foundations for the tech conglomerate that is today's Sony.
We have a college nerdy jokes in the Philippines who take Electronics Engineering. NPN - "Na Pasok Na"( Already penetrated) PNP- Pasok na Pasok"( Fully Penetrated).
Reminds me of nantasket beach in Hull, Mass. near my home, transistor radios on every other blanket on the beach, hearing the Beatles and other hit songs playing, collecting sea glass with my Nanna in the 1960's as a boy. Thank you.
While agree, they have been lately dabbling with the awesome remote play/cloud streaming PlayStation Portal and lots of rumors of a new dedicated PS handheld running on a custom AMD apu to launch around PS6 in 2027/2028. Let's hope they get back to it.
Love your episodes on Japanese firms. Would like a story on the development of the Sony Walkman. Also, how Matsushita Electric (now Panasonic) lost its dominance.
And if this gets done, the various types of Walkmans! The Sony Newsman (?) was something a lot of the better radio reporters used in the 1970s: small, indestructible, great cueing features for fast edits!
@@landspide Actually Casio would make for a more interesting story. Quite dominant in the 1980s and 1990s with their digital watches, electronic keyboards and calculators, and an early adopter in digital cameras, but other than G-Shocks which still sell well now, I don't know how else the company makes much money.
@@MithunOnTheNet good point, they were the boss for calculators. I remember the Cassiopeia (one of the first WindowsCE devices), I agree they will be more interesting.
Thats a very interesting videos. Akito Morita was well known. But not where he was 'coming from'. Also the other people in the company. It shows they had to spend time and ideas. It was not just plug and play. I think one of the sucess for the radio was the use for young couples being out alone (I don't remember exactly).
I still have a Sony ICF7600 manufactured c.1978 and it still works although I had to effect a repair caused by water ingress a few years ago (the FM section stopped working). It is still a great little radio despite its exterior being a bit battered with age and handling.
The irony of Sony’s success with transistors initially meant for hearing aids highlights how unexpected challenges can lead to groundbreaking innovations. It’s fascinating how such a small device reshaped an entire industry.
There's a lot of foot plodding and sheer mental grunt to get all this stuff going. Couldn't have been easy reading english manuals, although there are translators. Once you have a vision you just go for it. Usually you will realise it if you want it bad enough. Kudos to all those people that laid the groundwork for everything we see today. Those Sony Trinitron TV's were are crystal clear as you could get. Great TV and they can stand next to what is here today.
Definition of vertical market. Making your own transistors, to make the real product (transistor radio) possible. his harkens back to Ford bringing in iron ore, and raw lumber, in one side of the factory, and get complete cars coming out the other.
Great video, transistors are still incredibly hard to make. I took Semiconductors in college and even with a multi million dollar facility, and a SEM, we still struggled to get large a single MOSFET to work.
Back in the 80's and 90's I was a big fan of Sony products. I bought their cameras, TV's, stereos, CD changers, etc. But then, something happened to their quality. I bought their 60" projection TV when those were the top of the line. It barely made it past the warranty. One of the primary colors simply quit. I removed the light engine and shipped it across country (California to New York) to an expert with such products. Then I re-installed the light engine and it worked for a while. Then I read about a scandal at Sony where they were caught using refurbished parts in their new TV's. That's when I lost all respect for Sony and never bought another one of their products.
I had a similar experience with Sony WEGA TV in the 2000, soon as the warranty ended (warranty was 90 days) low voltage transformer started making a high pitch wine. It was so bad I couldn't watch the tv. Tried to get sony to repair but they refused, it was past the 90 day warranty. I spend almost half the cost of the tv getting it repaired as the tv was to big and heavy to bring into service center. Never bought another sony product again.
In the past few years I have repaired several Sony C-37a condenser microphones; which were first marketed in 1955. It is pretty obvious that they designed it from the ground up and the design is as no-nonsense as you can ask for. And never mind their reel to reel tape recorders from the sixties and seventies. . .
If I may - around the 8:20 mark is shown a photo of school children. The caption says "school kids gawk at the tape recorder". I believe that as all the children have their mouths open, they are not "gawking", but rather, actively singing a song.....which of course is being recorded on that newfangled tape recorder. Just sayin'.
About 1988 or so I read a book about Sony checked out of the local library. I think was called the Sony Story? It was copyrighted 1976. It was very interesting. Especially how they treated the workers. Their job was their life. They didn't miss work unless they called in dead. Their job came before family. Other than long hours, Sony took good care of them as far as healthcare, a place to live and job security. Those are the things that stood out to me in the book. I can't say that I completely agree with the philosophy they had back then. They seemed not have a life beyond work. I don't know if it's still that way. Denso has a large factory where I live near Maryville, TN and I know several people that work, or have worked there. If you work in production, the hours can be long and time between off days long as well. Maybe that's why Denso and Rubbermaid are endlessly looking for people. And any comments that Americans are lazy and don't want to work will be ignored. Do you want to work 12 hour days on a swing shift?
The work dedication and work going first before family is still a common thing in Japan today. Not sure about the housing part. In China however, everything you said is common practice TODAY. Oftentimes you'd find industrial parks wherein the workers of the factories and even offices live, eat, and sleep in the same facility. All their food, housing, and even medical needs are covered by their workplace. They only get to return to their families during the Lunar New Year holidays. It's tough, but for some of them they prefer it that way. Especially if they want to ease the burden off their families or it's still simply a better environment there than back home.
Then find some book about Ford... whole USSR industry was build on his ideas and the best part is that he hated communists and was very open about it but Stalin ordered to copy his factory system anyway.
The founders of SONY were amazing men. There were so many obstacles that would have made normal people just give up. I'm 71 and I had a '14 transistor' radio which my grandparents bought for me. Even though "Made in Japan" was something Americans looked down on at the time you couldn't beat having a radio that would fit in your pocket and take anywhere.
In '63 I traded my bicycle for a broken transistor radio. I then figured out how to fix it I've done electronics ever since. I even ended up working for SONY.
Fixed typo There is a story where Sony was shipping the early radios to the USA with batteries from Everready ( Union Carbide ) . Apparently these batteries were intended for non USA sales and Everready protested on the grounds that Sony was skirting the territory agreement. One of the Sony founders ( Probable Morita ) went to the Everready HQ in the USA, to solve the problem. I don't remember the exact words but it was a mic drop event that went along the lines of " If a person in the US buys a Sony radio with an Everready battery, they are likely to buy the same brand as a replacement, therefor Everready will continue to see sales. " After saying this, he got up and walked out of the office. This was effectively Steve Jobs asking John Sculley ( the CEO of Pepsi ) in he early days of Apple and was looking for a real CEO " : Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life? "
@@boardernut It was in a book about Sony Sony: a Private Life " John Nathan 1999 Page 64 There is an excerpt from a paper IMPORTING THE AMERICAN DREAM: JAPANESE HARDWARE AND SOFT POWER By Kenneth S. Klei at Harding edu ( page 10 )
So interesting. I hadn't realized that Sony did so much fundamental development work on transistors that long ago. They've always been a famously independent company that resists partnering with others - that snubbing by MITI probably helped set them on that course.
I acquired a nakamichi 250 this week, a cassette portable, play-only. fifty years old, almost. absolutely nothing wrong with it except some dried out grease in the idler paddle; now it's singing. while I had it apart.... I wish I could post a pic here.... on the underside of the arm I had to take out, & absolutely invisible unless the machine was dismantled for servicing, was a sticker that said simply "japan". there's a good book about sony- author is john nathan, & he tells the story of morita, ibuka, ohga, ohsone, the walkman, the CD, karajan, philips, sony's forays into computing, the movie business....
"The company name of Sony was created by combining two words of “sonus” and “sonny”. The word “sonus” in Latin represents words like sound and sonic. The other word “sonny” means little son."
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 That is rather a provocative statement! You have evidence of this, I presume. I have watched a number of Asianometry videos and have not seen particular Japanese bias, either pro or anti.
The beginning sounds like the classic „startup company“ story. Yet today (you mentioned it in the Japan software industry video) that startup culture seems to have gotten lost over time. If you run out of video ideas, I would like to see your analysis on how that startup culture got lost. (Being German, where I see a similar development, I find the parallels and the subtle differences fascinating)
The biographic and background story makes this fantastic!! From going out to the country to collect rice and potatoes through serving what customers and benefactors they had... the trips to the United States and the denial to see the grown crystal process. They get up one more time than they fall and 'their foot is in the door!!' Isaiah 40:30 It is also neat years later John Goodenough had a design/knowledge for Lithium batteries and Sony went on to make that into a product and technology.
ah.... tokyo tsushin.... the 'totsu' screwdrivers we had in the service kits for the BVH broadcast VTRs.... neither slot nor cruciform, but somewhere in between, with the cross-piece of the driver's head sprung to capture or hold in place the released bolt. genius.
I can remember being the first kid in the neighborhood with an eight transistor radio. First small radio was a six transistor. Now I’ve got 80 billion transistors I’m using to type this.
GREAT VIDEO !!!!! I worked for Sony for 8 years stating in March 1995 after I retired from the Navy as a Gun Fire Control Tech. Aiming the 5 inch Gun with Radar, Computer and Gyros. First with Analog Tube Computers then Transistor then Microprocessors. I saw it all. I spent 13 months at Great Lakes in Electronic School in 1976. Spent my first 2 years at Sony in San Diego making Picture Tubes. Then 2 years in the Calibration Lab where we went to every Sony High Tech Lab picking up and dropping off Test Equipment. I saw the first HD TV being hand made with over 5000 components. At indoctrination they gave us the history of Sony and the Rice Cookers came up. Was told that they were burning down houses due to the thermostat contacts welding together causing overheating and the wood catching fire. Never heard they did not sell any. ??. My first of 3 Navy Ships was stationed in Japan. I fell in love with the Japanese Work Ethic and jumped at the chance to work at Sony. Got a Divorce and transferred to the Bristol, PA Sony Service Center 150 miles from my home. Spent 4 years there fixing everything from TV's, TiVO, Phones, and lots of Play Station 2's... Here is a Bootleg Video of the 32 inch CRT Production taken after I left and the CRT Plant shut down and was torn down. Sony was Secret about it's production. I worked in the area at the 10 min point of the video to pack off for training as my 17 inch Monitor Line was being built. Glen was a young Engineer and took the video. ua-cam.com/video/yNkIgVwr_nQ/v-deo.html
Thank you so much for another outstanding presentation, sir.
The 1954 Texas Instruments transistor radio was just about $600 in today's dollars.
A 1960 transistor radio cost about $115
The 1903 Ford Model A retailed for about $26,000
The 1919 Ford Model T retailed for about $8,100
In 1997 the first Phillips flat screen (Fujitsu) TV at 40" went for $28,000
Today Walmart has this TV in modern form for $159 on sale
A 1959 Microwave oven from Litton (Raytheon) was about $14,000
Lord knows Walmart will give you one of the things on Black Monday if you get there early enough
My point with this is that so very many early products have to survive being "expensive" like Sony's early tape recorders, but men with vision and courage survive these early stages and are an inspiration.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Sly manner at pro-Japan propaganda.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165something bad has happened literally on Every calendar day dude
@@jamesmcjamesington631
Not a coincidence.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 troll
@@nomercynodragonforyou9688
Sheep 🐑
Your voice is so radiophonique. Nice documentary
My dad bought one in '62. He got a book with it, detailing the radio's development and operation in simple terms. We still have both.
One of your best episodes! Sony has always commanded a top of market brand, but now it makes more sense. They had some legendary leaders who walked the walk.
They have also, unfortunately, also stuffed up massively several times because they wanted a proprietary format for those sweet sweet monopoly dollars.
@@andersjjensen that and the rootkit scandal.
Back to the Future 3
“No wonder this circuit failed. It says “Made in Japan””
“What do you mean Doc. All the best stuff is made in Japan”
“Unbelievable”
Not aircraft carriers...
@NathanDudani
US allowed China to grow, risking the world
@@NathanDudani😅9
Shows the difference between the 1950s and 1980s.
Now, how about in this "Made in China" age huh? 😅 (Even though most of the best mass produced Electronic parts are still being made by the longtime US, EU and Japan other than Taiwan, South Korea and the latest, Vietnam)
An aspect of history that most people overlook;thank you for bringing this to our attention
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Sly manner at pro-Japan propaganda.
00:02 Greatest opening lines in a technology history video ever.
😂😂😂😂😂
Subtle pro-Japan propaganda by Japanese-wannabe Asianometry.
These videos of yours are excellent. And I appreciate that you don't use AI voiceovers.
Thanks for your content, I’m a industrial designer working as a fixture designer at a electronics plant ( nothing to do with my field) and at bad days when I understand sh/7 about the process I’ve had found your videos and the histories very inspiring and comforting. Thanks.
Your video essays are always so informative, thank you.
Sony *WAS* a behemoth growing up in the 1980s. They had so much $$$ they bought Columbia Tri-Star Pictures in cash!! Every motion picture (endless Spider Man pre/sequels among them, yes) displays the proud SONY logo. But transistor miniaturization can only go so far and, these days, SONY is just coasting on their entertainment assets. To me, SONY needs to reinvent themselves. They can be more than they are now.
The name is spelled SONYA
Physical cash?
SONY has in fact reinvented itself. For example, it now makes cameras, something it didn't do in the 1980s
@@jeremyludlow4439 the best cameras on the market, arguably
@@jeremyludlow4439What? Sony, with a consortium of other companies, created the 8mm video format in 1982. Sony released one of the the first Video8 cameras in 1985 - the original Handycam.
The first Mavica prototype was shown in 1981 and released to the public in 1988.
Sony most definitely did make cameras in the 80s.
Very very interesting. In 1958 when I was 14, I attempted to make a tape recorder. I cut paper into long thin strip's and used a metallic paint for the coating. I made my own record/replay head. Did it work? Best I could do was getting a few weird noises. 😂
I was working on my own. Later I constructed many tube and transistor radios and years later constructed a 22 inch colour TV making most coils and boards myself. Had to buy a delay line and the scan coils for the Trinitron CRT. But that was my last project as work and family got in the way.
Me too, but more successfully than you.
@@wesjones1181prove it.
I also did that better than you
Interesting. I ended up making a nuclear bomb. These days I use it to cook chicken sandwiches.
Yummy radioactive sandwiches
I am somewhat younger. When I was young cassette tapes were really popular but I couldn't afford a radio with a cassette deck.
After I could read at 7 years old. I went to the library and started reading a lot of books about electronics.
Bought myself a soldering device, started etching my own designed circuit boards, and bought the components and magnets to solder them on.
After 2 tries when I was 8 years old it was kinda working and could play regular cassette decks. I still use it too this day 30 years later. Just the cassette tape didn't survive that long but the player is still working fine.
After that I worked on the new mp3 codec and got hired to create the revolutionary iPod I was just 18 years old.
Then I met my wife got kids and because of family and time constraints decided to give up my good earning job and started working 8 hours jobs on the band in a cassette factory
Great video once again!
One small correction though. The transistor isn't a discovery, it's an invention.
The transistor is an invention. However it's also a discovery of sorts for anybody who doesn't know about it. Sorry I'm just being pedantic. Idle hands and all.
6:45 VTVM
TR-55 transistor used:
2T51 RF Superhet
2T52 x2 two stage IF amp
2T61 audio preamp
2T12 audio amp (PNP)
They are in TO-22 package (use 2T76 to find pictures)
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 thinfoil hat wacko.
I worked for SonyNL from 1983 to 2010. First servicing / repair on division Betamax, Video8 and Hi8. Later dealer support and had access to all service manuals (at a time PDF didn't exsist). I received a book about Sony. The first product was a rice cooker. Not so much succes it had. I also met Akio Morita when he visited SonyNL Badhoevedorp. Very, very nice man he was. I had a great time and many memories are left.
Morita and Ibuka remind me a lot of Matthew Bolton and James Watt, "Bolton and Watt" of steam engine and industrial revolution fame. Both intelligent but one being the better deal maker and salesman and the other the engineering and science genius, yet both pairs where much more collaborative and equal than many business + engineer/science relationships across history which often strayed into parasitic in nature.
Very similar, I understand, to the balance between Rolls and Royce too!
knowledge transfer was expensive as hell back then.
Fabulous documentary! Thanks! I got my first Sony Transistor Radio for a present in 1960.
I would have loved to immerse myself in semiconductor physic's. I just love that kind of tech. Some people were in the right place at the right time. Or the right people were at the right place at the right time.
❤
Go for it dude. There's no reason you can't learn about semiconductor physics now
Agree @@darkfoxfurre
@rockpadstudios go for it 😊, nothing is stopping you from learning about it right now. That's literally the only reason I'm interested in learning about physics 😂😂.
Things to know about semiconductors
1.Silicon has 4 electrons in the outter shell & elements with 3 or 5 (boron , phosphorus ect) electrons in the outer shell are mixed with silicon to enable electrical conductivity .
2. Different charge carriers are used as part of the flow of electricity depending on the ionisation of the silicon such as electrons or electron holes.
3. Silicon dioxide(impure silicon mixed with the oxygen from steam bath)is used as an insulation layer on top on silicon to make it more stable & prevent electrical leakage.
4. When different elements are added to silicon to enable electrical conductivity it's called doping & the different elements create a p or n type (positive/negatively) charged region where electrons or electron holes flow as the electricity itself & the n & p regions attract the opposite.
5. The planar process is used to physically embedd dopped regions inside the silicon but fun fact 😮😮 early versions of the transistor called messa transistors used to deposit the dopped regions ontol of the silicon wafer so it apparent looked like tiny hills or mountains ⛰️ but this design didn't work right & was discontinued
@@cryptocsguy9282 Thanks for the info. I did take a masters level course in semiconductor physic's when I was in college and I continued to study throughout the years. It's just that I ended up up writing embedded firmware which has been a great career. If I retire (which might be soon) I was thinking of getting a master degree. I find science fascinating. It is too bad much of higher education is a con game now. It must have been great to be there in the early days when the real questions were starting to be asked. To be at Bell Labs or TI in the early days must have been great.
One can often simplify the high-frequency part of the radio to be just one "high frequency" converter transistor, the rest of the circuitry runs at a relatively low 455 kilocycles per second and audio frequencies. We put "high frequency" in quotes as the transistor only has to be able to just barely amplify by a factor of 1.4 or so. That was doable with relatively crude technology. It took like ten more years for companies like Philco came up with real "high frequency" transistors that could work up to 30 megacycles per second.
This was thoroughly well-done, very interesting! Keep doing quality essays like this and your channel will reach 1 million subs in no time.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
Wow this story was much more engaging and intersting than I expected! And as always your narration is top notch!
Slight correction. The narration said that the superheterodyne principle is used in "all FM radios". Actually it is used in all radios since at least the '30s. Your cell phone is just a fancy radio and could not function without superheterodyne. Nor could your TV (cable or over the air).
Please don't correct others if you don't know what you're saying.
Superheterodyne is long obsolete. Cellphone radios are not superheterodyne.
interesting in the context of what Shockley was doing in his lab with Noyce & others before Fairchild Semi was started.
@steveinmidtown Hoerni too who invented the planar process plus Atalla at bell labs with the MOSFETs & before that the surface passivation technique for creating the silicon oxide insulation layer 😮😮😮😮😮🤔🤯🤯
In 1963 I remember kids listening, on the school bus, to the new Beatles tunes on their 6-transistor SONY radios. Everybody was buying those small SONY radios. Two revolutions at once.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Sly manner at pro-Japan propaganda.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 irrelevent
@@DataWaveTaGo
Manipulation is relevant.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 get over yourself
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 - wumao spotted 😂
The very first transistor radio was a joint project between Texas Instruments and the Regency Division of Industrial Development Engineering Associates. The radio was designed by Idea Incorporated and manufactured and marketed by Industrial Development Engineering Associates. The Regency TR-1 was released on October 18, 1954. The very first solid state computer was made by Bell Labs, MIT Labs, and other US companies. So, how did Sony master the transistor? If it were not for the engineers and scientists of Bell Labs, there would be no transistor.
Master does't mean invent, you know?
@@paul-gs4be No kidding.
In 1962, my older brother begged my parents for a transistor radio. Before long, they were everywhere. Boys used to bring them to school so that they could catch part of the World Series baseball games between classes.
Between classes lol!
In 1969....our teacher had a TV set up in our classroom to watch the World Series! 😊
Nice segment. I had read Akio Morita's "Made In Japan" - so was nice to hear a modern day take to the origin story around their success with transitorization (radios, tvs, color tvs , other consumer electronics goods, etc.). In addition, my wife knew an early employee or two of Sony, who experienced Sony's rise in the 1950s (and maybe 1960s?).
Fascinating story. It's really inspiring to hear about how with preseverance and ingenuity Morita, Ibuka and their team changed electronics industry forever and laid foundations for the tech conglomerate that is today's Sony.
We have a college nerdy jokes in the Philippines who take Electronics Engineering. NPN - "Na Pasok Na"( Already penetrated) PNP- Pasok na Pasok"( Fully Penetrated).
Translating a verbal joke into a language from a completely different language family is close to impossible...
Your videos are always thoughtful and compell me to keep trying to improve myself or the world around me. Thank you!
K
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
Reminds me of nantasket beach in Hull, Mass. near my home, transistor radios on every other blanket on the beach, hearing the Beatles and other hit songs playing, collecting sea glass with my Nanna in the 1960's as a boy. Thank you.
Excellent script and delivery. Thanks from Canberra 🇦🇺
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
I remember the story of when the Nintendo Gameboy was first released, a Sony engineer resigned in disgust saying it should have been a Sony product.
Really? 😮😮😮
Well they delivered with the PSP and how. Shame they've resigned completely from the portable gaming market.
While agree, they have been lately dabbling with the awesome remote play/cloud streaming PlayStation Portal and lots of rumors of a new dedicated PS handheld running on a custom AMD apu to launch around PS6 in 2027/2028.
Let's hope they get back to it.
I can only listen to your videos when I am at home trying to go to sleep. Your voice puts me to sleep like the guys voice from Astrum
You may want to do an episode on the Tunnel diode by Leo Esaki and Yuriko Kurose at Sony.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
I'd watch a feature length documentary on the beginnings and history of Sony!
Wonderfully told story - well done
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
Love your episodes on Japanese firms. Would like a story on the development of the Sony Walkman. Also, how Matsushita Electric (now Panasonic) lost its dominance.
And if this gets done, the various types of Walkmans! The Sony Newsman (?) was something a lot of the better radio reporters used in the 1970s: small, indestructible, great cueing features for fast edits!
and Seiko.
@@landspide Actually Casio would make for a more interesting story. Quite dominant in the 1980s and 1990s with their digital watches, electronic keyboards and calculators, and an early adopter in digital cameras, but other than G-Shocks which still sell well now, I don't know how else the company makes much money.
@@MithunOnTheNet good point, they were the boss for calculators. I remember the Cassiopeia (one of the first WindowsCE devices), I agree they will be more interesting.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
Thats a very interesting videos. Akito Morita was well known. But not where he was 'coming from'. Also the other people in the company. It shows they had to spend time and ideas. It was not just plug and play. I think one of the sucess for the radio was the use for young couples being out alone (I don't remember exactly).
I truly love this channel, I have shared it with hundreds of peers and colleagues.
Another well done piece, Jon! Maybe you could do piece on Microchip Technologies?
I still have a Sony ICF7600 manufactured c.1978 and it still works although I had to effect a repair caused by water ingress a few years ago (the FM section stopped working). It is still a great little radio despite its exterior being a bit battered with age and handling.
The irony of Sony’s success with transistors initially meant for hearing aids highlights how unexpected challenges can lead to groundbreaking innovations. It’s fascinating how such a small device reshaped an entire industry.
Sony started making hearing aids recently lol
Both a little weird but also entirely fitting to see Advantest comment on an Asionometry video. Maybe you can convince him to make an ATE video. 😂
With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high-tension wires down
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
I would love to see a Video about the history of soldering, solder Materials and how they are made, especially how solder past is made. ❤
There's a lot of foot plodding and sheer mental grunt to get all this stuff going. Couldn't have been easy reading english manuals, although there are translators. Once you have a vision you just go for it. Usually you will realise it if you want it bad enough. Kudos to all those people that laid the groundwork for everything we see today. Those Sony Trinitron TV's were are crystal clear as you could get. Great TV and they can stand next to what is here today.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
Definition of vertical market. Making your own transistors, to make the real product (transistor radio) possible. his harkens back to Ford bringing in iron ore, and raw lumber, in one side of the factory, and get complete cars coming out the other.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
Great show on the history of Semiconductors & Sony. Thanks. Retired Semiconductor Engineer.
Great video, transistors are still incredibly hard to make. I took Semiconductors in college and even with a multi million dollar facility, and a SEM, we still struggled to get large a single MOSFET to work.
Back in the 80's and 90's I was a big fan of Sony products. I bought their cameras, TV's, stereos, CD changers, etc. But then, something happened to their quality. I bought their 60" projection TV when those were the top of the line. It barely made it past the warranty. One of the primary colors simply quit. I removed the light engine and shipped it across country (California to New York) to an expert with such products. Then I re-installed the light engine and it worked for a while. Then I read about a scandal at Sony where they were caught using refurbished parts in their new TV's. That's when I lost all respect for Sony and never bought another one of their products.
I had a similar experience with Sony WEGA TV in the 2000, soon as the warranty ended (warranty was 90 days) low voltage transformer started making a high pitch wine. It was so bad I couldn't watch the tv. Tried to get sony to repair but they refused, it was past the 90 day warranty. I spend almost half the cost of the tv getting it repaired as the tv was to big and heavy to bring into service center. Never bought another sony product again.
Legendary company, legendary story. Thank you for this.
In the past few years I have repaired several Sony C-37a condenser microphones; which were first marketed in 1955. It is pretty obvious that they designed it from the ground up and the design is as no-nonsense as you can ask for. And never mind their reel to reel tape recorders from the sixties and seventies. . .
If I may - around the 8:20 mark is shown a photo of school children. The caption says "school kids gawk at the tape recorder". I believe that as all the children have their mouths open, they are not "gawking", but rather, actively singing a song.....which of course is being recorded on that newfangled tape recorder. Just sayin'.
Fun from the Tippy Top! Can't wait to watch the next 24 16 !
"Extraordinary magnitude" "you have our gratitude"
About 1988 or so I read a book about Sony checked out of the local library. I think was called the Sony Story? It was copyrighted 1976. It was very interesting. Especially how they treated the workers. Their job was their life. They didn't miss work unless they called in dead. Their job came before family. Other than long hours, Sony took good care of them as far as healthcare, a place to live and job security. Those are the things that stood out to me in the book. I can't say that I completely agree with the philosophy they had back then. They seemed not have a life beyond work. I don't know if it's still that way. Denso has a large factory where I live near Maryville, TN and I know several people that work, or have worked there. If you work in production, the hours can be long and time between off days long as well. Maybe that's why Denso and Rubbermaid are endlessly looking for people. And any comments that Americans are lazy and don't want to work will be ignored. Do you want to work 12 hour days on a swing shift?
The work dedication and work going first before family is still a common thing in Japan today. Not sure about the housing part.
In China however, everything you said is common practice TODAY. Oftentimes you'd find industrial parks wherein the workers of the factories and even offices live, eat, and sleep in the same facility.
All their food, housing, and even medical needs are covered by their workplace. They only get to return to their families during the Lunar New Year holidays.
It's tough, but for some of them they prefer it that way. Especially if they want to ease the burden off their families or it's still simply a better environment there than back home.
Then find some book about Ford... whole USSR industry was build on his ideas and the best part is that he hated communists and was very open about it but Stalin ordered to copy his factory system anyway.
I Worked as an electronics R&D tech for SONY America. Good company.
The founders of SONY were amazing men. There were so many obstacles that would have made normal people just give up.
I'm 71 and I had a '14 transistor' radio which my grandparents bought for me. Even though "Made in Japan" was something Americans looked down on at the time you couldn't beat having a radio that would fit in your pocket and take anywhere.
Transistor radios changed society, similar to the iPhone.
SONI it was called in the early days. But this wasn’t well received in the US. So they changed it to SONY.
The SONY logo has also changed two or three times from the beginning
In '63 I traded my bicycle for a broken transistor radio. I then figured out how to fix it I've done electronics ever since. I even ended up working for SONY.
21:27 Wow damn I wish I had someone telling me that while I was growing up
I have a long time Japanese friend by same sure name. your talk...........
It is more than just technical knowledge and facts.
Can't wait for Part 2 ;)
I remember playing with transistors in the 1950's when the most advanced transistors had designations like "NP21"
If you enjoyed that, read Akio Morita’s book, Made in Japan. He’s absolutely fascinating.
What a different world and an agile people able to asset their position in the world.
The SONY; BVM-HX3110 Master Monitor....'nuff said. The C800 microphone holds its own too. Cheers.
Fixed typo
There is a story where Sony was shipping the early radios to the USA with batteries from Everready ( Union Carbide ) . Apparently these batteries were intended for non USA sales and Everready protested on the grounds that Sony was skirting the territory agreement.
One of the Sony founders ( Probable Morita ) went to the Everready HQ in the USA, to solve the problem. I don't remember the exact words but it was a mic drop event that went along the lines of " If a person in the US buys a Sony radio with an Everready battery, they are likely to buy the same brand as a replacement, therefor Everready will continue to see sales. " After saying this, he got up and walked out of the office.
This was effectively Steve Jobs asking John Sculley ( the CEO of Pepsi ) in he early days of Apple and was looking for a real CEO " : Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life? "
That's a terrible story, seems like fake news too
Poor analogy. Morita was not an asshole.
Eveready is the brand, where did you heard that story ?
@@boardernut It was in a book about Sony
Sony: a Private Life " John Nathan 1999 Page 64
There is an excerpt from a paper IMPORTING THE AMERICAN DREAM: JAPANESE HARDWARE AND SOFT POWER By Kenneth S. Klei at Harding edu ( page 10 )
@@wesjones1181 Sony: a Private Life " John Nathan 1999 Page 64
Another great one! Thank you.
Amazing vid. I had no idea Sony was intimately involved in transistors. Today they are market leaders in imaging sillicon.
So interesting. I hadn't realized that Sony did so much fundamental development work on transistors that long ago.
They've always been a famously independent company that resists partnering with others - that snubbing by MITI probably helped set them on that course.
The Transistor was discovered at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey.
Fantastic documentary. Well done...
That tape recorder looks like a UK Brenell or Ferrograph
I acquired a nakamichi 250 this week, a cassette portable, play-only. fifty years old, almost.
absolutely nothing wrong with it except some dried out grease in the idler paddle; now it's singing.
while I had it apart.... I wish I could post a pic here.... on the underside of the arm I had to take out, & absolutely invisible unless the machine was dismantled for servicing, was a sticker that said simply "japan".
there's a good book about sony- author is john nathan, & he tells the story of morita, ibuka, ohga, ohsone, the walkman, the CD, karajan, philips, sony's forays into computing, the movie business....
Good on you though I always watch every video
The legend says that they were trying to use the word "Sonny", like a nostalgic child name, but they mis-spelled it.
"The company name of Sony was created by combining two words of “sonus” and “sonny”. The word “sonus” in Latin represents words like sound and sonic. The other word “sonny” means little son."
Your videos are simply wonderful.
Better than any movie I've seen in recent years!
Next time I hit a roadblock, I’ll be sure to remember Ibuka!
This story is better than any movie. The rag tag bunch built something as awesome as Sony. Legendary !
21:28 what a legend! what a fucking legend!
One of the best channels on UA-cam...
Must read, Morito’s ‘The Japan That Can Say No’
Outstanding presentation... thank you
A very nice piece of reporting. Just shows what can be done if one have the will and a good team.
This Asianometry video was uploaded on September 3 ... the date when WW2 began !
Asianometry is a Japanese-wannabe.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 Wannabe what? The upload date was September the third you say: 2024 I presume not September the third 1939!
@@davidt7317
Asianometry is a pro-Japan propagandist.
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 That is rather a provocative statement! You have evidence of this, I presume. I have watched a number of Asianometry videos and have not seen particular Japanese bias, either pro or anti.
@@davidt7317
he has preference for Japan and Japanese.
The beginning sounds like the classic „startup company“ story. Yet today (you mentioned it in the Japan software industry video) that startup culture seems to have gotten lost over time.
If you run out of video ideas, I would like to see your analysis on how that startup culture got lost.
(Being German, where I see a similar development, I find the parallels and the subtle differences fascinating)
The biographic and background story makes this fantastic!! From going out to the country to collect rice and potatoes through serving what customers and benefactors they had... the trips to the United States and the denial to see the grown crystal process. They get up one more time than they fall and 'their foot is in the door!!' Isaiah 40:30 It is also neat years later John Goodenough had a design/knowledge for Lithium batteries and Sony went on to make that into a product and technology.
Unless you tried making a transistor (or IC) you have no idea how difficult it is. Excellent (simple) explanation + great details
Love the intro. Very clever lmao
Nice to see my friend Nick Lyons get a photo credit
Thank you. This was really good.
great video. Great narrative.
Great video as always!
Is there a way to download your podcast episodes? I don't use Spotify and would like to listen to it while offline.
Amazing content as usual. Thank you!
The thing that surprises me the most was the decision not to build a pilot plant!
Ibuka cannot be denied!
ah.... tokyo tsushin.... the 'totsu' screwdrivers we had in the service kits for the BVH broadcast VTRs....
neither slot nor cruciform, but somewhere in between, with the cross-piece of the driver's head sprung to capture or hold in place the released bolt. genius.
I can remember being the first kid in the neighborhood with an eight transistor radio. First small radio was a six transistor. Now I’ve got 80 billion transistors I’m using to type this.
Increible la historia, gran trabajo