Hey! Where’s the Remote?
The history of the remote control unit is a long and tricky story. There are many theories of the development and subsequent psychological meanings of this magical electronic device. If you search on the internet, you might read some supposedly definitive narration of events, most of which are enfiladed with wobbly myths and dewey facts. We are here to bring the true story of this modern necessity of the current age. As usual, we turn to the faultless tomes from the library of the University of Taurus Foemus in Bolgna, Italy. The research was mostly completed by Professor Aldo de la Cella. This sober and unbiased narration of the events is summarized here.
The technology is not anything new. The ancient Chinese were already using it centuries ago. During the lazy, crazy, hot summer days of Fifth century Peking, the mandarins would have their servants perform puppet shows and other entertainments. If they tired of one show, at the clap of their hands, the show would hurriedly change to something different. At the same time, other servants pulled on ropes that manipulated ceiling fans, cooling off the masters as they languished on cushiony chairs that were the prototypes of the modern day recliners.
After this, there were few innovations or improvements until Ben Franklin invented electricity some years back. Still nothing was new on the remote front. It would be once again in the Orient that the next leap forward was taken. Sometime in the early 1930’s in Japan, three cousins, Herm Toshiba, Marvin Sony and Verne Sanyo, got together to work on the device in Marvin’s garage. Unfortunately for all of us, their work was interrupted by a little inconvenience, World War II. Once the country was cleaned up and straightened back out, the work was resumed in the 1950’s.
The early r&d was difficult and full of problems. The first units had to be directed at another person and when the button was pressed, it would produce a charge of sufficient voltage to induce that person to run up to the television and change the channel. There were a few snags with these tests. After a few test runs, using Marvin’s wife as the receiver, the plans were quickly dropped as impractical. As soon as Marv got out of the hospital, and his wife out of jail, the tests resumed with a renewed fury. They began to focus on directing the remote toward the television. They were now rewarded with success. The remote was able to turn the television off and on and also change stations. Unfortunately, there was only one channel available in Japan at the time, so work was delayed until more channels were invented. This happened soon, and a finished product was now available for sale along with a television.
Some people might be thinking: “what about America? Weren’t we working on this gadget as well?” Sadly this was not the case. There was not a need for it. If you remember your history, back in the 1950’s the baby boom was in full bloom. Most American families had a number of kids. When the old man sat down after dinner, and got onto his couch or favorite chair for a night of television, he didn’t require a remote. He could direct one of his minions to hop up and change the channel for him. Also at this time, television stations usually went off the air around midnight. Many Americans became addicted to falling asleep with the television set on and would then jump to attention as the national anthem was played at the sign off. They family was then paraded off to be in respectful silence.
In the ensuing years, the size of the American family would dwindle, children became a little more rebellious and the desire for some kind of remote control device grew in the minds of the entertained. American television scientists quickly set to work to invent something to satisfy this new craving. Unbeknownst to them, this invention was already lurking in the East and was about to descend upon the country in a crescendo of electronic imports. In the early 1960’s we were warned of the impending deluge that would quickly overwhelm our electronic inventors.
A second cousin of Herm Toshiba was a disgruntled investor who had put up some yen in the start up, but was later cut out of the syndicate in a power play by Herm. This cousin, Kyu Sakamoto by name, cut a pop record and had it sent to the disc jockeys all over America. While this song “Suki Yaki” became a giant hit in the States, everyone ignored the warnings that Kyu had slipped into the lyrics. Since not many of the listeners could understand Japanese, the song was assumed to be a love song. The chorus even said: “ there is a tidal wave of electronics coming your way, your companies will not have a chance, beware” If the warnings had been heeded, history as we know it would be radically different today.
So this invention, the remote, the clicker, the channel changer, the thing we can never find— came to America changing the country and the people forever. This piece of plastic electronics, has created just as many problems as it solved. These problems , physical, emotional , psychological and economically , are further covered in other chapters of this study be de la Cella, and can be reviewed at the University, or will be covered at a later date.
copyright 2018