WM-FX251

The WM-FX251 is an entry-level FX-series radio Walkman that paired an FM/AM tuner with Mega Bass inside a compact plastic body powered by two AA batteries. The controls were deliberately simple, the cassette side stayed basic, and the overall object avoided auto-reverse, Dolby, or more elaborate tuner behavior in favor of straightforward combined radio-and-tape listening. It was a low-cost all-in-one portable with very little excess.

This kind of radio Walkman suggests just how everyday the category had become. By 1997, Sony no longer needed a model like this to feel advanced. The FX251 sits in the broad everyday center of the line, where tape and broadcast listening were simply expected to live together in one inexpensive object.