At the beginning of 1924, there were a total of 1,500 users (licensed radio receivers) across all of Germany. A year later....going into the first week of January 1925, there were 549,000 licensed receivers in the country. It was the 'rage'.
The original fee, to have a yearly registration (don't ask why it had to be license), was 60 Reich Marks per year. For those who aren't familiar with Reich Marks, they existed as the national currency of Germany from 1924 to 1948. I should add that the Reich Mark only came about because of the massive inflation after WW I, and it was a paperwork solution to counter the spiral of the Papiermark.
I spent a fair amount of time trying find the average monthly salary for Germans in this 1924/1924 era, and mostly failed. One fact sitting out there suggested that a typical worker in the 1932 timeframe made around 1,300 RMs per month. So this 60 RMs per year wasn't an outragious cost fact (if you were middle-to-upper class).
What brought about the higher usage? In the spring of 1924, the Frankfurt station went and added two unique evening shows to their features....a dance-music 'hour', and a youth-hour. Both showed that the public appeal was for entertainment needs a plus-up.
Toward the middle of 1924, an odd thing happened.....'radio-fever' became a term used quiet often, and the radio license fee dropped in a dramatic fashion (to 2 RM per month).
In the summer of 1924, the Frankfurt station added a major drama....Lancelot and Sanderein. This became a major hit with the public in the Hessen region.
Before the end of summer, radio advertisements had been added (they hadn't existed prior to that point). That dynamic began to show profitability of the shows, and increased more production of radio products.
By the end of 1924, there were over 70 companies producing 'approved' radios in Germany. I should note here as well....that roughly two dozen 'black' companies existed out there and were producing radios not recognized by the government. Why the need for recognition existed....has never been explained to me. In the fall of 1925, the government finally relented on 'stamping' its approval on radio construction, and quit the practice.
By the end of 1925, Germany had one-million licensed radios around the entire nation. If you go and figure four to six residents in each house....virtually the entire upper and working-class had one in their home.
In 1926, a remarkable event occurred where the development of a 'cheap' radio was finally developed (Loewe). The OE333 is referred to, as changing the audience level, and giving virtually everyone a chance to have a radio in their home. Total cost in 1926? 100 RM (note, just for radio....the antenna and cable would been an added expense).
By the end of 1929, there were three-million licensed radios within Germany. In a four-short-year period....they went from 1,500 to three-million.
Laying the path for the Nazi upswing? There is some evidence to show that the Weimar government used regulations to stunt and hold back the Nazis all the way up to the 1930 period.
In the fall of 1933....the Nazi Party put up on a major display the newest and greatest model of radio....the Volksempfänger (the People's Radio). This cheap radio could be bought for 76 RM. With this and Goebbels leading the propaganda campaign, the Nazi Party was absolutely locked into place by the 1936 period.
Yes, in roughly one single decade, a box had found its way into every single home within Germany, and transformed the the focus of the nation to one single political stance.
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