Guided Tour
The Beginnings of Radio and the Technology to build on: 1923-1933


Room Selector:       The Beginnings of Radio and the Technology to build on: 1923-1933    The Development of Tubes    Radio Broadcasting in the Third Reich: 1933-1939    From Gramophone to CD    Radio Broadcasting during World War II    Post-War Era    Sender der Post-War Era, UKW    The Fifties    From Magnetophone to Tape Recorder    Radio and TV in the German Democratic Republic    History of Television    From the Sixties to the Present and the Future    Next Room


1923: Inflation and unrest in the whole of the German Reich. Still live goes on, and something new appears on the horizon: radio! On 29 October, 1923, the lights went on in the studios of Berlin's »Voxhaus«: The first German radio station goes on air.

Detector Crystal

It was a long way until then. In 1896, Julielle Guglielmo Marconi managed to send the first wireless message which was of particular interest to shipping: In 1912, the Titanic was able to send out a »save our souls« radio message although it was of not much use...

The military, of course, had vested interests in the new technology, too. The technological boom began during World War I with many new radio operators. After 1918, radio knowledge was used for civilian applications, one could even put together a small DIY radio set, a detector receiver or something similar.

But it was not before 1923/24 when setting up a nation-wide network of transmitters began. In March 1924, Munich was first, then Nuremberg second in August 1924. However, they were rather week transmitters, but used in conurbations, they reached many potential listeners.

From today´s perspective, these radio sets seem rather bizarre but they are not so different from today´s as they may seem at first glance: All components stand separate from one another, the high-frequency amplifier -the actual receiver-, the low-frequency amplifier and the loudspeaker - nearly like today.

 Receiver Coils

Then they grow together in one housing, and finally, as from approx. 1930, even the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker is the first again to leave the »place under one roof« starting with the arrival of stereo sound in the sixties.

Telefunken Brochure

Radio companies appear on the market. Telefunken had been trendsetter since 1903. Siemens, AEG, Loewe, Lorenz, Hut etc. follow. Thousands of small back street companies crop up to try their luck on the market, only a handful survive. In the Fürth/Nuremberg area, Lumophon and TeKaDe make a name for themselves.

As early as in 1924, Bredow -who was the major force behind radio technology in Germany- inititated the first radio exhibition (»Funkausstellung«) to force the sale of radio sets. The first units were presented in early autumn, but they were expensive. Xmas, however, radio sales boomed.

In 1933, 4.5 million radio sets were found in German households with nearly 500,000 more new radio fans per year... And this despite inflation and the world economic crises since 1929.


Room Selector:       The Beginnings of Radio and the Technology to build on: 1923-1933    The Development of Tubes    Radio Broadcasting in the Third Reich: 1933-1939    From Gramophone to CD    Radio Broadcasting during World War II    Post-War Era    Sender der Post-War Era, UKW    The Fifties    From Magnetophone to Tape Recorder    Radio and TV in the German Democratic Republic    History of Television    From the Sixties to the Present and the Future    Next Room


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