Volksempfänger

Goebbels realized the great propaganda potential of this relatively new medium and thus considered the widespread availability of receivers highly important.

The VE301 was available at a readily affordable price of 76 ℛ︁ℳ︁ (equivalent to two weeks' average salary), and a cheaper 35 ℛ︁ℳ︁ model (only a little more than the average weekly wage of 32 ℛ︁ℳ︁, available on an installment plan to bring it within the budget of all German families[1][2]), the DKE38 (sometimes called Goebbels-Schnauze – "Goebbels' snout" – by the general public)[3] fitted with a multisection vacuum tube, was also later produced, along with a series of other models under the Volksempfänger, Gemeinschaftsempfänger, KdF (Kraft durch Freude), DKE (Deutscher Kleinempfänger), and other brands.

The Volksempfänger was designed to be produced as cheaply as possible; as a consequence they generally lacked shortwave bands and did not follow the practice, common at the time, of marking the approximate dial positions of major European stations on its tuning scale.

Penalties ranged from fines and confiscation of radios to, particularly later in the war, sentencing to a concentration camp or capital punishment.

On later models, the glass tuning dial was imprinted with the names of German and Austrian cities corresponding to the frequencies of broadcast stations located in them.

Historian Oliver Rathkolb called it a "vital element of success" in spreading the Nazi ideology "which could not be ignored by the majority of the German population".

[17] Popularly derided as Rentnerradio (Pensioners radio) or Ulbricht-vogel (Ulbricht's Bird) production was discontinued in light of sluggish sales.

[18] In 1946 a small number of DKE38 and VE-301 "Ludowy" (People's) receivers were produced at the formerly German held radio factory in Dzierżoniów, Poland.