A closer look
Listening to jazz in 1920s Germany required dodging government audio inspectors. When the Weimar Republic launched its first public radio broadcasts, the paranoid state made it incredibly illegal to own a receiver without paying a steep monthly fee. To crack down on the massive wave of 'Schwarzhörer' (black listeners) who built DIY crystal sets in their bedrooms, the government literally empowered postal workers to roam neighborhoods looking for suspicious wire antennas dangling from windows.
