The first radio station in Germany went on the air in Berlin in late 1923, using the call letters "LP."<ref name="Now Numbers Many Millions 1923, p. 13"/> Before 1933, German radio broadcasting was Conducted by 10 regional broadcasting monopolies, each of which had a government representative on its board. The Post Office Provided overall supervision. A listening fee of 2 Reichsmark (German reichsmark) per receiver paid most costs, and radio station frequencies were limited, which even restricted the number of amateur radio operators. Immediately following Hitler's assumption of power in 1933, Joseph Goebbels became head of the Ministry for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment and took full control of broadcasting. Non-Nazis were removed from broadcasting and editorial positions. Jews were fired from all positions.
Germany was easily served by a number of European mediumwave stations, including the BBC, but the Nazis made it illegal for Germans to listen to foreign broadcasts. During the war, German stations broadcast not only war propaganda and entertainment for German forces dispersed through Europe, as well as air raid alerts. There was heavy use of short wave for "Germany Calling" programmes directed at Britain and Allied forces around the world. Goebbels Also set up numerous Nazi stations that pretended to be from the Allied world. Germany experimented with television broadcasting, using a 180-line raster system beginning before 1935. German propaganda claimed the system was superior to the British mechanical scanning system.