The century is nearly over, and what has become of the radio? A recent pop song with the title "Video Kills the Radio Star" makes one wonder if the radio is still up-to-date or if it is rather outdated, having been replaced by today's multitude of visual media. This is the topic of our latest special exhibition. It is part of the country-wide program of the "Kultursommer Rheinland-Pfalz" ("Summer of Culture in Rhenania-Palatinate") and was prepared by the museum in cooperation with the collector Reinhard Kautenburger.

The exhibition deals with the history of the radio as a medium as well as with the development of radio devices. Nearly all of the radios presented are fully workable, and in addition to this the visitors can listen to old records and radio recordings. So we have more to offer than just the opportunity to see a lot of old equipment. We take a look at the radio as a transmitter of news, culture, events and experiences.

Through the radio, the whole world "entered the living-room", at least accoustically. The exhibition attempts to trace back the changes this produced in people's way of living and thinking. In fact, the invention and spreading of the radio was the first step into the age of communication.

The special exhibition is supplemented by a number of presentations in other parts of the museum, where the radio appears in a special context. Thus, the beginning of the radio age is documented by an original device from the 1920s in the old village pub, and the time of Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s is present in the furnishing of the house "Trappitschens" in the Hunsrueck village, which according to the fashion of the day includes a radiogram.