The Third Reich and microphones

I live in Germany and am shopping for a speech microphone for my Podcast at DorfRadio.com. While researching which one to get (Neumann are the best for what I try to do, but they are also the most expensive) I came across this really interesting NPR piece on a couple who’s building cheap microphones based on famous, usually expensive, microphones.

Almost in passing they explain how the Third Reich used newly created microphones to give guys like Hitler and Göring the ability to broadcast better sounding speeches than had been heard on radio before. Everything the couple knows they learned from the guy who built them.

The technology was then adapted and used by Frank Sinatra and the Beatles. Funny how that sometimes works.

If you want to listen to it, you can find it here: link