How important is radio to Stockhausen?
Working in Cologne Radio for most of your adult professional life makes you a very organized person, even if you are already organized, as German people are taught to be. Working in a radio environment you learn about microphones and how to set up equipment, and the importance of exact documentation. And if you keep your ears open, you pick up interesting technical information. Radio was king in 1953. Television was still in its infancy. Though monophonic and relatively lo-fi, AM radio was the most powerful public service cultural medium, and in Germany the local radio station was a powerful patron of contemporary music. People listened to radio not only for the news, but for radio plays and classical music. And though music broadcasts were direct relays of live concert events, radio plays were a completely different art from the normal stage drama, and drew on a whole range of studio techniques to create entirely new and often fantastical aural images expressing inner voices and state
