[SamBam]

Orthogonal to the main point of the article, I was interested in the mention of Victor Papanek's tin can radio receiver, which apparently cost 9c to make (presumably the cost of the transistor, since everything else was recycled), and could be fueled by burning wax or dung.

I haven't been able to find a simple guide for how to make one myself.

[failrate]

It sounds similar to a trench radio, in which case it is entirely passive (like a cat's whisker radio), and used a flame source to treat the surface of a razor blade upon which the needle was sat.

[password4321]

Not super useful without a tuner, receiving every frequency at once.

Perhaps the next step up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxhole_radio

[SamBam]

Apparently it would only receive one frequency (presumably tuned when made). The target was for developing countries that might have only a single state-run station.

[password4321]

"The radio is, of course, non-directional. This means that it receives all stations simultaneously. But in emerging countries, this is of no importance: only one broadcast (carried by relay towers 50 miles apart) is carried."

Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change ©1971 pg. 162 https://archive.org/details/designforrealwor0000papa/page/16...

[SamBam]

Ah, misunderstood that. Ok, so fairly useless in a place with many stations.

[mikewarot]

Odds are that 9 cents is the production cost in massive quantity. A single unit might be days of work and a few dollars of parts. (Inflation)