World War II was the first conflict to take place in the age of electronically mass distributed music. By 1940 96.2% of Northeastern urban households in the United States of America had radio. The lowest group to take up, Southern Rural families still had 1 radio for every two households. During the Nazi rule radio ownership in Germany rose from 4 to 16 million households. As the major powers entered war millions of citizens had home radio devices that did not exist in the First World War. Also during the pre-war period sound was introduced to cinema and musicals were very popular.