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The Radio Act of 1912 created an application and licensing system for radio and favored purposes of "public good." This "public good" mostly meant mass communication by the military and big businesses. -
During the first world war, the US Navy commandeered radio transmissions.
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US government contracted private company RCA, a pool of companies consisting of General Electric, Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Company, intended to keep US radios American owned & operated. -
AT&T's radio show introduced “toll broadcasting,” renting time/space on broadcasting for anyone willing to pay for it. -
This law replaced the Radio Act of 1912 by formalizing a regulatory institution called the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) and began dictating requirements for broadcasting and assigning frequencies for licensed broadcasters.
Photo shows O.H. Caldwell, an FRC member -
Broadcasting reformers challenged the commercial system of mass communication, creating tensions within US broadcasting culture.
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Despite attempts at reform, this act ultimately reinforced the 1927 compromise of FRC broadcasting standards, maintaining the commercial system. Additionally, the FRC was rebranded into the FCC with this act.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the act. -
The Second World War saw wide cooperation in war efforts from the nation's most popular stations, and made major advancements in international transmissions.
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At the end of the 1940’s, radio broadcast was so lucrative that the FCC initiated a freeze on all licenses issued from 1948-1952, affording large companies like NBC, CBS, and MBS 3-4 years of broadcasting with no competition.
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The quiz show scandals saw Herb Stempel whistle-blowing on the rigged nature of the quiz show Twenty-One and the reveal of many other quiz shows of the time engaging in similar acts of rigging to ensure higher ratings and more profits for sponsors. In the aftermath, the networks aligned themselves with “public interest” purposes, condemning the conspiracies, and took control of programming.