Editing Federal Radio Commission (section)

====Davis Amendment implementation====
{{Main|Davis Amendment}}

Section 9 of the 1927 Act included a general declaration about the need to equitably distribute station assignments, stating: "In considering applications for licenses and renewals of licenses, when and in so far as there is a demand for the same, the licensing authority shall make such a distribution of licenses, bands of frequency of wave lengths, periods of time for operation, and of power among the different States and communities as to give fair, efficient, and equitable radio service to each of the same."<ref name="1927act"/> The 1928 reauthorization strengthened this mandate, by including a provision, known as the "[[Davis Amendment]]" after its sponsor Representative [[Ewin L. Davis]] (D-Tennessee), that required "a fair and equitable allocation of licenses, wave lengths, time for operation, and station power to each of the States, the District of Columbia, the Territories and possessions of the United States within each zone, according to population".<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073347521&view=1up&seq=4 "An Act Continuing for one year the powers and authority of the Federal Radio Commission under the Radio Act of 1927"], approved March 28, 1928, page 2.</ref> This resulted in an additional degree of complexity, for in addition to stations being judged on their individual merits, the commission had to monitor whether in heavily populated areas a decision would cause a zone or state to exceed its calculated quota.

In cases where two or more stations shared a common frequency on a timesharing basis, a station could petition the FRC to have its hours of operation increased by having the other stations deleted. A prominent example under the FRC's jurisdiction occurred when a Gary, Indiana station, WJKS, proposed the deletion of its two timeshare partners, WIBO and WPCC, both located in Chicago, Illinois. A major justification was that Indiana was currently under-quota based on the Davis Amendment provisions, while Illinois had exceeded its allocation. The commission ruled in favor of WJKS, however the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia reversed the decision, calling it "arbitrary and capricious". The FRC appealed the lower court decision to the Supreme Court, stating that the issue impacted 116 separate cases pending before it.<ref name="WIBO-WPCC"/>

A unanimous Supreme Court overturned the District Court, and ruled in FRC's favor, upholding the validity of the Davis Amendment provisions.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting04unse#page/n314/mode/1up/ "Readjustments Loom as WIBO Loses Fight"] by Sol Taishoff, ''Broadcasting'', May 15, 1933, pages 5-6, 27.</ref> WIBO made a final attempt to convince the FRC that the expression of strong ties to Indiana by WJKS was fraudulent, and WJKS's owners were really attempting to establish another Chicago station. This appeal was unsuccessful, and both WIBO and WPCC had to cease broadcasting. In 1934 the Davis Amendment provisions were carried over to the FCC, but they were repealed on June 5, 1936.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting10unse#page/13/mode/1up/ "Davis Amendment Repeal Lifts Quota Bar"], ''Broadcasting'', June 15, 1936, pages 13, 40.</ref> In 1944 WJKS, after changing its call letters to [[WIND (AM)|WIND]], moved from Gary to Chicago.