Editing Golden Age of Radio (section)

===Government regulation===
Although radio was well established with United States consumers by the mid-1920s, regulation of the broadcast medium presented its own challenges. Until 1926, broadcast radio power and frequency use was regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, until a legal challenge rendered the agency powerless to do so.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1926-07-09|title=Hoover Advised That He Has No Authority Over the Radio Rules|page=2|work=The Herald Statesman|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60856634/hoover-advised-that-he-has-no-authority/|access-date=2020-10-10}}</ref> Congress responded by enacting the [[Radio Act of 1927]], which included the formation of the [[Federal Radio Commission]] (FRC).

One of the FRC's most important early actions was the adoption of [[General Order 40]],<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112106763078&view=1up&seq=415 "General Order No. 40 (August 30, 1928)"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', August 31, 1928, pp. 9–10.</ref> which divided stations on the AM band into three power level categories, which became known as Local, Regional, and Clear Channel, and reorganized station assignments. Based on this plan, effective 3:00&nbsp;a.m. Eastern time on November 11, 1928, most of the country's stations were assigned to new transmitting frequencies.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3221814&view=1up&seq=244 "Broadcasting Stations by Wave Lengths, Effective November 11, 1928"], ''Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the United States'' (Edition June 30, 1928), pp. 172–176.</ref>