Editing Federal Radio Commission (section)

===Selected major FRC actions===

The most critical issue the FRC faced at the time of its creation was an excess of broadcasting stations, which now numbered 732, all on the AM band. (The FM broadcast band would not be created until 1941). There were some significant technical restraints on the number of stations that could operate simultaneously. At night, a change in the ionosphere allows radio signals, especially from more powerful stations, to travel hundreds of kilometers. In addition, at this time transmitter frequency stability was often limited, which meant that stations broadcasting on nominally the same frequency often were actually slightly offset from each other, which produced piercing high-pitched "heterodyne" interference at even greater distances than the mixing of their audio. Another tool that was not yet available was directional antennas that could restrict signals to specified directions. Overall, the main tools available for insuring quality reception was limiting the number of stations operating concurrently, which meant restricting some stations to daytime-only operation, and in many cases requiring time-sharing, where up to four stations in a given region had to divide up the hours each used on a single frequency.

====General Order 32====
{{Main|General Order 32}}

On May 3, 1927, the FRC made the first of a series of temporary frequency assignments, which served to reassign the stations operating on Canadian frequencies, and also eliminate "split-frequency" operations that fell outside of the standard of transmitting on frequencies evenly divided by 10&nbsp;kHz.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112106763078&view=1up&seq=60 "List of broadcasting stations issued temporary permits"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', April 30, 1927, pages 6-14.</ref> The FRC conducted a review and census of the existing stations, then notified them that if they wished to remain on the air they had to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112106763078&view=1up&seq=205 "Extension of Broadcasting Station Licenses"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', December 31, 1927, page 7.</ref>

After reviewing the applications, on May 25, 1928, the FRC issued General Order 32, which notified 164 stations that the initial review had found their justification for receiving a license insufficient, and they would have to attend a hearing in Washington, D.C. Moreover, "At this hearing, unless you can make an affirmative showing that public interest, convenience, or necessity will be served by the granting of your application, it will be finally denied."<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c021003683&view=1up&seq=182 "Letter to and list of stations included in General Order No. 32, issued May 25, 1928"], ''Second Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (year ending June 30, 1928), pages 147-150.</ref>

Many low-powered independent stations were eliminated, although eighty-one stations did survive, most with reduced power. Educational stations fared particularly poorly. They were usually required to share frequencies with commercial stations and operate during the daytime, which was considered of limited value for adult education.

====General Order 40====
{{Main|General Order 40}}

With the roster of stations now reduced to a somewhat more manageable level, the FRC next embarked on a major reorganization of broadcasting station frequency assignments. On August 30, 1928, the Commission issued General Order 40, which defined a "broadcast band" consisting of 96 frequencies from 550 to 1500&nbsp;kHz. Six frequencies were restricted for exclusive use Canadian stations, leaving 90 available for the slightly fewer than 600 U.S. stations.<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, pages 9-10.</ref> The new assignments went into effect on November 11, 1928.<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), pages 172-176.</ref>

Forty of the available frequencies were reserved for high-powered "clear channel" stations, which in most cases had only a single station with an exclusive nationwide assignment. Although generally accepted as being successful on a technical level of reducing interference and improving reception, there was also a perception that large companies and their stations had received the best assignments. Commissioner Ira E. Robinson publicly dissented, stating that: "Having opposed and voted against the plan and the allocations made thereunder, I deem it unethical and improper to take part in hearings for the modification of same".<ref>[https://archive.org/details/radiobroadcast14gardrich/page/163/mode/1up "Commissioner Robinson Stands Firm"], ''Radio Broadcast'', January 1929, pages 163-164.</ref> Some later economic analysis has concluded that the early radio regulation policies reflected [[regulatory capture]] and [[rent-seeking]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Hazlett | first=Thomas W. | title=Physical Scarcity, Rent-Seeking and the First Amendment | journal=[[Columbia Law Review]] | date=May 1997 | volume=97 | issue=4 | pages=905–944 | doi=10.2307/1123311 | jstor=1123311 }}</ref>

====WGY assignment====
Most of the FRC decisions reviewed by the courts were upheld, however a notable exception involved WGY in Schenectady, New York, a long established high-powered station owned by General Electric. Under the November 11, 1928, reassignment plan, WGY was limited to daytime hours plus evening hours until sunset in Oakland, California, where KGO, transmitting on the same frequency, was located. Previously, WGY had operated with unlimited hours. On February 25, 1929, the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia ruled that restricting WGY's hours "was unreasonable and not in the public interest, convenience or necessity"<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011384305&view=1up&seq=402 "Litigation"] (WGY case), ''Third Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (Covering the period from October 1, 1928, to November 1, 1929), page 72.</ref> The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take the FRC's appeal, but following oral arguments declined to issue a ruling, after deciding that under current legislation it did not have oversight, thus allowing the lower court ruling to stand.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011384305&view=1up&seq=504 "The WGY Cases"], ''Fourth Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (For the fiscal year 1930), pages 50-51.</ref>

====KFKB deletion====
{{Main|John R. Brinkley#Brinkley's first radio station}}

KFKB was a popular Milford, Kansas broadcasting station, licensed to an organization controlled by John R. Brinkley, known as "The Goat Gland Doctor" due to his promotion of "sexual rejuvenation" surgery that included implantation of slivers of goat testes.

In 1930 the Federal Radio Commission denied his request for renewal, primarily on the grounds that, instead of being operated as a public service, the station was primarily being run as "a mere adjunct of a particular business". (In one of Brinkley's programs he read listener mail describing medical issues, then recommended medication of dubious value, identified by numbers, over the air. Listeners had to visit a Brinkley "kick back" pharmacy to purchase these items.)

Brinkley appealed on the grounds that this was prohibited censorship, but the [[United States Court of Appeals|U.S. Court of Appeals]] denied his appeal, stating "This contention is without merit. There has been no attempt on the part of the commission to subject any part of appellant's broadcasting matter to scrutiny prior to its release. In considering the question whether the public interest, convenience, or necessity will be served by a renewal of appellant's license, the commission has merely exercised its undoubted right to take note of appellant's past conduct, which is not censorship."<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011384305&view=1up&seq=599 "The Brinkley Case"], ''Fifth Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (Fiscal year 1931), pages 67-68.</ref>

Denied this station, Brinkley moved his operations to a series of powerful Mexican outlets located on the U.S. border, which helped to lead to implementation of the [[North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement]] in 1941.

====KGEF deletion====
{{Main|Trinity Methodist Church, South v. Federal Radio Commission}}

KGEF was a broadcasting station first licensed in late 1926 to Trinity Methodist Church, South, in downtown Los Angeles.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435066938390&view=1up&seq=42 "New Stations"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', December 31, 1926, page 4.</ref> Its programming was dominated by long denunciations made by pastor [[Robert P. Shuler|Robert "Fighting Bob" Shuler]],<ref>Not to be confused with the Robert Schuller of the [[Crystal Cathedral]] a generation later.</ref> who stated that he operated the station in order to "make it hard for the bad man to do wrong in the community", but his strident broadcasts soon became very controversial.<ref name="smead"/> After a 1931 evaluation of the station's renewal application, chief examiner Ellis A. Yost expressed misgivings about Shuler's "extremely indiscreet" broadcasts, but recommended approval.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1931-08-11/ed-1/seq-21/ "Rev. Bob Shuler Wins Radio Plea"], ''Washington (D.C.) Evening Star'', August 11, 1931, Page B-5.</ref> However, a review by the Commission concluded that the station should be deleted, because it "...could not determine that the granting thereof was in the [[public interest]]; that the programs broadcast by its principal speaker were sensational rather than instructive and in two instances he had been convicted of attempting over the radio to obstruct orderly administration of public justice".<ref name="KGEF">[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011384305&view=1up&seq=709 "Trinity Methodist Church Case"], ''Seventh Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (Fiscal year 1933), page 11.</ref>

The [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit|Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia]] affirmed the Commission's decision and held that, despite [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] protections:  "...this does not mean that the Government, through agencies established by Congress, may not refuse a renewal license to one who has abused it to broadcast defamatory and untrue matter. In that case there is not a denial of the freedom of speech but merely the application of the regulatory power of Congress in a field within the scope of its legislative authority".<ref name="KGEF"/> The court also ruled that denying license renewal as not in the public interest did not violate the Fifth Amendment's prohibition of "taking of property" without due process of law.<ref>[https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1932-12-04/ed-1/seq-57/ "Third Crusader is Taken off the Air"], ''Washington (D.C.) Evening Star'', December 4, 1932, Part 4, page 5.</ref> This ruling became final after a petition for ''writ of certiorari'' requesting review by United States Supreme Court was denied.<ref name="WIBO-WPCC">[https://archive.org/stream/broadcasting04unse#page/n133/mode/1up/ "Government Petitions Supreme Court To Review Ruling in WIBO-WPCC Case"], ''Broadcasting'', February 15, 1933, page 28.</ref>

====WNYC assignment====

Under the November 11, 1928, reorganization, [[WNYC (AM)|WNYC]], the municipal station of New York City, was given a half-time, low-power assignment. The station appealed on the grounds that it should have been given a full-time authorization, but lost. Even though the station was government owned, the Federal Radio Commission said that city ownership did not give the station any special standing under the "public interest, convenience, and necessity" standard.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015011384305&view=1up&seq=403 "Litigation"] (WNYC), ''Third Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (Covering the period from October 1, 1928, to November 1, 1929), pages 73-74.</ref> However, the case was viewed as representative of the preferences given to commercial interests above those of non-commercial stations.

====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.