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Congress and the Control of Radio-broadcasting, I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Carl J. Friedrich  and
Evelyn Sternberg
Carl J. Friedrich
Affiliation:
Radio-broadcasting Research Project at Harvard University
Evelyn Sternberg
Affiliation:
Radio-broadcasting Research Project at Harvard University
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Extract

I. THE PROBLEM

Ever since the first regularly scheduled public radio-broadcast in 1920, Congress has played a unique and central rôle in the control of radio-broadcasting. As an agency for legislation, it has created the regulatory mechanisms under which the radio industry functions, and it has written the laws which govern this important area of communications. Congress, in fact, has set the pattern within which the various groups and interests operate, subject, of course, to the working rules of the capitalist order. In doing so, Congressmen have been at the beck and call of millions of constituents interested in radio as listeners or broadcasters, as educators or clergymen, as big or little business men. In caring for all of these varying interests, Congress has concerned itself with a few broad problems: what is heard on the radio, who shall control what is heard, who is able to hear what goes over the air, and who profits from radio. But Senators and Representatives are not merely the puppets of various pressures; they have a distinct political interest in programming, profits, and control. They have in radio a potent molder of public opinion—a powerful instrument which can help them to victory or defeat in the next election—and they have used it and will continue to use it to serve their personal fortunes, their parties, and their platforms.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 37 , Issue 5 , October 1943 , pp. 797 - 818
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1943

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References

1 A number of general studies of radio-broadcasting which touch incidentally on the problems of government and control have been published in recent years. Among these should be noted: Chase, Francis Jr., Sound and Fury (Harper, 1942)Google Scholar; Dryer, S. H., Radio in Wartime (Greenberg, 1942)Google Scholar; Friedrich, C. J., Radiobroadcasting and Higher Education (Studies in the Control of Radio, No. 4)Google Scholar; Landry, R. J., Who, What, Why is Radio? (Stewart, 1942)Google Scholar; Lazarsfeld, P. F., Radio and the Printed Page (Duell, 1940)Google Scholar; Rose, C. B. Jr., National Policy for Radio Broadcasting (Harper, 1940)Google Scholar; Sayre, Jeanette, An Analysis of the Radiobroadcasting Activities of Federal Agencies (Studies in the Control of Radio, No. 3)Google Scholar; Siepmann, C. A., “Radio and Education” (Studies in Philosophy and Education, Vol. IX, No. 1, 1941).Google Scholar Very important also is Cushman, R. E., “Independent Regulatory Commissions,” in Report of the President's Committee on Administrative Management (1937).Google Scholar

2 U. S. v. Zenith Radio Corporation, 12 F (2nd) 614.

3 Cong. Rec., 69th Cong., 1st Sess., Mar. 12, 1926, debate in House of Representatives on H. R. 9971.

4 H. R. 5589; H. R. 9108; H. R. 9971; and see H. Rept. No. 464, 69th Cong., 1st Sess., and Sen. Rept. No. 772, 69th Cong., 1st Sess.

5 Cong. Rec., 69th Cong., 1st Sess., Mar. 12, 1926, debate in House of Representatives on H. R. 9971.

6 Ibid.

7 See Conference Rept. on H. R. 9971, H. Rept. No. 1836, and Sen. Doc. No. 200, 69th Cong., 2nd Sess.

8 Cong. Rec., op. cit.

9 H. R. 7716. For the history of the Commission, see Schmeckebier, Laurence F., The Federal Radio Commission; Its History, Activities, and Organization (The Brookings Institution, 1932).Google Scholar

10 New York Times, Jan. 11, 1934, p. 29.

11 Ibid., Jan. 28, 1934, p. 28.

12 Ibid., Feb. 3, 1934, p. 12.

13 S. 2910; H. R. 8301; see Hearings before the Comm. on Interstate Commerce on S. 2910, U. S. Senate, 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., Mar. 9–15, 1934.

14 S. 3285.

15 New York Times, Apr. 14, 1934, p. 7.

16 Variety, May 8, 1934.

17 Cong. Rec., 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., May 15, 1934, debate on S. 3285, p. 8828 ff.

18 Variety, May 22, 1934.

19 Cong. Rec., 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., June 2, 1934, debate in House of Representatives on S. 3285.

20 See Conference Report on S. 3285, H. Rept. 1981, 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess.

21 Cong. Rec., 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., June 4, 1934, debate in House of Representatives on Conf. Rept. on S. 3285.

22 S. Res. 250; S. Res. 260; S. Res. 275.

23 H. Res. 394, by Representative Connery.

24 H. Res. 61.

25 Cong. Rec., 75th Cong., 1st Sess., Mar. 17, 1937, p. 2332.

26 Ibid.

27 S. Res. 149.

28 Cong. Rec., 75th Cong., 3rd Sess., p. 9323.

29 Ibid., p. 5284 ff.

30 H. Res. 92.

31 See Cong. Rec., 75th Cong., 3rd Sess., June 14, 1938, pp. 9313–9325, for this debate and the quotations below.

32 Ibid., p. 9578.

33 H. Res. 462.

34 S. Res. 300.

35 H. Res. 51.

36 H. Res. 426.

37 H. Res. 21.

38 Cong. Rec., 78th Cong., 1st Sess., Jan. 19, 1943. See also H. Res. 55 by Rep. Sparkman, Jan. 18, 1943, to broaden investigation to cover the industry.

39 Variety, June 13, 1934.

40 See Hearings before the Committee on Interstate Commerce, U. S. Senate, 76th Cong., 3rd Sess., on Nomination of Thad H. Brown for Reappointment as Federal Communications Commissioner.

41 Cong. Rec., 77th Cong., 2nd Sess., Jan. 22, 1942.

42 Administrative Procedure in Government Agencies, Part III, p. 59. Sen. Doc. No. 186, 76th Cong., 3rd Sess.

43 Ibid.

44 Variety, Feb. 21, 1940.

45 Ibid., Nov. 4, 1942.

46 S. Res. 28, Dec. 7, 1931; S. Res. 71, Dec. 14, 1931; S. Res. 29, Mar. 15, 1933; S. Res. 93, Mar. 15, 1937.

47 Cong. Rec., 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., June 2, 1934, p. 10309.

48 “Radio Needs a Revolution,” in Forum, Feb., 1934.

49 H. R. 8475.

50 Cong. Rec., 74th Cong., 1st Sess., Aug. 23, 1935, pp. 14310–14316.

51 H. Res. 61; H. Res. 92; S. Res. 149; H. Res. 321.

52 Cong. Rec., 75th Cong., 1st Sess., July 19, 1937, p. 7282.

53 Cong. Rec., 75th Cong., 1st Sess., July 6, 1937, p. 6786.

54 Report on Chain Broadcasting, FCC Commission Order No. 37, Docket No. 5060, May, 1941.

55 Hearings before Committee on Interstate Commerce, U. S. Senate, 76th Cong., 3rd Sess., on Nomination of Thad H. Brown for Reappointment as Federal Communications Commissioner, July–Aug., 1940.

56 S. 3649.

57 H. R. 7716.

58 Cong. Rec., 72nd Cong., 1st Sess., Feb. 10, 1932, pp. 3681–3705.

59 S. 2243.

60 S. Res. 294.

61 Cong. Rec., 76th Cong., 1st Sess., May 16, 1939, pp. 2020–2022 (Appendix).

62 H. R. 5497, 77th Cong., 2nd Sess.

63 Hearings before Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, 77th Cong., 2nd Sess., on H. R. 5497, Apr. 14–July 1, 1942.

64 See Hearings on H. R. 5497, Part 2, p. 687 ff.

65 See Hearings on H. R. 5497, Part 1, p. 397 ff.

66 See Hearings on H. R. 5497, Part 3, p. 1032 ff.

67 See Cong. Rec., 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., May 15, 1934, pp. 8828 ff.

68 Hearings before Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., on S. 2910, Mar. 9–15, 1934, pp. 184–192.

69 Hearings before Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., on H. R. 8301, Apr. 10, 1934, p. 151.

70 Cong. Rec., 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., May 15, 1934, p. 8842.

71 See Cong. Rec., 72nd Cong., 1st Sess., Apr 22, 1932, p. 8699.

72 S. 3015, Mar. 10, 1934; H. R. 8404, June 7, 1935; H. R. 3140, Jan. 18, 1937. S. 3550, Feb. 25, 1938; H. R. 9624, Feb. 25, 1938; H. R. 251 and H. R. 252, Jan 3, 1939; S. 517, Jan. 10, 1939; S. 575, Jan. 12, 1939; H. R. 123, Jan. 3, 1941; H. R. 6785, Mar. 13, 1942.

73 Cong. Rec., 74th Cong., 1st Sess., June 18, 1935, p. 9613.

74 Federal Communications Act, June 19, 1934, ch. 652, sec. 326, 48 Stat. 1091.

75 Op. cit., sec. 315, 48 Stat. 1088.

76 See Cong. Rec., 72nd Cong., 1st Sess., Apr. 11, 1932, p. 7862. See also “The Development of the Control of Advertising on the Air,” by Carl J. Friedrich and Jeanette Sayre, Studies in the Control of Radio, No. 1 (1940).

77 Cong. Rec., 75th Cong., 3rd Sess., Jan. 14, 1938, p. 560; Jan. 26, 1938, p. 357 (Appendix).

78 Cong. Rec., 74th Cong., 2nd Sess., Jan. 15, 1936, pp. 417–422; June 20, 1936, p. 10660.

79 Cong. Rec., 77th Cong., 2d Sess., June 9, 1942, p. 5260.

80 H. R. 7986.

81 Hearings before Committee on Merchant Marine, Radio, and Fisheries, House of Representatives, 73rd Cong., 2nd Sess., on H. H. 7986, Mar. 15–20, 1939, p. 158.

82 H. R. 9229, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., Aug. 23, 1935, p. 14399; S. 2755, S. 2756, S. 2757, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., July 8, 1937, p. 6893; S. 3515, 76th Cong., 3rd Sess., Mar. 5, 1940, p. 2337; H. R. 1082, 77th Cong., 1st Sess., Jan. 3, 1941, p. 20.

83 Broadcasting, July 28, 1941. See also July 14, 1941.

84 H. R. 8509.

85 Variety, Feb. 21, 1940, p. 23.

86 Cong. Rec., 76th Cong., 3rd Sess., p. 806 ff. (Appendix).

87 Ibid.

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