By Phil Roberts, 9-19-25
The Federal Communications Commission was established under the FCC Act, passed by Congress in the 1930s, as an outgrowth of the Radio Act of 1927. One purpose was to eliminate the utter chaos on the radio dial. (I did an extensive article on this the first year I came to UWyo, when I was asked days before the semester started if I would teach an additional class, outside of already-assigned Wyoming and western history classes in another department. The scheduled instructor abruptly quit to take another job, leaving some 30-40 journalism seniors with the inability to enroll in the required course in mass media law they needed for graduation. Fun class, great students–many are friends to this day)). My radio research actually happened during my history doctoral program after conversations with the late Dr. Bill Ames, journalism history professor and political official. Some of my research came from the Pacific Northwest Collection at Washington, also radio/TV archives in Arizona, Utah, and National Archives. But a very important part was from the Robert Howell collection in Nebraska. Howell was one of the first U. S. Senate candidates in the nation to campaign on radio (1920s). He rigged up a portable transmitter in his car backseat ad trunk, drove across Nebraska, set it up just before arriving at a town, then broadcast information to everyone in radio range what his platform was and where they could meet him, in person, in town later that day. He covered the entire state. One surprising finding from Howell’s successful “radio campaign”– the thousands of letters and comments he got from Nebraskans now owning radios–it was the new national rage– complaining that more powerful radio signals, many coming from cities like Chicago and New York (and ones broadcast by seed companies in Iowa) drowned out local, less powerful signals. And it would happen all day as broadcasters kept skipping their signals across to less crowded parts of the dial. Howell, a Republican, concluded that the only way to provide some order to the chaotic system was to have special government regulation. He stressed NOT to oversee content–he did not believe in government and politicians deciding on content–only on the technical side of radio signals. The Radio Act of 1927 recognized this important distinction and as years went by and new acts were passed by Congress, it remained in effect. even in the television age. Others saw an additional benefit that regulating only the technical parts of broadcasting could allow -signal strength to be set, thus limiting what huge broadcast transmitters could send, even though they were capable of generating 500,000 watts or more (compared to 10 watts for some local stations). The government role was never meant to be used as a cudgel to punish political opponents or try to abridge free speech. It was to recognize abuse that small operators were being forced to confront.
tRump and his FCC head evidently don’t know this history or the “free speech” rationale for “regulation.” They want a return to the chaos before government regulation to block any criticism of them being broadcast.. They are intent on destroying local media, too–not owned and controlled by them or their stooges (no offense to Moe, Larry, and Curly.