Federal Radio Commission FRC

Radio broadcasting exploded in the early 1920s, and hundreds of stations crowded the same frequencies, drowning one another out. The Commerce Department assigned licenses, but in 1926 a federal court ruled that it had no power to deny them or assign frequencies, and the airwaves fell into chaos. Congress responded with the Radio Act, signed by President Calvin Coolidge on February 23, 1927, which created the Federal Radio Commission with five commissioners, one from each of five geographic zones.

The FRC established the principle, still central to broadcast law, that the airwaves belong to the public and that stations could be licensed only if they served the public interest, convenience, or necessity. It assigned frequencies, power levels, and hours of operation, and its General Order 40 of 1928 reorganized the radio band, creating powerful clear-channel stations that could be heard across the country at night. It also denied renewals to some stations it found did not serve the public, decisions upheld by the courts.

Critics charged that the FRC favored large commercial and network stations at the expense of educational, labor, and religious broadcasters, many of which lost frequencies or air time. As telephone, telegraph, and radio regulation remained divided among agencies, President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress for a single communications regulator, and the Communications Act, signed on June 19, 1934, replaced the FRC with the Federal Communications Commission, which began work on July 11, 1934. The public interest standard the FRC applied remains the basis of broadcast licensing today.