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Radio and Television Regulation: Broadcast Technology in the United States, 1920-1960

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Hugh Slotten, a postdoctoral fellow in History at Harvard, has explored the public debates surrounding the adoption of several broadcasting technologies, including AM and FM radio and black-and-white and color television in the U.S. Federal agencies most concerned with their regulation, beginning with the Federal Radio Commission in 1927 and continuing to the Federal Communications Commission of the 1930s to the 1960s. Slotten's book explores the complex relationships between government and industry, the importance of key individuals in the government, and the influence of political ideologies as they related to policy formation at the dawn of broadcasting. Along the way, he reveals much about the creation of the "regulatory state" that that defined the communications industries in the 20th century. The book's chapters are ordered chronologically and treat key episodes in the history of broadcast regulation. Chapter one treats the formative years of the radio industry and the creation of the first federal regulatory agencies, focusing on the role of engineer and future president Herbert Hoover in the process. He then moves on to show how regulation contributed to the stunning commercial success of broadcasting and radio networks, despite the Great Depression. Some readers may be surprised to learn that television was being touted as the "next big thing" even in the 1920s, and Slotten analyzes the way TV regulatory policy emerged well before the technology itself was ready for deployment. The maturation of both the broadcasting industry and the government's regulatory and standards-setting mechanisms is detailed in a chapter on the introduction of FM broadcasting, along with an in-depth analysis of the role of technical knowledge and expertise in the policy process. By the time television re-emerged after being delayed by the Depression and World War II, the FCC had grown aware that the technical expertise needed to make informed regulatory decisions often relied on uncertain, incomplete or highly biased knowledge. This, and the fact that the agency was now less likely than ever to make decisions that would threaten entrenched commercial interests, led them to delay the introduction of UHF television, limiting its success as a competitor to VHF (channels 2-13). By about 1950, the FCC had hired its own technical expertise, and was less likely to rely on the opinions of (presumably biased) industry personnel. This was a key factor in the decision to reverse an early ruling that promoted the color TV system invented at CBS, which used a large, rotating disk fitted with optical filters to create the illusion of color. The FCC now pushed for a color standard that was more in keeping with its new face; a standard that protected entrenched interests in the black-and-white TV field (the new color standard was backward-compatible with black-and-white) while promoting what was seen as the next logical step in TV technology. The resulting color standard, while criticized today as obsolete, nonetheless stood the test of time for half a century. Slotten's work is a well-researched yet brief survey of a complex subject, and it should be closely read by those interested in the ways that federal agencies simultaneously nurture and reign in new communications technologies.