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Censorship

Coolidge, Calvin

Hoover, Herbert

Radio

Radio Act of 1927

The 1920s in America

Federal Radio Commission (FRC)

by Randy Hines

Identification: U.S. government agency

Also known as: FRC

Date: Established February 23, 1927

The United States Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was created to control allocation of commercial radio frequencies, since radio stations frequently caused static on the airwaves by switching frequencies. The FRC was organized and given its responsibilities in the Radio Act of 1927.

During the 1920s, the U.S. radio industry expanded without much supervision. The Radio Act of 1912, established before radio’s transition to a mass medium, pertained to radio’s primary use in ship-to-shore wireless transmissions. Eventual U.S. president Herbert Hoover, with his engineering background, had a tremendous interest in radio. He used his position as secretary of the Department of Commerce (from 1921 to 1929) in an attempt to control the tremendous growth of the radio industry.

The 1920s radio landscape consisted of powerful commercial stations, small stations, nonprofit stations, and college-run stations. One crucial issue was who should handle licensing requests for new radio stations and their hours of operation. The Fourth National Radio Conference in 1925 could not answer that concern. Following a decision made on July 3, 1926, by the attorney general, Hoover made broadcasting licenses widely available. Within six months, two hundred licenses were issued for new stations to broadcast, which created listening disturbances for radio audiences, such as static, whistling, and hearing two stations on the same dial position. Too many stations trying to broadcast on too few frequencies led to the Radio Act of 1927, passed by Congress on February 23, 1927, and signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge that same month.

The Senate created the Federal Radio Commission in late 1926, organizing its five members after the Radio Act of 1927 was passed. Hoover submitted member names to Coolidge, who appointed them. Commissioners representing a geographic region of the United States were appointed to serve overlapping six-year terms. However, the FRC was given only an interim licensing authority for one year. It was renewed each year until 1929, when it became a permanent body.

In addition to regulating frequency, signal strength, and hours of operation, the FRC was given the authority to make decisions in the public’s best interests. Radio stations were awarded licenses based on how well they could serve the public interest, convenience, or necessity. No powers of censorship were allotted to the FRC, other than for obscene language, since the freedom of the press protection of the First Amendment had already been applied to radio. However, the commission could consider program content when renewing individual station licenses.

Impact

The Federal Radio Commission produced an era of public satisfaction during the growth of the new medium of radio broadcasting in the late 1920s. Many of its regulations remained in existence well into the twenty-first century.

Further Reading

1 

McChesney, Robert W. Telecommunications, Mass Media, and Democracy: The Battle for the Control of U.S. Broadcasting, 1928–1935. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

2 

Proffitt, Jennifer M., and Michael Brown. “Regulating the Radio Monopoly: Ewin Davis and his Legislative Debates, 1923–1928,” Journal of Radio Studies 11, no. 1 (2004): 100–115.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Hines, Randy. "Federal Radio Commission (FRC)." The 1920s in America, edited by Carl Rollyson, Salem Press, 2012. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=1920_0216.
APA 7th
Hines, R. (2012). Federal Radio Commission (FRC). In C. Rollyson (Ed.), The 1920s in America. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Hines, Randy. "Federal Radio Commission (FRC)." Edited by Carl Rollyson. The 1920s in America. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2012. Accessed September 18, 2025. online.salempress.com.