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The Ideological Fight Over Creation of the Federal Radio Commission in 1927

In 1926, the conflicting ideologies of Senator Clarence Dill, Representative Wallace White, and Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover threatened pending legislation that would help end chaos on the radio airwaves. In the eventual compromise Dill's knowledge of politics gave the edge to his ideological leanings. The future of radio broadcasting waited on a precipice in January 1927. Maine Representative Wallace White and Washington Senator Clarence Dill remained locked in Congressional debate over the language of a compromise bill intended to regulate the broadcasting industry into the future. The crux of the conflict was the creation of the Federal Radio Commission. Dill wanted a commission to control radio; White demanded that the secretary of commerce run radio with the assistance of an advisory commission. To the millions of radio listeners who were depending on these two men to sort out the chaos of radio the conflict may have seemed an absurd, bureaucratic debate since Congress would create a radio commission under either bill. Only a few insiders understood that the form of the Radio Act of 1927 would dictate the future course of the medium. Watching events closely was the Radio Corporation of America and others in the broadcasting industry, who envisioned national radio networks providing programming and making millions from advertising dollars. Insurgent Progressives, including Idaho Senator William H. Borah, were convinced that the future of democracy hung in the balance. Another key figure, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who was confident that he would be the next president, believed that radio needed to be developed by professionals, not amateurs. Nurtured carefully, radio could bring news and programming to millions, and radio would have an important role to play in how the federal government would communicate to American citizens. Unregulated, radio's power of persuasion, however, also meant it could be used by the unscrupulous for their personal ends. The historical origins of the FRC are worthy of consideration given the important role of the Federal Communication Commission, the FRC's successor, in setting policy for the future of telecommunications. Historical precedence continues to shape the policies of the FCC and influences telecommunication regulation. This article discusses the conflicting interests that focused in January 1927 on passage of radio legislation and emphasizes the way the individual philosophies of the key players informed the compromise for the final bill and the effort to get it passed. This research shows that the three most influential people in the creation of the Radio Act of 1927-Hoover, White, and Dill-approached regulation of radio from three quite different perspectives. Hoover wanted the federal government to play a major role in the regulation of radio because he saw the potential for radio in the functions of the federal government. White sought to protect the economic interests of RCA and the rest of the radio industry. For purposes of radio regulation, freshman Senator Dill aligned himself with the Senate's insurgent Progressives whose goal was to protect the average person from corporate greed. The insurgents wanted the federal government to regulate the industry for the common good, but they believed that experts would manage radio better than partisan politicians. From the perspective of 1927, the White and Dill debate would ultimately decide whether the federal government would protect the public from the evils of radio or from the evils of RCA and other corporate interests. Historians writing about the Radio Act of 1927 have identified a number of issues at play in the political manuevering that accompanied passage of the act. Godfrey points to the political conflict between Hoover and Progressives like Senator Borah, who feared radio would be used by Hoover as a tool for partisan politics.1 Rowland discusses the "public interest" argument, which he suggests was an illusion masking "implicit accomodations with the regulated" industry. …