Federal Radio Commission - Different Types of Radio Services

Different Types of Radio Services

The Federal Radio Commission issued many licenses for radio services other than radio broadcasting. In 1932, the FRC had licensed about thirty thousand amateur radio stations, about two thousand ship radios, and about one thousand fixed-point land radio stations. The number of licensed radio broadcasting stations (all of which were AM stations) was 625. Public attention in the mass media, however, mainly concerned radio broadcasting. Radio came to be closely associated in common language with radio broadcasting. Many other radio stations, however, were operating at the same time as early radio broadcasting stations.

The FRC's regulatory enforcement efforts focused on radio broadcasting content. In 1932, out of a total of 424 FRC license investigations, 242 concerned radio broadcasting. Among those 242 radio broadcasting investigations, 156 concerned radio broadcasting content. Analyzing radio broadcasting content is a very different type of technical expertise than evaluating non-content-related radio operations.

Enforcing non-content-related radio regulations occupied relatively more regulatory attention during the time of the FRC than in the early 21st century, in part because radio equipment was more prone to interference (thus requiring more attention to technical issues). The FRC, along with the Radio Division of the United States Department of Commerce, had in 1932 about as many staff members working on enforcement of non-content-related radio rules as the Federal Communications Commission had in 2002. The total number of radio licenses held, however, was about fifty times greater in 2002 than in 1932. The FRC, along with the Department of Commerce, emphasized education and cooperation in getting radio operators to adhere to radio operating rules. Subsequent proliferation of radio uses other than radio broadcasting did not lead to more regulatory resources devoted to enforcing non-content-related radio regulations.

The FRC carried out provisions of the Radio Act of 1927 to license persons operating amateur and commercial transmitters. It also complied with new treaty obligations to assign U.S. stations ITU prefixes.