Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was created by the U.S. Communications Act of 1934 to regulate interstate and international mass communications. Prior to the Communications Act of 1934, the communications industry in the United States was run by private enterprise, and there was little to no government regulation until the Radio Act of 1927. As radio stations grew in popularity, and with increasingly powerful transmitters, interference and overlapping of transmissions became a serious problem that led Congress to pass the Radio Act of 1927, giving a federal commission power to license stations, assign operating frequencies, and through a 1928 amendment, establish interstate and local stations. As radio, telegraph, and telephone communications laws became dated, Congress passed the Communications Act of 1934, which placed all electronic ...