Freedom of the Air and the Public Interest: First Amendment Rights in Broadcasting to 1935

321 Pages·2001·1.325 MB·English

by  Benjamin, Louise Margaret

Benjamin
(Continued from front flap) Freedom
A
Understanding what happened prior to the mid- “Benjamin provides a concise, thorough, and neutrally F unique and definitive study of freedom
1930s is vital to understanding the development stanced history of the development of commercial radio ir of expression rights in electronic media
and changes in First Amendment rights. The topic broadcasting, with a special emphasis on the legislative his- sF from the 1920s through the mid-1930s,
t
r
remains essential to the industry and to society be- tory and some discussion of the legal history as well. I see Ae Louise M. Benjamin’s Freedom of the Air and the
e of the Air
cause in current debates over electronic media’s this document as primarily a historical chronicle—a retell- m Public Interest: First Amendment Rights in Broad-
d
First Amendment rights, policymakers generally ing in one place of a complex story.” eo casting to 1935 examines the evolution of free
nm
fail to understand that First Amendment param- —Warren Sandmann, Mankato State University speech rights in early radio.
d
eters for electronic media were set decades ago. m o Drawing on primary resources from sixteen ar-
Instead, their analysis begins in the mid-1930s, From Freedom of the Air and the Public Interest: First f chives plus contemporary secondary sources, Ben-
e and the
when broadcasting had already become an agency Amendment Rights in Broadcasting to 1935 . . . nth jamin analyzes interactions among the players
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for the widespread dispersal of entertainment and e involved and argues that First Amendment rights
“Official network policies existed for . . . ‘profane’ lan- R
information. A in radio evolved in the 1920s and 1930s through
guage. In late 1931, NBC policy permitted one acciden- i
gi the interaction of many entities having social,
tal ‘hell’ or ‘damn,’ while the more liberal CBS allowed hr

Louise M. Benjamin is an associate professor in ‘exactly three damns and two hells.’ As for programs ta Public political, or economic interests in radio. She shows
the Department of Telecommunications at the themselves, NBC stated that it selected ‘balanced programs s ind how free speech and First Amendment rights were
University of Georgia. She is a member of the As- n defined and perceived up to 1935.
which will not bore, insult or outrage the listening pub-
t
sociation for Education in Journalism and Mass Bh Focusing on the evolution of various electronic
lic,’ while Anne Honeycutt of CBS stated that ‘no gossip,
Communications, the Broadcast Education Asso- re media rights, Benjamin looks at censorship,
announcement of prices, appeals for funds, fortune tell- o
ciation, the International Communication Associa- ing, lottery promoting or direct salesmanship may be aPu Interest speakers’ rights of access to the medium, broad-
tion, and the National Communication Associa- d casters’ rights to use radio as they desired, and
mentioned over CBS stations.’” b
c
tion. She has worked in television broadcasting as al listeners’ rights to receive information via the air-
i
a writer, producer, and director and has written sc waves. With many interested parties involved,
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numerous articles and book chapters on the his- Southern Illinois University Press inIn conflict was inevitable, resulting in the establish-
tory and regulation of electronic media. P.O. Box 3697 gt First Amendment Rights in ment of industry policies and government legisla-
e
Carbondale, IL 62902-3697
tr tion—particularly the Radio Act of 1927. Further
www.siu.edu/~siupress oe Broadcasting to 1935
s debate led to the Communications Act of 1934,
1t
: which has provided the regulatory framework for
9
3 broadcasting for over sixty years. Controversies
5
caused by new technology today continue to rage
over virtually the same rights and issues that Ben-
jamin addresses.
LOUISE M. BENJAMIN
(Continued on back flap)
ISBN 0-8093-2367-2
,!7IA8A9-dcdghi! Southern
Illinois
University
Printed in the United States of America Press
(cid:1)
FREEDOM OF THE AIR AND THE
PUBLIC INTEREST

Freedom of the
Air and the
Public Interest
First Amendment Rights in
Broadcasting to 1935
(cid:1)
LOUISE M. BENJAMIN
Southern Illinois University Press
Carbondale and Edwardsville
Copyright © 2001 by the Board of Trustees,
Southern Illinois University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
04 03 02 01 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Benjamin, Louise Margaret.
Freedom of the air and the public interest : First Amendment rights in broadcasting
to 1935 / Louise M. Benjamin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Radio—Law and legislation—United States—History—20th century.
2. Freedom of speech—United States—History—20th century. I. Title
KF2814 .B458 2001
342.73'0853—dc21
00-055711
ISBN 0-8093-2367-2 (alk. paper)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. ∞
To Maurice and Verla Benjamin

(cid:1)
CONTENTS
Preface ix
1. Spirit, Whither Goest Thou? 1
2. Corporations and Censorship to 1926 8
3. To Speak, or Not to Speak, That Is the Question: Political Speech
to 1926 32
4. Free Speech and the Formation of NBC 55
5. In the Public Interest: The Radio Act of 1927 and Actions of the
Federal Radio Commission to 1933 69
6. “By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them”: Brinkley, Baker,
and Shuler 89
7. To Reach the Voters: Political Speech, 1928–1934 108
8. Speak No Evil: The Early 1930s 135
9. Gimme That Ol’ Time Religion: Religious Issues on Radio
to 1934 151
10. Freedom of the (Radio) Press? 168
11. “Rogue” Stations and Controversial Issues of Public Importance:
Protecting Nonconformist Speech 182
12. Congress Acts—Again 203
13. The Past Is Prologue 226
Notes 237
Index 287

(cid:1)
PREFACE
The genesis of this book came in 1982 when I was taking courses
in broadcast history, mass communication law and policy, and his-
torical methods in mass communication during my graduate stud-
ies at the University of Iowa. All made cursory reference to radio
and free speech in the 1920s, but my research on early radio at the
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa, revealed
that the 1920s were rich in perspectives on free speech and the new
media of radio and motion pictures.
Throughout speeches given by Secretary of Commerce Herbert
Hoover, who was in charge of radio’s regulation at the time, as well
as congressional hearings on free speech and radio, First Amend-
ment concerns recurred like a Wagnerian leitmotif: government and
industry censorship of programs, listeners’ rights to receive infor-
mation via the airwaves, and speakers’ rights of access to the me-
dium, including use by political candidates and speakers wishing
to present viewpoints counter to those of mainstream society.
Tempering these free speech rights was a social and cultural
preoccupation with “responsible” use of free speech in development
of contemporary society. No scholar had looked in depth at the
development of free speech concerns in broadcasting’s first decade
in the social context of the 1920s, and that topic became my dis-
sertation on free speech issues in the development of the Radio Act
of 1927.
As I completed the dissertation in December 1985, I realized
that several additional chapters existed in the saga of emerging First
Amendment rights in electronic media and included the evolution
of free speech and the public interest to passage of the Communi-
ix