Page 454 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Regulat ng the A rwaves: “A Toaster w th P ctures” or a Publ c Serv ce? |

regulating the airwaVes: “a toaster with
PiCtures” or a PuBliC serViCe?
At the heart of American broadcasting policy has been the licensing of pub-
lic airwaves to private radio and television broadcasters. In exchange for their
licenses, broadcasters have been required to serve the “public interest, conve-
nience, and necessity,” a phrase that continually has confused, emboldened, and
troubled broadcasters, regulators, and citizens alike. What constitutes the public
interest and who composes the broadcasting public have been consistent areas
of contestation and conflict; at stake in these struggles have been the contours of
broadcaster obligations to audiences and the parameters of acceptable govern-
mental interventions in the workings of the broadcasting industry.
In 1961, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Newton
Minow labeled television as a “vast wasteland,” and appealed to broadcasters to
improve their programming and to uphold their public service obligations to
audiences. Twenty years later, FCC Chairman Mark Fowler referred to televi-
sion as a “toaster with pictures,” which suggested that broadcasting was an in-
dustry that did not require special regulations or considerations. This comment
signaled his commitment to the deregulation of broadcasting and to his vision
that the public interest would be best served if broadcasters could operate in a
free market unfettered by government regulations.
These two poles, the “vast wasteland” that requires active regulation of the
airwaves, and the “toaster with pictures” that favors deregulation, epitomize
the tension that has characterized U.S. broadcasting policy since its inception.
At the core of this debate have been competing ideas about the relationship
between broadcasters and the publics they serve. Some regulators have seen
their interests as compatible and have insisted that the best way to serve the
public is to bolster the broadcasting industry itself. Others have understood
their interests to conflict and have fought to impose regulations on broadcast-
ers to ensure that the needs of the public are met.
The history of broadcasting regulation has also been the history of public ac-
tivism to influence how broadcasters and their regulators understand the mean-
ing of the “public interest.” Activists from across the political spectrum have
participated in this conversation and have helped shape the direction not only of
broadcasting regulation, but of the broader conversation over the role of broad-
casting in American life.

a tiMeline oF CoMMuniCations regulation
1912—Congress passes the Radio Act of 1912, which gives the Commerce Department
the power to assign frequencies and to license radio operators. This act marks the first
time that the federal government exerted its authority over wireless communication
and crafted a policy that ranked how it was to be used.
1922–25—Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover holds four National Radio Conferences,
which bring together individuals representing the interests of the government,