Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees was a report published in 1946 by the (U.S.)

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC), which sought to require radio broadcasters in the United States to abide by a number of public service requirements. The report was informally and commonly referred to as the FCC Blue Book because of the report's blue cover. The Blue Book bound the privilege of holding a lucrative and scarce radio broadcast license to certain public service requirements. The Blue Book specified the requirements and tied failure to meet these obligations to hearings and to the potential revocation of a broadcast license. Such a standard was never before proposed in the annals of the FCC, and hasn't been proposed since. The Blue Book—and the commissioners and staff at the FCC who wrote, published, and defended it—faced a considerable backlash from commercial broadcasters. The backlash was tied closely to anti-Communist fervor in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Opponents, in particular the

National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than ...

and the radio industry's leading

trade magazine A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this ...

, ''

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

'', decried the Blue Book as Communist-inspired, pro-censorship, and anathema to freedom. ''Broadcasting''’s editorials attacked it for 15 consecutive weeks and were later compiled by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

president Niles Trammel in a red-covered booklet called “The Red Book Looks at the Blue Book.” The backlash was ultimately successful. Those staff most closely involved with the Blue Book were driven out of the FCC; none of the Blue Book's policy prescriptions were ever implemented, and no U.S. radio broadcaster ever lost its broadcast license as a result of violating the Blue Book's prescriptions.

Context

Disfavor ran rampant against the state of radio in the 1930s and 1940s. Chief among the complaints: the vulgarity of radio commercials and overcommercialization, the erosion of so-called "sustaining (non-commercial) programs", the influence of advertisers to shape news coverage, and the lax performance of broadcasters to abide by their original obligations towards public service. Emblematic of this sentiment was the highly popular novel ''

The Hucksters ''The Hucksters'' is a 1947 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film directed by Jack Conway starring Clark Gable and Deborah Kerr, her debut in an American film. The supporting cast includes Sydney Greenstreet, Adolphe Menjou, Ava Gardner, Keenan Wynn, and ...

'' (1946), which depicted greedy radio station owners. A later film adaptation of ''The Hucksters'' (1947) starred

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood". He had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in multiple genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades ...

. This sentiment dovetailed with a progressive current at the FCC, whose chair

James Lawrence Fly James Lawrence "Larry" Fly (February 22, 1898 – January 6, 1966) was an American lawyer, famous as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and, later, director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He helped inaugurate standards fo ...

spearheaded a number of initiatives—among them the 1941 Report on Chain Broadcasting that resulted in the breakup of the

radio network and the formation of the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

radio network. The Supreme Court in its 1943 decision '' NBC, Inc. v. United States'' affirmed that FCC had the authority to establish programming objectives. One subsequent initiative was a formalization of the rules of the social contract between radio broadcasters and the public; that crystallized as the Blue Book, which codified the thinking of the majority of FCC commissioners at the time. The Blue Book was unanimously approved by the commission and published on March 7, 1946.

Content of the Blue Book

The Blue Book comprised five parts and was 59 pages long. The five parts are roughly summarized as follows: 1. Local broadcasting is important, and many radio stations violated their commitments for localism. 2. The FCC has the jurisdiction to evaluate public service performance. 3. A number of public service issues are discussed, including public interest considerations regarding license assignment, and what programming suffices to serve the public interest, defining the functions thereof. 4. Statistics show increasing profitability on the part of radio broadcasters, but little improvement of programming. This contradicted the claim that broadcasters couldn't afford public interest programs. 5. Four requirements for broadcast licensees are outlined: promote live, local shows; devote programming to discussing public issues; sustain "unsponsorable" programs; and eliminate "excess advertising". At the time of the report, there were no Black owners of radio stations and little programming that addressed the Black community. Further, some minority listeners were complaining to the FCC that radio programs frequently contained ethnic stereotypes and caricatures. That is why a segment of the Blue Book asserted that "the American system of broadcasting must serve significant minorities among our population, and the less dominant needs and tastes which most listeners have from time to time."

WBAL Trial

In the fall of 1946, the William Hearst owned

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

radio station WBAL was challenged by the Public Service Radio Corporation (PSRC). Formed by well-known radio newsmen, Robert Allen and Drew Pearson, the PSRC claimed WBAL shouldn't have its broadcasting license renewed due to failure in adhering to the Blue Book's regulations in not providing public service programming to the local community and conglomerating a newspaper, radio station, and television station in one city market. The

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

hearings were held between November 1947 and February 1948, to reach a decision, but ultimately stalled allowing WBAL to hold a temporary license. In 1951, the commissioners voted and determined in a three to two vote with two abstains that the WBAL demonstrated competence despite imperfections.

Failure

The

never obtained congressional legislation or judicial approval to support the Blue Book's progressive regulations. The Congress was becoming increasingly conservative allowing for increased sympathy for broadcasters and hostility towards radio reformists. Senate Interstate Commerce Committee chairman, Republican senator Wallace White and Republican house representative Charles Wolverton drafted the White-Wolverton Bill to impose clear regulatory guidelines for the

and increased constraints on broadcasters. Provisions included granting the

authority in determining any station's public service performance, but prevented discriminatory withholding of licenses. The bill also included pro-monopoly legislation prohibiting the

from preventing newspapers from owning radio stations. Both broadcasters and reformists were dissatisfied, especially broadcasters as the industry benefited from keeping the FCC's power vague so interventions could be contested automatically. In June 1948, neither of the companion bills received a vote and were discarded. By the end of 1947, hearings on broadcasters that failed Blue Book standards were dropped and chairman Charles Denny backtracked on the Blue Book's principles.

Impact

Other similar FCC's policies were challenged including the

Mayflower Doctrine The Mayflower doctrine was a mandate implemented by the U.S. Government Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that required American radio broadcasters to "provide full and equal opportunity for the presentation to the public all sides of public ...

which prohibited political editorializing, expressing partisan opinion rather than news. On June 2, 1949, the rule was revoked and replaced with the

Fairness Doctrine The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manne ...

allowing radio stations to choose their own programming, but requiring a reasonable amount of air time to be devoted to public service programming of interest to the community and be designed to hear opposing views on public issues. In February 1944, the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

announced the formation of the

Hutchins Commission The Hutchins Commission (whose official name was the Commission on Freedom of the Press) was formed during World War II, when Henry Luce (publisher of ''Time'' and ''Life'' magazines) asked Robert Hutchins (president of the University of Chicago) ...

to inquire on the function and responsibilities of the American press. Formed and chaired by

president, Robert Hutchins and composed of twelve commissioners that would interview individuals throughout the news industry including advertisers, editors, readers, and reporters. The commission interviewed

commissioner and head of the Blue Book study,

Clifford Durr Clifford Judkins Durr (March 2, 1899 – May 12, 1975) was an Alabama lawyer who played an important role in defending activists and others accused of disloyalty during the New Deal and McCarthy eras. He also was the lawyer who represented ...

and

chairman, Lawrence Fly and studied the Blue Book closely to draw its conclusions. In March 1947, the commission released its report and like the Blue Book outlined the need for the press to service programming for the community to clarify societal goals and values.

References

External links

Full text of Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees (PDF)

The Battle over the FCC Blue Book: Determining the Role of Broadcast Media in a Democratic Society, 1945- 1948. (PDF)

The FCC, The Blue Book, and the Public Interest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Book, The Television in the United States History of radio Federal Communications Commission