SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PURSUANT TO H. Res. 21 SUBMITTED BY MR. LEA, OF CALIFORNIA JANUARY 2, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1945 78TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session { REPORT No. 2095 INVESTIGATION OF THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION JANUARY 2, 1945.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. LEA, from the Select Committee to Investigate the Federal Communications Commission, submitted the following FINAL REPORT [Pursuant to H. Res. 21] SECTION I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND On January 19, 1943, the House of Representatives, Seventyeighth Congress, first session, passed House Resolution No. 21, thereby creating the Select Committee to Investigate the Federal Communications Commission. The language of that resolution is as follows: Resolved, That there is hereby created a select committee to be composed of five Members of the House to be appointed by the Speaker, one of whom he shall designate as chairman. Any vacancy occurring in the membership of the committee shall be filled in the same manner in which the original appointment was made. The committee is authorized and directed to conduct a study and investigation of the organization, personnel, and activities of the Federal Communications Commission with a view to determining whether or not such Commission in its organization, in the selection of personnel, and in the conduct of its activities, has been, and is, acting in accordance with the law and the public interest. The committee shall report to the House (or to the Clerk of the House if the House is not in session) at the earliest practicable date during the present Congress the results of its investigation, together with such recommendations as it deems desirable. For the purposes of this resolution the committee is authorized to sit and act during the present Congress at such times and places within the United States, whether or not the House is sitting, has recessed, or has adjourned, to hold such hearings, to require the attendance of such witnesses and the production of such books, papers, and documents, and to take such testimony, as it deems necessary. Subpenas may be issued under the signature of the chairman of the committee or any member designated by him, and may be served by any person designated by such chairman or member. B. CREATION OF FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION The Communications Act of 1934 was approved on June 19, 1934. The enactment was entitled "Being an act to provide for the regulation of interstate and foreign communication by wire or radio, and for other purposes." The act contains six so-called titles: Title IGeneral Provisions; Title II-Common Carriers; Title III-Provisions Relating to Radio; Title IV-Procedural And Administrative Provisions; Title V-Penal Provisions-Forfeitures; and Title VI-Miscellaneous Provisions. The Communications Act of 1934 created the Federal Communications Commission. It expressly repealed the Radio Act of 1927, as amended; it also repealed certain provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended, with respect to communication by wire or wireless, or to telegraph, telephone, or cable companies operating by wire or wireless; it amended "An act relating to the landing and operation of submarine cables in the United States"; it amended a section of "An act to supplement existing laws against unlawful restraints and monopolies, and for other purposes"; it repealed certain parts of "An act to require apparatus and operators for radio communication on certain ocean steamers." Inasmuch as the select committee confined its activities primarily to the field of radio communication, this report will be concerned principally with title III of the Communications Act of 1934-provisions relating to radio. In that connection the general powers of the Commission are set forth in section 303 which reads as follows: GENERAL POWERS OF COMMISSION SEC. 303. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, the Commission from time to time, as public convenience, interest, or necessity requires, shall— (a) Classify radio stations; (b) Prescribe the nature of the service to be rendered by each class of licensed stations and each station within any class; (c) Assign bands of frequencies to the various classes of stations, and assign frequencies for each individual station and determine the power which each station shall use and the time during which it may operate; (d) Determine the location of classes of stations or individual stations; (e) Regulate the kind of apparatus to be used with respect to its external effects and the purity and sharpness of the emissions from each station and from the apparatus therein; (f) Make such regulations not inconsistent with law as it may deem necessary to prevent interference between stations and to carry out the provisions of this Act: Provided, however, That changes in the frequencies, authorized power, or in the times of operation of any station shall not be made without the consent of the station licensee unless, after a public hearing, the Commission shall determine that such changes will promote public convenience or interest or will serve public necessity, or the provisions of this Act will be more fully complied with; (g) Study new uses for radio, provide for experimental uses of frequencies, and generally encourage the larger and more effective use of radio in the public interest; (h) Have authority to establish areas or zones to be served by any station; (i) Have authority to make special regulations applicable to radio stations engaged in chain broadcasting; (j) Have authority to make general rules and regulations requiring stations to keep such records of programs, transmissions of energy, communications, or signals as it may deem desirable; (k) Have authority to exclude from the requirements of any regulations in whole or in part any radio station upon railroad rolling stock, or to modify such regulations in its discretion; (1) Have authority to prescribe the qualifications of station operators, to classify them according to the duties to be performed, to fix the forms of such |