Abstract

Judgment Day for Radio

This article focuses on various issues concerning broadcasting and operation related disputes of various radio stations in Missouri. Before the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters opened in Saint Louis, Missouri, on May 12, 1941, many persons expected that the such-discussed feud between American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and the major networks might generate some heat, but there was no premonition of three events which were to rock the radio industry and make the ASCAP affair look like a Sunday-school spitball fight. The first explosion occurred when the Federal Communications Commission on March 20 issued its Order No. 79, announcing the opening of a broad investigation into the question of whether the ownership and operation of radio stations by newspapers were in the public interest.