Today in 1927, President Calvin Coolidge signed the 1927 Radio Act, creating the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission (established in 1934).
The airwaves by 1927 were an open forum for anyone with the expertise and equipment to reach an audience of 25 million listeners. The Radio Act of 1927 was based on a number of assumptions: that the equality of transmission facilities, reception, and service were worthy political goals; that the spectrum belonged to the public but could be licensed to individuals; and that the number of channels on the spectrum was limited when compared to those who wanted access to it.
Mark Goodman, The Radio Act of 1927 as a Product of Progressivism:
"Free speech" was not an empty term as used by Progressives in the Radio Act of 1927. None of the major participants in the discussion of the law sought to have the federal government run radio stations or provide the material for broadcasters, except in national emergencies. Congress gave them the right to create and broadcast entertainment and news for the listening public. The FRC sought to ensure everyone access to at least one radio station, making listeners active participants in American society and the political process.
However, Congress did not want the voices of the Socialist, the Communists, the Bolsheviks, the evolutionists or the obscene heard on the radio. Clearly, some Congressmen feared the power of radio and what they perceived was its potential as a mechanism to call for radical political or social reform, to speak the indecent, or to monopolize opinions. To prevent that from happening, Congress gave enormous discretion to the FRC to protect listeners from those who would not operate radio for "public interest, convenience, and necessity."
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”—George Orwell