2. The Second Tradition: Communication as a Public Resource (From RCA to Radio Act of 1927).

2.1 Background

2.2 1914-1918 Golden Age of Radio

2.3 Where is the Public? (McChesney, Telecommunications, Mass Media and Democracy, 1993)

• Parallel to Conservation
• Extension of Concerns Over Censorship
• Monopoly Viewed as Undermining Public Interest

2.4 1927 Radio Act established the Federal Regulatory Commission (Precedent to today’s Federal Communication Commission (FCC)).

2.5 Battle over the Public Interest: Defining "Public Interest, Necessity and Convenience" (from McChesney, p. 25)