Early Commerce Department Records: Examples

Thomas H. White -- January 1, 2000

Following is a review of the Department of Commerce records which were used for much of the information contained in the various articles. Some of the records, which used to be available at FCC headquarters at 1919 M Street, NW, in Washington, DC, seem to have disappeared over the last few years. Fortunately I was able to photocopy enough examples to put together this overview. (In the case of colored cards, I've done my best to recreate, from memory and notes, their original colors).


Under the provisions of an act passed in 1912, United States radio was initially regulated by the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Navigation. Most radio stations through the mid-twenties got their start via the submission of a two-page "Applicant's Description of Apparatus" (Form 761), to the Radio Inspector responsible for their region of the United States. The inspectors next filled in the last section of these forms with their "Report and Recommendation", and then forwarded them to Commerce Department's headquarters in Washington, DC for further action.

It appears that, at least through mid-1922, whenever a Form 761 arrived in Washington for a new station, call letters were immediately assigned, and a call letter card for the station was created. Information on the source and type of the station application, plus the date of its arrival at Commerce, was normally typed on the back of this call card.

TOP OF KDKA 761

Above is the initial section of the Form 761 submitted by Westinghouse for a new radio station in East Pittsburgh, PA, which would become KDKA. Following standard procedures, Westinghouse sent the filled out form to the eighth district's Radio Inspector, S. W. Edwards, in Detroit, MI. Edwards' "Report and Recommendation", added Oct. 16, 1920, read: "Application examined and respectfully recommended for provisional license for operation on wavelengths indicated pending regular inspection". This was a routine recommendation--a provisional licence just meant the station hadn't been personally inspected yet.

KDKA CALL CARD


Above is the call letter card created for KDKA.(Because of the poor quality of parts of the photocopy, I had to re-enter some of the typed information). This card includes subsequent changes in basic operating information through about 1928. A problem with this system, of just crossing out old information and replacing it with the new information, is that it makes it hard to tell exactly when the changes took place.

There wasn't a separate broadcasting service at this time, so, as would be true for broadcasting stations for close to two years, KDKA's station information was typed on a blue Coast Radio Station card. (Toward the end of 1922 the Bureau got around to making up some Broadcasting Station cards, which were pink. Also, a second set of cards, sorted by City and State, was kept for cross-referencing purposes.)

KDKA CALL CARD (BACK)


Above is the note typed on the back of the KDKA call card, recording that the station application arrived as a Form 761 from Detroit on the 22nd of October. (Westinghouse also included a letter describing the station's transmitters in detail).

WIBW CALL CARD


Above is an example of one of the pink Broadcasting Station call cards introduced in 1922. WIBW has had an unusually interesting history. It began life as a portable station, originally in Indiana. In 1928 it settled down in a permanent location, Topeka, KS, where it remains to this day.


The assignment of call letters basically just created an identifier for a station. In order to transmit on a regular basis, a station also had to have a licence or other formal operating authorization. Station licence information was kept in a different set of cards--the Owner cards.

During the period of the original broadcast service grants--consisting of Entertainment transmissions on 360 meters, and Market and Weather reports on 485 meters--white cards were used for the owner files. (For some reason the information on most of these cards was hand written through 1922.) In late September, 1922, a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters, was added, as the "Class B" wavelength. Stations on 360 meters, now known as Class A stations, kept using white cards. But for the new Class B authorizations the Bureau of Navigation recorded the licence information on distinctive orange cards.

WSB OWNER CARD 1


Above is WSB's first owner card. WSB's first license was issued on April 11, 1922. However, like a few other stations, it had already received an initial authorization by telegram to begin broadcasting, in this case on March 15th (see below). These pre-licence authorizations weren't always recorded in the station files, which is one of the things to watch out for in determining initial station authorization dates. (In this case the telegraphed authorization was noted on the back of WSB's call-letter card).

WSB OWNER CARD 2


As noted on WSB's first owner card, on October 9, 1922 it "Entered Class B". As a Class B station, its licence information was continued on one of the orange cards used for this class of station.


The broadcast band was greatly expanded on May 15, 1923. Now, instead of individual wavelengths, there were bands of frequencies used by Class A and Class B stations, although some stations stayed on 360 meters, as Class C stations. The owner cards for Class B stations continued to be orange, and Class C stations continued to use white. In addition, the new Class A stations recorded their licence information on blue cards. So it was easy to identify a station's category at a glance: Blue for Class A, Orange for Class B, and White for Class C.

Until--in July 1926 adverse legal rulings caused federal regulation of broadcasting to break down. This was in one sense the beginning of a colorful era--for eight months broadcasting stations could use any power or frequency they wanted. But in another sense it was the end of a colorful era. The suspension of government regulation meant that there were no longer any class distinctions among stations. So the Bureau of Navigation went back to just using white cards for all the owner cards.

KFKB OWNER CARD

Doc. Brinkley, A.K.A. The Infamous Goat Gland Doctor, had two incarnations for his station, KFKB. The first time, from 1923 to 1925, KFKB was a Class A station, so it merited a blue owner card.

KFKB OWNER CARD


Brinkley reactivated the station during the chaos of 1926, reclaimed the KFKB calls, and began operating on a non-standard frequency of 695 kilohertz. As noted above, with the suspension of government controls the Commerce Department went back to using white cards exclusively for the broadcasting service owner cards.


The above sets of cards were carried over, in 1927, to the newly formed Federal Radio Commission. However, around 1928 they were replaced by a new card system. With the new setup there was only one card file, sorted by call letters. For each station white cards were used to record applications for the station, while buff ["dull brownish-yellow"] cards recorded station grants. These new cards were inherited by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934, and were used until the early eighties, when they were replaced by a computerized system.


As noted above, station operating authorizations were usually in the form of station licences, but occasionally a telephoned or telegraphed authorization was also made.

WSB AUTHORIZATION TELEGRAM


Above is the initial authorization for WSB, by telegram. (This is from the station's history, "Welcome South, Brother", printed in 1974.) WSB's owner, the Atlanta Journal, was engaged in a frantic, and ultimately successful, effort to get its broadcast station on the air before the rival Atlanta Constitution could get its WGM operating.

The WSB history doesn't include the two page telegram sent in response to Commerce's telegraphed authorization:
 

HON C H HUSTON

  ACTING SECRETARY OF COMMERCE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR WIRE TO MR GEORGE A TILLER CARE
OF THE ATLANTA JOURNAL GIVING US TEMPORARY PERMIT TO BROADCAST
WEATHER REPORTS ON WAVE LENGTH OF FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY
FIVE METERS AND DESIGNATING OUR RADIO CALL LETTERS AS W S B PERIOD WE
WISH TO ADVISE YOU THAT OUR OPERATOR HAS COMMERCIAL FIRST CLASS
LICENSE ISSUED BY YOUR DEPARTMENT AND EXPIRING FEBRUARY NEXT
PERIOD WE NOTE THAT

AUTHORITY TO BROADCAST MARKET REPORTS MUST BE GIVEN BY
BUREAU OF MARKETS AND HAVE APPLIED TO THEM FOR SUCH AUTHORITY
STOP YOUR AUTHORIZATION TO BROADCAST NEWS ENTERTAINMENT AND
SUCH MATTER ON WAVE LENGTH OF THREE HUNDRED SIXTY METERS ALSO IS
ACKNOWLEDGED STOP WE DESIRE TO THANK YOU FOR THIS
AUTHORIZATION AND HOPE TO BE OF SERVICE TO THE GOVERNMENT
AND PEOPLE STOP WE WILL BE GLAD TO HANDLE AT ANY TIME ANY
MATTER THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE DESIRES TO BROADCAST
  THE ATLANTA JOURNAL BY JOHN S COHEN PRESIDENT AND EDITOR.
An amused Commerce employee wrote "just thanks" on the front of this somewhat effusive telegram, and then filed it away with the rest of the station's records.
 
WSB FIRST LICENCE

Above is the opening portion of WSB's first licence, issued on April 11, 1922. Because the station had already been on the air for a few weeks under the earlier telegraphed authorization, there was time to inspect the station's equipment. If an inspection hadn't taken place yet--which was true for most new stations of this period--the licence was issued with the notation "PROVISIONAL" typed across the top of the first page.

The standard licence during this era was four pages long. The licence was printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper. Thus, it could be folded in the middle, with the Form 761 saved inside.

For an example of Radio Inspector correspondence, click here: WMAC Correspondence.