Due to major political and economic discrepancies between Russia and
America, radio broadcasting development followed a much different
path in the States.

In 1906, an inventor from the General Electric Company (GEC)
developed a device capable of transmitting human voice through radio
waves. This technology was put to use in 1917 in a powerful station
in New Jersey by Guglielmo Marconi, who represented his British
company. This radio station was then taken over by the US government
in 1917 to be used for communications during the World War I.13

The great significance of the device was noted to be the ability of
one nation to speak to another, and after the war US government was
reluctant to give the technology back to the British company.14
Instead, the government offered its support to GEC, preferring state
monopoly to the foreign one. The idea was to organize an American
radio company powerful enough to withstand Marconi commercially, and
GEC would become the nucleus of such enterprise.15

The American General Manager of the Marconi Company realized that
state and public opinion were raging against his company, and was
forced to give up his share of the market. Instead, the American
Marconi Company merged with the newly formed Radio Corporation of
America (RCA), opposing the monopoly of GEC. "RCA also allowed a
limited measure of government influence in its affairs and the
following provision appeared in its bye-laws:

The corporation may permit a representative of the Government of the
United States the right of discussion and presentation in the board
of the Government's views and interests concerning matters coming
before the board."16

Most American broadcasting stations of the late nineteen tens were
run by amateurs, who viewed radio as a hobby. At that time, the
broadcasts were still directed to a limited number of people,
since "receiving a broadcast required a good bit of skill and
perseverance. "17

In 1916 a Westinghouse engineer began regular radio broadcasts,
playing music during his programs, apparently funded by a local
store selling radio receivers. This idea was picked up by
Westinghouse, that in 1920 established the first American commercial
radio station, KDKA.18 By establishing such a station Westinghouse
took an enormous step in radio development by realizing that the
future of the radio lies in mass communications, and not in
confidential radio conversations.

Commercial stations such as KDKA were funded by sales of radio
receivers that were necessary for listening to their programs. The
new marketing strategy became very popular in nineteen twenties --
670 stations were licensed in the US by the end of 1922.19

The main goal of these companies was the sale of equipment;
broadcasting was simply a way to promote sales. But, as radio
technology was becoming more popular, sales of radio sets were being
affected by radio amateurs that assembled receivers from parts.

Radio companies were slowly realizing that the sales of radio
receivers would not support their industry for long. A hit idea from
AT&T, a partner of RCA, was to sell air time to businesses willing
to advertise on the radio. The idea of advertisement on the radio
was strongly opposed by the public, and has reached its crisis in
1927, "by which time the industry had discovered which side of its
bread was butteredthere was no going back."20

In 1926, a High Court judgment ruled that government regulations
imposed on radio companies were too strict. The result of this
decision was "chaos in the airwaves as the radio stations
arbitrarily increased power, shifted frequency and started up
without licenses."21 The American public demanded the return of
government regulations, and in 1927 the Federal Radio Commission
(FRC) was founded.

By monitoring and regulating the development of radio stations, FRC
brought back the order into the radio business. An Act of 1934
clarified the function of the Commission, which included

"studying new uses for radio, providing for experimental uses of
frequencies and generally encouraging the larger and more effective
use of radio in the public interest."22

The Act also spoke of broadcast licenses providing use of
channels, "but not the ownership of thereof."23