Radio & The Government

     The formation of the radio industry can be viewed as a result of numerous historical influences, including rapid technological advances, demands of widespread audiences, and the interests of the nation's various commercial industries. While it is likely that each of these forces had a simultaneous impact on the growth of the radio industry, one force in particular seems to have carried an especially heavy influence in the medium's early history - this is the occurrence of government regulations for radio.Government regulation served to increase and improve the public's interest in radio - to magnify radio from an obscure technological innovation into an important aspect of the public's lives.
     Whenever the government regulates any particular industry, it is an indication that the industry has become significant to the lives of everyday consumers. The radio industry is not an exception; when U.S. Congress began enacting regulations on the use of radio, this indicated that radio could carry import in the field of communication. Therefore, technological innovators began to realize that the concept of radio must necessarily be applied to everyday life. Without the presence of government regulations, radio may not have gained such attention as an essential means of communication. With regulation, however, audiences are attracted to the technology, thus allowing industries to spread the technological concepts into new and widespread media.
     The Radio Act of 1912 is likely the clearest example of this phenomenon; after the disaster with the RMS Titanic in 1912, as well as various radio conflicts in the U.S. Navy, the government introduced pivotal regulations for radio operators, requiring all vessels to keep a constant radio watch over nearby ships and radio stations. Given the highly publicized nature of the Titanic disaster, this regulation launched radio technology directly into the attention of the public - suddenly, the nation realized that this new technology could make the difference between life and death abroad. It was this sense of familiarity and attention that allowed the industry to blossom beyond its base; not long after the regulations, David Sarnoff expressed his vision of the radio as a common household object, which would ultimately define the future of radio. Although the technology may have been visible to Sarnoff in many places even without government regulation, the Radio Act of 1912 doubtlessly gave radio an insurmountable amount of attention and importance; it built a bridge between technological advances and the everyday citizen, eventually allowing the public to take part in the technological invention.