Radio: Chains Unchained?

Last week the Federal Communications Commission told U.S. broadcasters that they had nothing to lose but their radio chains. In a resounding 153-page report on "monopoly" in radio that has been three years a-gathering, the Commission declared that free competition in the U.S. radio industry was impossible so long as the three great networks dominated the 883 U.S. stations as completely as in recent years. In eight revolutionary new decrees, FCC offered what it called a "Magna Charta for American broadcasting stations."

The strictures were chiefly aimed to make the outlets more independent...