Eventhough the first broadcast was a short one, it was a major advancement. The message contained a short series of clicks. They had sent a message without wires, the message traveled almost one mile. It went through empty air, not even the hills between them stopped the message. The broadcast went out from Marconi's transmitter that he built himself, and was picked up by a receiver 1,700 meters away. The receiver was also homemade and operated by his brother Alfonso (Douglas 23).

After Marconi developed his "wireless," he took out a patent in 1896. It was not long though, before other inventions were being used to make radios with greater sending and receiving power. Marconi himself made further important contributions to

RCA's patents made them one of the few companies in the United States to produce and sell radio sets. Within a few short years of its creation, RCA was deemed a monopoly and broken up.

A variety of possibilities were suggested from a tax on new radio receivers to having business and citizens pledge money. It was clear, to make a radio station run you needed money. It was AT&T who solved the problem. The idea was much like paying for a long distance phone call. AT&T owned WEAF, a New York station. They employed the same tactics as Westinghouse did with KDKA, using music and programs to lure listeners. AT&T made one slight variation, they used the listeners to lure advertisers that were eager to sell their products. (RAB)

By the beginning part of the November the station was finished and licensed by the department of commerce as KDKA. The election night broadcast covered Warren G. Hardings victory over James Cox. The broadcast was a success and this experiment was one of the first great changes in radio and marked the boom in the US.

As the military took control of the radio stations, they also took control of the manufacture of radio sets. Navy officials asked companies to produce radio parts and equipment. Many manufacturing contracts went to the Westinghouse Corporation and to the General Electric Company. Other contracts went to the American Telephone & Telegraph Company. AT&T held patent rights to the vaccume tube, which was an important part in the production of radios.

A new broadcasting law at last took effect in 1927. It remained the basic broadcasting law for the past sixty years. The 1927 law took power away from the Department of Commerce and gave it to the newly formed Federal Radio Commission. The law also gave the FRC the right to assign frequencies and to draw up regulations on time sharing and the general use of air waves.

Eventually NBC got so large they separated into NBC Blue/NBC Red. Again under the federal governments request NBC broke up their monopoly and sold NBC Blue. They Sold it to another new company called Americas Broadcast Company - ABC.

Today the FCC still plays a role in broadcasting but not as strong as before. According to Tim Riley, a long time broadcaster "President Regans administration had a lot to do with the deregulation of the FCC. Since the FCC deregulated things have gotten a lot easier, when I started I had to have a class one broadcasters license. You had to take a test to get it, you even had to be able to repair things and know the internal parts of equipment. It's a lot less hectic, I think stations broadcast in the public interest now more than ever.

Some common words found in the essay are:
James Cox, FCC FCC, Secretary Commerce, Harry Davis, Fruit Company's, ABC Radio, Alfonso Douglas, Wide Web, Marconi Marconi, Internet TV, digital audio, fruit company, fairness doctrine, department commerce, radio sets, united fruit, radio stations, stations broadcast public, newly formed, commerce issued, radio law law, distance phone, radio stations control, united fruit company,
Approximate Word count = 2227
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)