Broadcast Regulation - correct answer ✔The FCC gained its authority over
what is said on radio and TV broadcasts when there were fewer ways to
distribute information. The public airways
were scarce, went the theory, and the government had to make sure they
were used in the public interest. As radio and television became universally
accessible, a second rationale emerged for government regulation of
broadcast
speech. Because the broadcast media have "a uniquely pervasive presence in
the lives of all Americans," as the Supreme Court put it in 1978, the
government had a special interest in protecting a defenceless public from
objectionable radio and television content.
National Radio Conference - correct answer ✔President Hoover convened a
National Radio Conference in 1922 in an attempt to achieve consensus on
new regulations before chaos set in. The spectrum was "a great national
asset," he said, and "it becomes of primary public interest to say who is to do
the broadcasting, under what circumstances, and with what type of material."
"[T]he large mass of subscribers need protection as to the noises which fill
their instruments," and the airwaves need "a policeman" to detect "hogs that
are endangering the traffic."
Modern Radio Spectrum Usage - correct answer ✔The modern radio
spectrum usage is no longer mainly for long-range signalling. Spectrum
policies were set when the major use of radio was for ship-to-shore
transmissions, SOS signalling from great distances, and broadcasting over
huge geographic areas. As the nation has become wired, most radio signals
travel only a few feet or a few hundred feet. Under these changed conditions,
the old rules for spectrum management don't make sense.
Spread Spectrum - correct answer ✔Spread spectrum is a form of wireless
communications in which the frequency of the transmitted signal is