Origins

     With its General Order No. 40 issued in August 1928, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) reserved 40 of the then 96 AM channels to ensure listening options in rural areas. As the FRC put it: "On these 40 channels only one station will be permitted to operate any time during night hours, thus insuring clear reception of the station's program up to the extreme limit of its service range." First referred by the FRC as cleared or "clear channels" in a November 1931 order, these outlets came to represent the pinnacle of radio broadcasting.

     All clear channels were located between 640 and 1200 kHz, and most were on or near the East and West coasts, with several in major Midwestern cities (four were located in Chicago). They were given the privilege of operating without other stations on the same channel in order to provide night-time service to so-called "white areas"-more than half the U.S. land mass-that could not receive a ground-wave primary local radio signal and thus depended on night-time sky wave transmission to receive distant higher-powered outlets.

     From the beginning, these elite stations were the focus of controversy. On the one hand they provided service in rural areas that could often receive no other radio signal at night. On the other, they strongly resisted the formation of new local stations to serve such areas. Yet in an indication of things to come, the first clear station was "broken" just six months after the 1928 order when the FRC allowed stations WGY and KGO (both owned by General Electric) to share the same frequency, partially because they were on nearly opposite coasts. Two other clear channels were assigned for use by Canadian stations. With other decisions, only 32 stations remained truly "clear" by the time of the Federal Communication Commis­ sion's (FCC) formation in 1934.

     At the same time, clear channel stations became identified with requests for higher or "super" power above the 50 kw limit. Cincinnati clear-channel station WLW (700 kHz) was given an experimental authorization in 1934 to use 500 kw of power-ten times that of any other station. Using its experimental W8XO, at first only in evening hours, then full-time, the outlet quickly became first choice of listeners in r 3 states and second in six others. Under pressure from competitors in the U.S. and from Canada (unhappy with the station's reach into that country), WLW's daytime use of super power ended in March 1939, although occasional night-time use continued until late 1942.

     Soon other clear channels petitioned the FCC for "super power," arguing that they could thus better serve rural areas. Clear channel station managers formed the Clear Channel Group (CCG) in 1934 to put forth the views of independent (not network-owned) stations. The CCG lobbied hard for the use of superpower, as well as to protect existing clear channels. The CCG testified at extensive FCC allocation hearings from 1936 to 1938. The commission's resulting engineering report generally supported the retention of clear channels for their evening rural service. In the late 1930s negotiations that led to the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), the U.S. was given priority use of 32 of a total of 59 clear channels, while Cuba received one, and Mexico and Canada each got six. By this time clear channels were dubbed class I-A, while clears that were duplicated by at least one station at nights on the same channel were dubbed 1-B outlets.

     Needing a still stronger lobbying voice, the CCG was largely converted to the Clear Channel Broadcasting Service (CCBS) beginning in 1941. With a larger budget and full-time staff, it became more focused on lobbying and public relations efforts as well as representation of clear channel station owner views before the FCC and Congress. But it faced a growing split between network-owned I-A stations and independent I-A outlets. The CCBS also focused on building alliances with farmer groups to create a stronger lobbying front in favor of retaining the clear channel classification.

Breaking Down the Clears

     With the end of World War II, the FCC was able to turn its attention to pressing domestic matters, among them what to do about the simmering clear channel controversy. In early 1945 the commission initiated Docket 6741 to focus discussion on the policy tradeoffs (a few national vs. many local services) raised by the continued operation of clear channel stations. This proceeding became the primary arena for continued debate on the future of the I-A stations, including their service role and how much power they would be allowed to use. Some 40 days of hearings were held from January 1946 to January 1948, allowing a host of witnesses on all sides of the controversy to be heard. Many critiqued the clear channel stations for their relative lack of farm and agricultural programming (located in major cities, the clear channel stations programmed chiefly for urban audiences). The FCC briefly considered plans to combine the use of more and smaller AM and FM stations to meet the "white area" unserved audience problem. The CCBS proposed that 20 stations (not surprisingly all CCBS members) be allowed to use up to 750 kW of power. Throughout the hearings, the radio networks argued for retention of the status quo, which had served their interests well.

     When the hearings adjourned, the FCC considered two plans that were variations on that proposed by the CCBS plus a third that would break down the clears to allow many other stations on the same channels. Senate hearings on these questions largely repeated the same arguments but also delayed any definitive FCC decision. At that point the commission turned to television allocations and essentially ignored clear channel issues for a decade. Only at the urging of many affected parties did the FCC reopen the Docket in 1958. At this point virtually all the clears shared their frequencies in daytime hours; this final debate concerned only their retention of cleared status in evening hours when radio signals traveled much further.

     Finally in mid-1961 came resolution of Docket 6741 with the FCC decision that 11 of the 25 Class I-A stations would now be required to share their frequency with at least one unlimited time regional (class II) station. This "breaking" of the clears brought an attempt by the CCBS stations to roll back the commission action in Congress, and long hearings on several bills to do just that resulted. FCC and other radio station opposition killed those potential laws, and, upheld on court appeal, the FCC moved to break down the clear channels over the next several years. In the meantime, the commission considered what to do with the remaining dozen clear channel outlets, including continuing proposals to allow them to operate with super power up to 750 kw. Faced with a continued lack of progress on the issue and continuation of the status quo, in 1968 CCBS closed down its Washington office.

     Two decades later the FCC voted to end the long--lasting controversy by allowing up to 125 unlimited time AM stations to use either the remaining clear channels or adjacent channels during evening hours, while protecting a 750-mile coverage radius for the original clear channel outlets. Attempts to roll back this final assault also came to nothing. Clear channel stations, although often still called that and remaining among the most powerful AM outlets, no longer operate as the sole occupants of their frequencies in evening hours. Service to rural "white" areas is now largely provided by a host of regional and local stations.