Formation of The Federal Radio Commission
President Calvin Coolidge nominated five men to the commission: Admiral William H.G. Bullard as chairman, Colonel John F. Dillon, Eugene O. Sykes, Henry A. Bellows, and Orestes H. Caldwell.
The first three were confirmed by the United States Senate and the first two died soon afterward. Bellows and Caldwell didn't receive salaries, but stayed on anyway. These three did conduct a badly needed reallocation of frequencies. In October, President Calvin Coolidge removed Bellows from the commission; he returned to Minneapolis where he became manager of CBS-affiliate WCCO. In November 1927 Harold Lafount and Sam Pickard joined the commission. In March 1928 Caldwell was barely re-confirmed and Ira E. Robinson became chairman, the commission was finally complete.
The composition of the FRC from 1927 to 1934 was as follows:
Zone 1: Orestes H. Caldwell (New York), Editor of Radio Retailing magazine); Caldwell resigned February 23, 1929 and was replaced by W. D. L. Starbuck (New York), Patent Attorney, appointed May, 1929.
Zone 2: W. H. G. Bullard (Pennsylvania); Bullard died November 24, 1927 and was replaced by Ira E. Robinson (West Virginia), State Supreme Court judge; Robinson resigned January, 1932 and was replaced by Col. Thad H. Brown (Ohio), lawyer & politico, holding various appointed, and elective offices including Ohio Secretary of State, appointed March 28, 1932. Brown remained on the FRC until he was appointed to the FCC in 1934.
Zone 3: Eugene Octave Sykes (Mississippi) remained until he was appointed to the FCC in 1934.
Zone 4: Henry Adams Bellows (Minnesota); Bellows was forced to resign October 31, 1927 and later became chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters; Bellows was replaced by Sam Pickard (Kansas); Pickard resigned January 31, 1929 and was replaced by Charles McKinley Saltzman (Iowa), appointed May, 1929; Saltzman resigned in irritation in June, 1932 and was replaced by James H. Hanley
Zone 5: John F. Dillon (California); Dillon died October 8, 1927 and was replaced by Harold A. Lafount (Utah); Lafount stayed on the FRC until its replacement by the FCC, but he was not appointed to the FCC. In the late 1930s Lafount became president of the National Independent Broadcasters.
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