“The Public Interest Must Dominate”: Herbert Hoover and the Public Interest, Convenience, and Necessity

CBS's Long Distance Radio Experiment: Broadcasting the Byrd Expedition From Little America

“…Speeches by expert host Ashley McKinley in New York and by Byrd and other scientists are amply demonstrated by the diary writer's documentation. Rather than rely on advertising, the program worked mention of the sponsor, Grape Nuts, into speeches and skits in a way that tried to avoid Hoover's fear of too much commercial content (see Dempsey & Gruver, 2012). Still, support for the sponsor was clear to the listener as evidenced in the analyzed diary.…”

“…Was the program news and information, or was it entertainment? And whichever of those it was, did it meet Hoover's vision of serving the public interest by providing high standards of program content that included original music, speeches, and instruction (Bensman, 2000;Dempsey & Gruver, 2012)? The studio was outfitted with a collapsible organ, and Byrd (1935) indicates that members of his crew performed.…”