Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12
BASIC RADIO LAW
IS BEFORE COURT
Supreme Tribunal to Rule
on Power Reduction of
Chicago Station.

Out of the weller of litigation In
which the Federal Radio Commission
has become involved, the Supreme
Court will get the case of relatively
small Chicago broadcasting station for
the first real showdown on the basic
radio law.
Docketed as No. 20 on its Fall
calendar, the case of WCRW is ex-
pected to come before the highest tri-
bunal in the land some time this month
or next. This case, arising out of an
order of the commission reducing the
power of the Chicago station from 500
to 100 watts, will definitely determine
the constitutionality of the radio act
of 1927 which created the commission
and under which that body has been
functioning for nearly three years.
Case Is Appealed.
Clinton r. White, owner of the sta
ton, first went before Federal Judge
Wilkerson in District Federal Court at
Chicago about two years ago to enjoin
the United States attorney from en-
forcing the commissions dictum. When
Judge Wilkerson denied the temporary
injunction, an appeal was taken to the
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
where the case was argued on behalf
of the commission by L. G.. Caldwell,
its former general counsel, and on be-
half of WCRW by the late Ernest
Reichmann associated as counsel with
Henry Urion of Chicago, who will prob
ably argue it before the highest tribunal
Rather than decide on the important
issues involved, that court certified the
case directly to the Supreme Court,
where the following issues are to be
decided:
Three Issues Rise.
/. Is the radio act unconstitutional
because it deprives a person Of property
for public purposes without compensa-
ton? Mr.. Whites counsel say 1t Is,
alleging that the reduction Of the sta
TONS power rendered its apparatus
useless to a large extent
2. Is the radio act unconstitutional
because it deprives person of property
without due process Of law? Mr.
Whites counsel maintain that such Is
the effect of the commissions exercise
of authority.
3. Is not the standard for radio sta
lions prescribed in the act-that OF
public interest, convenience or neces-
sity"-vague and indefinite? Mr.,
arbitrary Interpretation of this stand
ard gives the Commission unduly broad
and almost unlimited authority.
Constitutionality Questioned.
Another point raised in this case Is
whether the waiver of vested or priority
rights. signed by each station owner In
applying for a Federal license, is con-
Stitutional. In certifying the case to
the higher court, the Court Of Appeals
did not certify whether the commits
sion's action was void; in fact stated
nothing concerning the commissions
authority, so that the station has been
in status quo since 1t reduced its power
The case Of WMBB-WOK, also OF
Chicago, 5,00O-watter which was
ordered off the air altogether in one of
the earliest decisions Of the commission,
has been combined with the WCRW
case, inasmuch as many Of the same
issues are involved Besides the depri-
walton of property issue, however, the
WMBB-WOK case raises the point that
radio is not interstate commerce and
attacks the validity of the Davis amend
ment equalizing broadcasting facilities
among the zones and States.