The political spectrum
Subtitle: the tumultuous liberation of wireless technology, from Herbert Hoover to the smartphone
By: Thomas Winslow Hazlett
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 401
ISBN-13: 9780300210507
Subjects: Radio frequency allocation; History
Description: "Popular legend has it that before the Federal Radio Commission was established in 1927, the radio spectrum was in chaos, with broadcasting stations blasting powerful signals to drown out rivals. In this fascinating and entertaining history, Thomas Winslow Hazlett, a distinguished scholar in law and economics, debunks the idea that the U.S. government stepped in to impose necessary order. Instead, regulators blocked competition at the behest of incumbent interests and, for nearly a century, have suppressed innovation while quashing out-of-the-mainstream viewpoints. Hazlett details how spectrum officials produced a "vast wasteland" that they publicly criticized but privately protected. The story twists and turns, as farsighted visionaries--and the march of science--rise to challenge the old regime. Over decades, reforms to liberate the radio spectrum have generated explosive progress, ushering in the "smartphone revolution," ubiquitous social media, and the amazing wireless world now emerging. Still, the author argues, the battle is not even half won."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Magic and cacophony; title: Dances with regulators; title: Etheric bedlam; title: Protection by substraction; title: Myth calculation; title: Eureka-nomics; title: The death of DuMont; title: "Thank God for C-SPAN!"; title: Lost in space; title: Baptists, bootleggers, and LPFM [low-power FM]; title: Orwell's revenge: the fairness doctrine; title: Must carry this, shall not carry that; title: Indecent exposure; title: The thirty year's war; title: Deal of the decade; title: The toaster tsunami; title: Dirigiste blacklash; title: What would Coase do?; title: Hoarders Anonymous; title: The abolitionists; title: Spectrum policy as if the future mattered.