The Federal Communications Commission is the Federal agency charged with regulating and licensing interstate and foreign communication by electrical energy (including broadcast and other radio services, telephone, telegraph, and cable) in the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. The seven commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Their terms are for sever years. Duties of the Commission include: (1) Licensing radio stations and operators; (2) seeing that service is in the public interest; (3) policing the ether to assure that stations abide by treaties and regulations; and (4) assigning frequencies and call letters. Call letters are assigned under an international agreement, which divides the alphabet among the different countries. The United States is allocated three initial call letters: N, which is assigned to the Navy and Coast Guard; K for stations west of the Mississippi; and W for those east of the Mississippi. A is now used by the United States, mostly Government stations. Up to September 1947 approximately 120,000 authorizations had been issued by the FCC for various types of radio stations, and in addition 340,000 commercial operators and 80,000 amateurs held permits to operate radio stations, radio telegraph, or radio telephone. This is practically double the number before the war. There is no charge for a license, and none is issued to an alien. During the fiscal year 1947 the FCC received 112,000 applications relating to radio services alone. Proof of the tremendous expansion of the broadcast industry will be found in the following figures: The FCC reports that in September 1947 there were nearly 1,400 commercial AM stations in operation in the United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico; the construction of nearly 500 new AM stations was authorized; and 700 applications were pending. At the same time there were nearly 300 FM stations on the air, more than 650 others authorized, and more than 100 applications pending. In Television there were about 70 stations licensed or authorized and a dozen applications pending. There were nearly 50 licensed or authorized noncommercial educational stations, and half a dozen applications pending. In addition, there were 28 international stations which beamed broadcasts to foreign countries. In the nonbroadcast field, about 45,000 radio stations were operating in 40 categories of public or business service, including aviation, marine, police, fire, railroad, utility, etc. Of the 1,400 employees in the FCC, about 900 are in Washington, the remainder in other parts of the country. Slightly more than 500 of the employees in the organization are women, 25 to 35 of whom hold professional or executive positions paying from $3,500 to $8,000 a year. The majority of women's jobs, however, are clerical or stenographic. Five of the confidential assistants to the commissioners are women, and their salaries are around $5,000; their work is executive and administrative. Two women are hearing examiners, and there is one woman radio engineer. U. S. Government Printing Office: 1947 O-F-769184 L. B. SCHWELLENBACH, SECRETARY WOMEN'S BUREAU FRIEDA S. MILLER, DIRECTOR The Outlook for Women in Science Bulletin of the Women's Bureau No. 223–1 U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1949 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Price 20 cents This bulletin is No. 223-1 in the following series on THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE No. 223-1 The Outlook for Women in Science No. 223-2 The Outlook for Women in Chemistry No. 223-3 The Outlook for Women in the Biological Sciences No. 223-4 The Outlook for Women in Mathematics and Statistics No. 223-5 The Outlook for Women in Architecture and Engineering The Outlook for Women in Geology, Geography, and Me- No. 223-8 The Outlook for Women in Occupations Related to Science Note on Pagination. Throughout the series, page numbers show both the volume number and the page number in that volume. For example, page 24 in volume 3 is shown as 3-24; in volume 6, as 6-24. 1-11 |