“Until I’m Dead or Broke”

This chapter assesses the gradual fade out of AM as listeners prefer the finer quality of sound and static-free reception that FM offered. It looks at how commercial broadcasters use the Federal Communications Commission, the power of advertising, and the new power of television to hinder the postwar development of FM. Certainly, no communications executive worked more assiduously than David Sarnoff to cultivate a cordial spirit of cooperation between RCA and members of the commission. Looking to the end of the war and the new era of communications that would come with peace, the chapter then recounts the hearings in the fall of 1944 about frequency allocations in the radio spectrum. It discusses the changes in the allocation of the spectrum and changes in the power of FM stations. The chapter delves into the changes in band frequency allocation, the adoption of the single market plan, and the duplication of AM programs. It then reviews how this dulled the threat of FM to the network broadcast industry and denied Howard Armstrong the chance to collect great sums on his invention.