Variety radio directory (1937)

FEDERAL RADIO REGULATION -Continue, communications conferences. The procedure at such hearings or conferences is usually informal, not covered by specific regulations, and not resulting in formal written decisions or open to appeal to the courts. Space does not permit a description of the Commission method of handling the many complaints it receives. These are handled by the law department which ordinarily follows a routine of correspondence, first with the complainingparty and, if justified, then with the broadcaster, in the course of which most complaints are informally disposed of. Comparatively few of them (at present 21) reach the stage of serious consideration by the Commission. VIII. APPEALS FROM THE COMMISSION'S DECISIONS Probably no commission in Washington is subject to so many kinds of review by the courts as the Federal Communications Commission. This is due chiefly to the several kinds of jurisdiction which have been united in this one agency. So far as court review of the Commission's actions on radio applications is concerned, however, the method is fairly simple — with three major and some minor exceptions. The major exceptions have to do with decisions (a) on applications for the Commission's consent to an assignment of a license or permit or to the transfer of control of a corporation holding such license or permit, (b) on applications for a permit to transmit programs to a foreign station which may be consistently received in the United States, and (c) on revocation proceedings. These exceptions will be discussed later on. With respect to the remaining four classes of applications (for construction permit, for license, for renewal of license and for modification of license), an appeal may be taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by (a) an applicant whose application has been refused by the Commission, or (b) by any other person aggrieved or whose interests are adversely affected by any decision of the Commission granting or refusing any such application. Persons who would be aggrieved or whose interests would be adversely affected by a reversal or modification of the Commission's decisions are given the right to intervene and participate in the proceedings. In proper cases a stay order may be obtained from the court, which operates to suspend the effect of the Commission's decision pending determination of the appeal. In many cases, however, the mere taking of the appeal has all the effect of a stay order since the Commission will not issue the permit or other authorization applied for until the appeal is decided. The time within which such an appeal must be taken, and the procedure which must be followed by the appellant, the Commission, and interveners, are set forth in detail in the Act. The rules of the Court should also be consulted. The Act provides that : "At the earliest convenient time the court shall hear and determine the appeal upon the record before it, and shall have power, upon such record, to enter a judgment affirming or reversing the decision of the Commission, and in event the court shall render a decision and enter an order reversing the decision of the Commission, it shall remand the case to the Commission to carry out the judgment of the court : Provided, however, That the review by the court shall be limited to questions of law and that findings of fact by the Commission, if supported by substantial evidence, shall be conclusive unless it shall clearly appear that the findings of the Commission are arbitrary or capricious. The court's judgment shall be final, subject, however, to review by the Supreme Court of the United States upon writ of certiorari 299