https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1849-1066
![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
Abstract
A 1948 journalistic scoop informed the public and broadcast regulators about misconduct on the airwaves. The investigation by Lee Zhito established Billboard—known for music coverage and song charts—as a legitimate journalism voice in the radio industry. Zhito exposed news slanting and editorializing by station owner George A. Richards, who expressed to staff his abhorrence of Blacks, Jews, Communists, and Democrats—especially Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Mayflower doctrine banned editorializing and advocated public service, yet Richards’s views shaped news and commentary airing on KMPC in Los Angeles, WJR in Detroit, and WGAR in Cleveland. Zhito’s exposé produced national ramifications, led to the first major FCC case addressing news slanting and broadcast licensee obligations, generated 18,000 transcript pages and one of the FCC legal department’s most strongly worded documents affirming broadcaster public service. Journalists revealing secret practices can have a direct impact, pressuring industry and regulators to be more serious about upholding responsibilities.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The Mayflower Broadcasting Corp., 8 F.C.C. 333 (1941), Report on Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees, 13 F.C.C. 1246 (1949); Public Law 86-274, 86th Congress (Amending the Communications Act of 1934).
2 The authors have chosen to use the term “Black” to describe musical artists of African descent who were popular on the radio in the 1940s and 1950s. Terms more commonly used during this period, including highly offensive racial slurs, appear in this research but only in direct quotes from official reports, archival documents, or published news articles of the day to demonstrate the significance of this historical case study.
3 FCC investigations of 1948-1951, Docket 9405 (WGAR), Docket 9468 (KMPC) and Docket 9469 (WJR).
4 Lee Zhito, “Charge Richards Ordered News Slanted to Promote Own Political Beliefs,” Billboard, March 6, 1948, 3.
5 Joseph Csida and June Bundy Csida, American Entertainment: A Unique History of Popular Show Business (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1978).
6 Christoph Jacke, Martin James, and Ed Montano, “Editorial Introduction, Music Journalism,” IASPM Journal (International Association for the Study of Popular Music) 4, no. 2 (December 2014): 1-6.
7 See, for example, 67 Cong. Rec. 5479 as cited in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 381, 1969.
8 Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. 309(a) (1994); “Radio Editorials and the Mayflower Doctrine,” Columbia Law Review 48, no. 5 (July 1948): 785-793.
9 Mayflower Broadcasting Corp., 8 F.C.C. 333, 340, 1941, 764 and note 26 infra.
10 Roy E. Carter, Jr., “Radio Editorializing Aboard The ‘New Mayflower,’” Journalism Quarterly 28, no. 4 (September 1951): 469.
11 National Broadcasting Co. v. U.S. May 10, 1943.
12 Federal Communications Commission, March 7, 1946, “Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees” [The Blue Book], Washington, DC.
13 Lili Levi, “The Four Eras of FCC Public Interest Regulation, Administrative Law Review 60, no. 4 (2008): 813-859.
14 “Editorializing: Does Radio Think it a Prerogative?” Broadcasting, December 22, 1947, 15.
15 “Editorializing: Desired…But Problems are Envisioned,” Broadcasting, January 12, 1948, 22.
16 “Challenges Confront FCC: Many Issues That Hold Key to Radio’s Future,” The Billboard, August 28, 1948, 4.
17 See “Complete Texts of FCC Decisions Issued June 2 on Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees,” Broadcasting, June 13, 1949, 76-81.
18 The Fairness Doctrine, Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees, 13F.C.C.1246 (1949).
19 Edward Bliss, Jr., Now the News: The Story of Broadcast Journalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991); Charles L. Ponce De Leon, That’s the Way It Is: A History of Television News in America (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2015).
20 “Editorial: Etaoin Shrdlu,” Broadcasting, June 13, 1949, 48.
21 Thomas W. Hazlett and David W. Sosa, “Was The Fairness Doctrine A “Chilling Effect”? Evidence from the Postderegulation Radio Market,” The Journal of Legal Studies 26, no. 1 (January 1997): 279-301.
22 Chad Raphael, “The FCC’s Broadcast News Distortion Rules: Regulation by Drooping Eyelid,” Communication Law and Policy 6, (Summer 2001): 485-539.
23 See FCC Report No. MM-263, August 4, 1987.
24 Gary Trust, “The First Billboard: All That Was ‘New, Bright and Interesting on The Boards,” Billboard, November 1, 2018, https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6746273/first-billboard-issue-november-1-1894.
25 “Record Buying Guide,” Billboard, July 27, 1940, 86.
26 Lee Zhito Biography and Career Highlights, box 6, folder 17, Lee Zhito Collection, Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN. (Hereafter cited as Lee Zhito Collection)
27 Lee Zhito Memo to Ed H. Guy, Nikkei Entertainment Interview Questions, February 3, 1993, box 8, folder 8, Lee Zhito Collection.
28 Lee Zhito Career Highlights, box 6, folder 17, Lee Zhito Collection.
29 Lee Zhito personal statement of benefits as of June 30, 1981 from Billboard, box 8, folder 22, Lee Zhito Collection; Inter-office memo from W.D. Littleford to Lee Zhito, July 20, 1965, box 5, folder 38, Lee Zhito Collection.
30 Lee Zhito letter to Joe Csida, July 29, 1946, with Csida note, box 6, folder 17, Lee Zhito Collection.
31 Lee Zhito, “Charge Richards Ordered News Slanted to Promote Own Political Beliefs,” The Billboard, March 6, 1948, 3.
32 Erik Barnouw, The Golden Web: A History of Broadcasting in the United States, 1933-1953 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968).
33 Barnouw, The Golden Web, 221.
34 George Albert Richards, Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, https://michigansportshof.org/inductee/george-albert-richards/.
35 Jim Hilliker, excerpts from KMPC’s 50th Anniversary Program, retrieved from https://www.710kmpc.com/history.htm
36 Barnouw, The Golden Web, 221.
37 Barnouw, The Golden Web, 221.
38 Barnouw, The Golden Web, 222.
39 Confidential Report involving KMPC, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
40 “Radio-Reviews: ‘F.O.B. DETROIT.’” Variety, June 24, 1942, 38. The accronym FOB likely refers to “Free on Board,” a shipment term that the Uniform Law Commission defines as the point in the supply chain when a buyer or seller assumes responsibility for the goods being transported, including concepts such as FOB Origin and FOB Destination, which also help define ownership, risk, and transportation costs for both buyers and sellers.
41 WJR (Radio station: Detroit, MI). FOB. Detroit, a Report to the Nation by Detroit Leaders of Industry. WJR, the Goodwill Station. Michigan, 1942.
42 “duPont Awards to WJR, WTAG, Kaltenborn,” Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising, March 12, 1945, 13.
43 Robert J. Landry, This Fascinating Radio Business (Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill, 1946).
44 Statement of General Policies and Rules Governing the Acceptance of Program Material and Advertising Copy, KMPC, The Station of the Stars, Inc., Los Angeles, 2. Brochure in box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
45 As cited in “1947 Sales Volume of Over $6,000,000 Reported by Three Richards Stations,” Broadcasting, February 2, 1948, 72.
46 Clete Roberts statement, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
47 “MacArthur Broadcast Blamed for Loss of Job,” Los Angeles Times, August 9, 1950.
48 Confidential Report involving KMPC, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
49 Dixon Wecter, “Hearing is Believing,” Atlantic Monthly, June 1945, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/06/hearing-is-believing/655826/.
50 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken, February 24, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
51 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken.
52 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken.
53 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken.
54 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken.
55 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken.
56 Letter from G.A. Richards to Clete Roberts, September 3, 1947, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
57 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken, February 24, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
58 George E. Lewin statement to Lee Zhito/Billboard, February 26, 1948, box 7, Folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection; Purely Commentary by Phillip Slomovitz, WJR, WGAR, KMPC and Radio News Slanting, Jewish News, March 19, 1948, The Detroit Jewish News Digital Archive, University of Michigan.
59 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken, February 24, 1948, box 8, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
60 Letter from Lee Zhito to Jerry Franken.
61 Joe Csida telegram to Lee Zhito, February 27, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
62 Running list of telegrams between Billboard offices, February 27, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
63 Lee Zhito, “Ex-KMPC’ers Blow Whistle,” Billboard, March 6, 1948, 1.
64 Zhito, “Ex-KMPC’ers,” 8.
65 “Coast Newsmen May Testify in Mayflower Hearing,” Broadcasting, March 8, 1948, 90; “KMPC Newsmen’s Charge That Richards Ordered Them to Stir Up Religious Hatred Faces FCC Probe,” Variety, March 17, 1948, 32.
66 Letter from Phil Kent to Lee Zhito, March 5, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
67 Sam Abbott Letter to W.D. Littleford, March 8, 1948, box 6, folder 17, Lee Zhito Collection.
68 Red Whalen letter to Clete Roberts, March 27, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
69 Zhito’s story has a dateline of February 28, 1948, and was published in the March 6, 1948, Billboard issue. The FCC met on March 1 to 5 and April 19 to 21, 1948, to discuss the Mayflower directive. See Editorializing by Broadcast Licensees, FCC-49-769, docket no. 8516.
70 “Editorial: Richards & Mayflower Hearings,” Billboard, March 6, 1948, 1.
71 Lee Zhito memo to Joe Csida, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
72 Memo to New York editorial department, attention Joe Csida, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
73 Bill Leyden statement to Billboard, February 27, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
74 Memo to New York editorial department, attention Joe Csida, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
75 Lee Zhito telegram to Joe Csida, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
76 Lee Zhito memo to Joe Csida, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
77 Joe Csida telegram to Lee Zhito, March 4, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
78 Billboard, March 13, 1948, and Zhito’s original articles sent to Billboard headquarters, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
79 “Charges Against KMPC Stir FCC & Congressional Reaction, Billboard, March 13, 1948, 1.
80 Bliss, Now the News: 304; See Radio News Club letterhead from 1948, showing Chet Huntley on the Board of Directors, but not as its president. Furthermore, see teletext from the Radio News Club’s William J. Burns to the FCC filing the formal complaint. Both items in box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection; “KMPC’s Case Tests Strength of News Club,” Billboard, March 13, 1948, 1.
81 Telegram from William J. Burns to the FCC, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
82 Lee Zhito correspondence with Joe Csida, no date (but filed with March 13, 1948, stories), box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
83 Lee Zhito correspondence with Joe Csida.
84 GM Reynolds Defending KMPC, Billboard, March 13, 1948, 8.
85 Lee Zhito letter to Stella Holt, Voice of Freedom Committee, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
86 Mayflower to Stay Afloat: The FCC Hints No Barrier Lift on Opinion,” Billboard, March 13, 1948, 5.
87 “Roberts Hits KMPC Defense; Insists News Slant Fight, Not Economy, Forced Exit,” Billboard, March 20, 1948, 1.
88 Clete Roberts statement, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
89 “Roberts Hits KMPC Defense; Insists News Slant Fight, Not Economy, Forced Exit,” The Billboard, March 20, 1948, 1, 4; Lee Zhito memo to Joe Csida, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
90 Robert O. Reynolds statement to Billboard, March 4, 1948, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
91 See Billboard, March 27, 1948.
92 “KMPC News ‘Tasty,’” Billboard, March 27, 1948, 1.
93 “FCC Orders Full-Dress Probe Sans Public Hearing – on Dick Richards,” Variety, March 31, 1948, 27.
94 “FCC Digs Into KMPC Case,” Billboard, April 3, 1948, 1.
95 Robert O. Reynolds letter, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection.
96 “FCC Investigators in L.A. on KMPC Probe,” Billboard, April 17, 1948, 4.
97 “FCC Winds Up its 1st Probe on KMPC,” Billboard, May 1, 1948, 4.
98 “G.A. Richards License Held Up,” Billboard, May 8, 1948, 1; “Richards Gets 2d Extension For His WGAR,” Billboard, August 28, 1948, 10.
99 “FCC To Put KMPC on Temporary Basis, Billboard, September 10, 1949, 7.
100 See William Pennell’s FCC testimony. After Pennell’s broadcast on February 5, 1946, he was called into the front office with only Richards present. According to Pennell, the statement is what Richards said during their conversation. See also, Confidential Report involving KMPC, no date, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection; Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt Program, March 9, 1949, 4, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection; The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition, The Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt Program 80-5(35), March 9, 1949, https://www2.gwu.edu/∼erpapers/radiotv/doc.cfm?_p=eranna&_f=eranna_80_5_35; Independent Citizens Committee for the Election of Joseph T. Sharkey, no date, Columbia University Digital Archives, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/rbml/lehman/pdfs/0223/ldpd_leh_0223_0016.pdf.
101 Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt Program, March 9, 1949, 4, box 7, folder 9, Lee Zhito Collection; The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition, The Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt Program 80-5(35), March 9, 1949, https://www2.gwu.edu/∼erpapers/radiotv/doc.cfm?_p=eranna&_f=eranna_80_5_35.
102 “What Gives on KMPC Case? Well, It Seems That the FCC Ain’t Persecutin’ Richards,” Billboard, October 2, 1948, 10.
103 “Editorial: No Time for Stalling,” Billboard, February 26, 1949, 8.
104 “Letters on Richards Deluge FCC, 90% Being Hostile, But Some Praising ‘Foe of Reds,’” Billboard, April 2, 1949, 7.
105 “‘FCC Brushes Aside Richards Defenders’ Red Herring Move,” Billboard, June 4, 1949, 6.
106 “Letters on Richards Deluge FCC,” Billboard.
107 “March 13 FCC G.A. Richards Hearing Set,” Billboard, January 21, 1950, 4.
108 “G.A. Richards’ Proposed Lam Put Up to FCC,” Billboard, April 23, 1949, 1; “FCC Still Mulls Richards’ Status for Settlement,” Billboard, April 30, 1949, 5; “Jews Warn FCC on G.A. Richards,” Billboard, May 14, 1949, 4.
109 “FCC to Mull G.A. Richards Bid to Sell KMPC to NBC,” Billboard, October 29, 1949, 6; “Richards Refuses NBC Offer for KMPC,” Billboard, December 3, 1949, 10.
110 “FCC to Move on Richards Probe,” Snags to Delay It?,” Billboard, August 6, 1949, 7; “Richards’ Renewals,” Billboard, October 8, 1949, 1.
111 “G.A. Richards Seeks Another Delay at FCC,” Billboard, March 4, 1950, 1.
112 “Richards Hearings Open March 13; His New Lawyer Loses a Round With FCC,” Billboard, March 11, 1950, 4.
113 “Richards Case, Finally Open, May Set Testimony Record,” Billboard, March 18, 1950, 4.
114 “Announcer Asserts He Got Daily Orders on KMPC News,” Los Angeles Times, March 23, 1950, 17; see also Robert L. Horn testimony, box 2, Richards’ case: Official Report of the Proceedings Before the Federal Communications Commission, March 20, 1950, Benedict P. Cottone Papers, Harry S. Truman Library Collection, Independence, MO.
115 “Richards Fights FCC Bias Charges in Hot L.A. Sesh,” Billboard, March 25, 1950, 4.
116 Testimony of ex-employees of KMPC in Docket No. 9468, File No. BR-18, KMPC, Station of the Stars, Inc., FCC docket files.
117 “Cottone Sizzles Richards Counsel,” Billboard, May 26, 1951, 6.
118 “FCC Asked to Close 3 Radio Stations,” Washington Post (Associated Press), May 16, 1951.
119 Warren B. Francis, “Ban Urged on Richards Radio Chain,” Los Angeles Times, May 16, 1951.
120 Benedict P. Cottone letter to Lee Zhito, May 16, 1951, box 7, folder 8, Lee Zhito Collection.
121 “Death May End Richards Case,” Billboard, June 9, 1951, 6; Federal Communication Commission Report, July 18, 1951-June 25, 1952, vol. 16, 362.
122 Roy E. Thomas, M.D., sworn statement to the FCC, March 11, 1949; “Richards’ Health Subject of Clash in L.A. Hearing,” Billboard, June 24, 1950, 4; “Take the Stand Order Looms for Richards Again,” Billboard, July 8, 1950, 6.
123 “FCC Wipes Richards Slate Clean, Renews 3 Licenses, Billboard, December 8, 1951, 3.
124 Barnouw, The Golden Web.
125 Barnouw, The Golden Web; “FCC Wipes Richards Slate Clean;” Christopher H. Sterling and John Michael Kittross, Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting, 3rd Ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Routledge, 2002).
126 Joe Csida, “Billboard Backstage: The Story of Our Shame – Mullen Switches Jobs and We Don’t Carry a Line,” Billboard, May 22, 1948, 1.
127 “FCC Probes Charge Radio Slanted News Against Jews,” Washington Post, March 12, 1948, 8; “FCC Sifts Bias Claim’ KMPC Faces License Loss, National Jewish Post, March 19, 1948.
128 “Bow Again, Lee!,” Billboard, March 5, 1949, 1; Irv Lichtman,” Billboard Pioneer Lee Zhito Dies,” Billboard, December 23, 1995, 1, 104; “Lee Zhito; Editor, Publisher of Billboard Magazine,” Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1995, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-12-15-mn-14418-story.html.
129 Jeffrey Jolson-Colburn, “Billboard’s Lee Zhito Dies at 77,” Hollywood Reporter, December 13, 1995, 26.
130 Letter from Joe Csida to Lee Zhito, August 4, 1948, box 8, folder 26, Lee Zhito Collection.
131 Sydney W. Head, Broadcasting in America: A Survey of Television and Radio (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1956), 379.
132 William B. Ray, FCC: The Ups and Downs of Radio-TV (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1990), 13.
133 Report of the Federal Communications Commission in the matter of editorializing by broadcast licensees, June 1, 1949, docket 8516.
134 Ray, FCC: The Ups and Downs of Radio-TV, xv.
135 In Re: Complaints Covering CBS Program “Hunger in America,” Adopted October 15, 1969, 20 F.C.C. 2d 143, 151.
136 Inter-office correspondence from Lee Zhito to Jerry Hobbs, January 15, 1981, box 5, folder 13, Lee Zhito Collection.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Madeleine Liseblad
Madeleine Liseblad is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism & Public Relations at California State University, Long Beach. She conducts primarily historical and qualitative research and is the author of American Consultants and the Marketization of Television News in the United Kingdom (New York: Peter Lang, 2020). Liseblad is the recipient of the 2022 Rising Scholar Award from American Journalism. This research project won the W. David Sloan Award for Outstanding Faculty Paper from the American Journalism Historians Association in 2021.
Gregory Pitts
Gregory Pitts is a professor in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media at Middle Tennessee State University. His research interests include broadcast history and career professionalism among media employees in the US and around the world. But perhaps the best part of his career experiences is his recollection of reading Billboard while working as an announcer at local commercial radio stations.