The New Yorker, December 18, 1989 P. 43
ANNALS OF POLITICS about Lyndon Johnson and how he used political influence to amass wealth. The instrumentality was a radio station-KTBC in Austin, Texas, which he bought for his wife. In 1942 the owners of KTCB had requested permission from the F.C.C. to operate 24 hours a day and change to a more desirable frequency. They were unsuccessful in their request. Tells about steps taken by Johnson to secure the sale of the station to Mrs. Johnson, which was accomplished early in 1943. For five years the original owners had been subject to delays & unfavorable rulings by the F.C.C. Mrs. Johnson had no such difficulties. In few businesses was the role of govt. as crucial as in radio, for not only were the very licenses that allowed the use of the airways granted, and periodically renewed, only at the sufferance of the F.C.C. but the commission possessed virtually unchallengeable authority over every aspect of a station's operations. Congress had great influence at the FCC & when a congressman got in touch with a commissioner about an application from a favored constituent the application got priority. Tells about Johnson's influence. Tells how the F.C.C.'s existence was threatened and how it was saved by House Speaker Sam Rayburn
