The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was established on June 19, 1934, the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Communications Act of 1934 into law.1Federal Communications Commission. History of Commercial Radio The new agency pulled radio, telephone, and telegraph oversight under one roof for the first time, replacing a scattered arrangement in which different regulators handled different technologies.
The Law That Created the FCC
The Communications Act of 1934 is the statute that brought the agency into existence, and it is still the foundational law governing federal communication regulation today. Codified at 47 U.S.C. § 151, the Act directed the creation of the FCC to ensure that affordable, efficient wire and radio communication would be available to people across the country without discrimination.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 151 – Purposes of Chapter; Federal Communications Commission Alongside consumer access, the statute named national defense and public safety as core objectives of federal communication oversight.
Congress wrote the Act with broad rulemaking authority built in. The FCC was empowered to create regulations, issue orders, and enforce compliance across any communication service that crosses state or national borders.3Federal Communications Commission. Communications Act of 1934 That wide grant was deliberate. Lawmakers wanted the agency to adapt to new technologies without needing a fresh bill for every one. The 1934 Act has been amended many times since, but it remains the primary legal foundation for everything the FCC does.
What Existed Before 1934
Before the FCC, no single body oversaw electronic communication. Radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Radio Commission, created under the Radio Act of 1927. That agency handled station licensing and managed interference between broadcasters, but it had no authority over telephone or telegraph services.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC Ch 4 – Radio Act of 1927 Telephone and telegraph regulation fell instead to the Interstate Commerce Commission, an agency principally focused on railroads and shipping, under the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910.
The 1934 Act cleared away that split. It formally abolished the Federal Radio Commission and transferred its records, property, and personnel to the newly created FCC. It also stripped telephone and telegraph oversight from the Interstate Commerce Commission. From that point forward, one agency managed every form of electronic communication, from physical cable networks to radio broadcasts. The consolidation ended overlapping jurisdictions and gave the federal government a more coherent way to regulate a fast-changing industry.
How the Commission Was Set Up
The original 1934 Act established a leadership body of seven commissioners. Congress reduced that number to five in 1982, and the FCC has operated with five commissioners since.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 154 – Federal Communications Commission The President appoints each commissioner, the Senate confirms, and the President designates one of the five as chairperson.
To keep any single party from controlling the agency, the law caps commissioners from the same party at a simple majority, meaning no more than three of the five can share a party affiliation.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 154 – Federal Communications Commission Each commissioner serves a five-year term. When a term expires, the commissioner may stay on temporarily until a successor is confirmed and sworn in, but that holdover cannot extend past the end of the next session of Congress. If a vacancy opens mid-term, the replacement is appointed only for the remainder of that term.
How the FCC Is Funded
The agency does not draw on general tax revenue. It collects regulatory fees from the companies and individuals it regulates. Sections 6(a) and 9(b) of the Communications Act require the FCC to assess and collect fees each fiscal year to cover its operating costs, including enforcement, rulemaking, and international coordination.6Federal Communications Commission. Regulatory Fees Congress sets the total collection target as part of the annual federal budget. For fiscal year 2026, that target is approximately $416 million.7Federal Communications Commission. FY2026 Budget Estimates
Some entities are exempt. Government agencies, nonprofit organizations, amateur radio operators, noncommercial radio and television stations, and any regulated entity whose total fee would fall below a minimum threshold the FCC sets each year do not pay.
How the Agency Has Changed Since 1934
The FCC of today looks very different from the one Roosevelt signed into existence. The most significant overhaul of the 1934 framework came with the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first major rewrite of federal communication law in over sixty years.8Federal Communications Commission. Telecommunications Act of 1996 The central goal was to open communication markets to competition. Before 1996, local phone service was largely controlled by regional monopolies, and cable, broadcast, and telephone companies operated in separate lanes with little overlap.
The 1996 Act broke down those barriers. It allowed telephone companies, cable providers, and broadcasters to enter each other’s markets and compete. It also addressed the growing role of the internet, setting policies to encourage online growth while limiting government regulation of interactive computer services. The FCC took on a major role in writing the rules that implemented the new law, including provisions to open local phone networks to competitors and promote broadband deployment.
Other expansions came piece by piece. In 1993, Congress gave the FCC the power to award radio spectrum licenses through competitive bidding rather than the comparative hearings and lotteries used before.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 47 USC 309 – Application for License Under 47 U.S.C. § 309(j), the FCC runs auctions whenever it receives competing applications for the same license, and those auctions have generated tens of billions of dollars in revenue for the U.S. Treasury. The agency also took on equipment authorization, which is why nearly every electronic device sold in the United States that emits radio frequency energy carries an FCC ID number.10Federal Communications Commission. Equipment Authorization Satellite licensing followed, and today the FCC’s reach extends to wireless communications, broadband internet service, satellite systems, and cable television, among other technologies.
The agency that began in 1934 as a consolidator of radio, telephone, and telegraph oversight now sits at the center of nearly every form of electronic communication in the country. The law that created it has been amended and expanded, but the June 19, 1934 signing remains its starting point.