General Order 32

Following the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission, existing stations were initially issued a series of temporary authorizations, starting on May 3, 1927.^[9] The FRC conducted a review and census of the existing stations, then notified them that if they wished to remain on the air they had to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard.^[10]

General Order 32^[11] was used to notify 164 stations that they had been identified as questionable in meeting this new standard. The following, dated May 25, 1928, was sent to these stations:

Dear Sir: Please note copy of attached Order No. 32 in which the commission has extended your present license for a period of 60 days. From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it. The commission has fixed the date for hearing on this application on July 9, at 10 o'clock a.m. in its offices at Washington, D. C.
    At this hearing, unless you can make an affirmative showing that public interest, convenience, or necessity will be served by the granting of your application, it will be finally denied.^[12]

The table below reviews the stations included in the General Order 32 notifications. The focus was on the most congested regions, especially around the Chicago and New York City areas. No stations from the sparsely populated Zone 3 were included. On the table, the Elimination Notes column records cases where stations were ultimately eliminated, either through deletion, by surrendering their licenses, or by consolidation with other stations.^[12] Stations with a blank Elimination Notes entry were found to meet the new "convenience, interest, and necessity" standard, and were relicensed.

Most of the challenged stations submitted documentation or made presentations supporting their relicensing, and a majority were approved, although often with a power reduction. However, on July 27 the FRC announced that 36 stations had failed to present justifications supporting their applications, thus would be deleted as of August 1, 1928.^[14] In addition, four stations voluntarily surrendered their licenses.^[13]

Through the end of August, the FRC announced additional stations that would be deleted, and those which would be relicensed. Stations designated for September 1 deletions included WCOT,^[16] WNBA,^[19] WJBA,^[20] WPEP and WTRL,^[15] plus KWUC, WAIZ and WNAL.^[21] The deletion of KFQA in St. Louis Missouri was reported,^[22] although it was later consolidated with KMOX. A final report stated that WMBB-WOK would be deleted, while WQJ, WBCN, WLIB, KFKX, WGWB, WMBW, WBAO, WCLS, WLBO and five Nebraska stations were being consolidated with other stations.^[18] One additional station, WMBJ, was deleted due to technical violations.^[17]

According to the FRC, a total of 62 stations were eliminated as a result of General Order 32, with 81 surviving, although many of the latter were reduced in power or moved to less desirable frequencies.^[23] Educational stations fared particularly poorly. They were usually required to share frequencies with commercial stations and operate only during the daytime, which was considered of limited value for adult education. The deleted stations were mostly small ones with limited financial backing. One notable exception was a Chicago-area station, WMBB-WOK. This station was primarily owned by the American Bond and Mortgage Company, which unsuccessfully challenged its elimination in the federal courts.^[24]

With the number of stations now somewhat reduced, the FRC's next major step was implementation of General Order 40 on November 11, 1928, which was a wide-sweeping reallocation of station assignments.

• North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement
• Federal Radio Commission