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By Root 1960 0

and proliferating after the war. As in America, this community was made up of citizens who had either begun tinkering before World War I or, in many cases, been trained by the military. And as in America, too, they saw themselves as upholding an ideal of the "man of science" with full research freedom. Their "first and constant" campaign was therefore for the granting of receiving licenses "with complete freedom." "Every Englishman," the amateurs declared, "is entitled to hear what is going on in his aether provided his listening apparatus does not annoy his neighbours" (an important and, as it proved, consequential pro- viso).3 Moreover, they saw the ether as a natural commons across which such free researchers could roam in search of discoveries. So when the Post Office suspended Chelmsford's transmissions, more than sixty societies, boasting some three thousand members, protested against the decision, and did so in the name of science. It was an unexpected declaration of strength, before which a startled postmaster general backed down. It signaled how central the identity of the scientific experimenter would become as the enterprise of broadcasting got underway

At much this time, several companies began to seek licenses for "what is called `broadcasting."' Marconi alone proposed to build six powerful transmitters across the country, which would have been enough to make the ether a private preserve. But Marconi had challengers, and if more than a few of their proposed stations were built, it seemed that "interference and chaos" would surely result. The problem was already looming large inAmerica, where stations routinely drowned out each others' signals, threatening a level of "ether chaos" that might make listening unbearable in major cities. The Post Office heard that Washington was girding itself to impose "very drastic" restrictions. A secret report by an assistant secretary named F.J. Brown not only brought home the scale of the problem in the United States, but also noted that the economic viability of broadcasting remained unproven. It looked as though Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover would address both issues, Brown reported, by instituting a hierarchy of stations assigned to discrete bands.4 Some equivalent regulation must clearly be considered in Britain. Permission to use radio "for experimental purposes" had always been granted readily enough, but the question facing the Post Office now was how to forestall "chaos" on an American scale.s Moreover, the government was wary that the new medium might be used for what it called "communistic or other seditious propaganda." The two fears combined to inspire a conviction that only "reputable commercial organizations" should get licenses to broadcast.

By mid-May 1922, several large transmitters were already in operation. Marconi had plants in Chelmsford and London; Metropolitan Vickers ("Metrovick") had one in Manchester; Western Electric had another in Birmingham. The risk of ether chaos was growing fast, and the Post Office decided to call a halt. It forthwith deferred proposals for nineteen or twenty more stations, declaring that "the ether is already full."6 As Postmaster General F. G. Kellaway told MPs, it would be "physically impossible" for so many to operate at once. The laws of nature forbade it, and ignoring those laws would lead only to "a sort of chaos." Some recipe had to be arrived at for both funding the enterprise and avoiding chaos. Marconi believed that it had one. It advanced what it called a "revolutionary" proposal. The plan envisaged that the government would oversee programming, and even keep a list of all purchasers of receiving sets. The company would build and run the transmitters. It would transmit free broadcasts for licensed receivers, and in additionwould offer a paid service for weather and financial information restricted to those with special sets tuned to receive it. Discrete wavebands would be set aside for the free and paid broadcasts, along with more for amateur experimenters. Receiving sets would then be sold as sealed boxes,