ABSTRACT
The educational television system decreed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in its 1952 channel reservations had almost died of malnutrition in infancy. The Ford Foundation helped early stations into existence via construction grants; but that support had to be matched by local or regional funds, and these proved elusive in many cities, the large as well as the small. The FCC, however, took a different view. Its regulations governing non-commercial licensees did not forbid programs donated by others. They did forbid "commercial announcements of any character" in connection with such programs, but a "credit" did not fall into this category. The Communications Act of 1934, like the Radio Act of 1927, required identification of anyone "furnishing" a program. Thus "trade-name publicity," which had once been the mainstay of commercially sponsored broadcasting, was now becoming a feature of "non-commercial" broadcasting—one that had the FCC's blessing and was certain to grow in importance.
