## Facts

- The Telegraph Herald applied to the FCC for a construction permit to build a new radio station in Dubuque, Iowa.
- Sanders Brothers Radio Station, licensee of Station WKBB in East Dubuque, Illinois (across the river from Dubuque), applied to move its transmitter and studios to Dubuque.
- Sanders Brothers intervened in the Telegraph Herald proceeding, asserting that Dubuque could not economically support an additional station, that WKBB already provided adequate service, and that granting a new permit would not serve the public interest.
- An FCC examiner recommended denying the Telegraph Herald application and granting WKBB’s move.
- The FCC’s broadcasting division granted both applications, finding both applicants legally, technically, and financially qualified; finding need for both stations; and finding no electrical interference issues.
- Sanders Brothers appealed under § 402(b) of the Communications Act, arguing the FCC unlawfully failed to consider economic injury to WKBB from added competition.
- The D.C. Circuit set aside the FCC order, holding the FCC had to account for economic consequences to the existing station.
- The FCC obtained Supreme Court review.

## Issues

1. Whether economic injury to an existing station, standing alone and apart from public interest considerations, is a factor the FCC must weigh and make findings on when granting a broadcast license or construction permit.
2. Whether an existing licensee alleging economic harm from a competing grant is a “person aggrieved or whose interests are adversely affected” with a right to appeal under § 402(b)(2) of the Communications Act.
3. Whether the FCC’s grant was supported by adequate findings and record support, including whether undisclosed internal materials were improperly used as evidence.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court reversed the D.C. Circuit and reinstated the FCC’s grant.
- The FCC is not required to consider and make findings on economic injury to a rival station as an independent element separate from “public interest, convenience, and necessity.”
- An existing licensee alleging economic injury from a competing grant is a “person aggrieved” entitled to appeal under § 402(b)(2).
- The FCC’s order was supported by its findings that both applicants were qualified, public need existed for both stations, and no interference problem was presented.
- The Court accepted the appellate court’s factual conclusion that undisclosed internal FCC data were not used as evidence in deciding the applications.

## Legal Principles

- The Communications Act’s broadcast licensing standard is “public interest, convenience, and necessity”; it does not confer protection against competition as such.
- Economic effects may be considered only insofar as they bear on the public interest (e.g., whether service to the public would be impaired), not as a freestanding private entitlement of incumbent licensees.
- Competitors asserting economic harm can qualify as “persons aggrieved” for purposes of judicial review under § 402(b)(2), even when the statute does not require the agency to prevent that harm.
- Agency licensing decisions are sustained when supported by findings on applicant qualifications and public interest factors addressed in the order and record.

## Conclusion

The Court held that the FCC’s broadcast licensing function is directed to the statutory public-interest standard rather than shielding existing licensees from competitive economic injury, while also recognizing that competitors facing economic harm have standing to seek judicial review of FCC licensing decisions under § 402(b)(2).


Fed. Commc’ns Comm’n v. Sanders Bros. Radio Station, 309 U.S. 470 (1940)