United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Ashbacker Radio Corp. v. FCC, 326 U.S. 327 (1945)

Ashbacker Radio Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission

No. 65

Argued November 13, 1945

Decided December 3, 1945

326 U.S. 327

Syllabus

1. Where two applications pertaining to broadcasting station licenses under the Federal Communications Act are mutually exclusive, the grant of one without hearings on both deprives the loser of the opportunity for a hearing to which he is entitled under § 309(a) of the Act, even though his application is set for a hearing at a later date. Pp. 326 U. S. 327, 326 U. S. 329, 326 U. S. 333.

2. In such a case, the applicant whose application was not acted upon is placed in the same position as a newcomer who seeks to displace an established broadcaster, and thus is placed under a greater burden than if a hearing on his application had preceded the grant of the other application. P. 326 U. S. 332.

3. While his statutory right to a hearing has been preserved in form, it has been substantially nullified, as a practical matter, by the grant of the other application. P. 326 U. S. 334.

Reversed.

Certiorari, 325 U.S. 846, to review dismissal of an appeal from an order of the Federal Communications Commission dismissing a petition for a hearing, rehearing, and other relief.