FCC Policy and Procedures Relating to Hearings on Broadcast Applications in Which a New Applicant Seeks to Displace a Licensee Seeking Renewal

It would seem that the hearing process should provide the means of establishing the factual basis for decision through the application of the test provided by law. If, as widely believed in the industry, decisions after hearings are not fair to competing parties, and if, for that reason, the results are not consistent with the public interest, there is obviously cause to examine the procedures employed in the hearing process. This Article undertakes both to examine the hearing process of the Commission relating to contests between competing broadcast applicants as it has evolved and to suggest changes in approach as shown to be necessary