Page "Pirate radio" Paragraph 6

In 1924, New York City station WHN was accused of being an " outlaw " station by AT & T ( then American Telephone and Telegraph Company ) for violating trade licenses which permitted only AT & T stations to sell airtime on their transmitters.

As a result of the AT & T interpretation a landmark case was heard in court, which even prompted comments from Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover when he took a public stand in the station's defense.

Although AT & T won its case, the furor created was such that those restrictive provisions of the transmitter license were never enforced.