Radio Act of 1912

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The Radio Act of 1912, formally, known as "An Act to Regulate Radio Communication" (37 Stat. 302), is a United States federal law which was the country's first legislation to require licenses for radio stations. It was enacted before the introduction of broadcasting to the general public, and was eventually found to contain insufficient authority to effectively control this new service, so the Act was replaced and the government's regulatory powers increased by the passage of the Radio Act of 1927.