This comprehensive study examines the case of AM stereo and subsequent technologies to demonstrate the FCC's evolution from stern to reluctant regulator. It also examines emerging technologies, such as multichannel television sound, digital audio broadcasting, and high definition television, and discusses their impact on the evolution of broadcast regulation. In the 1980s the tension between governmental control and the marketplace resulted in the FCC's deregulation of TV and radio, electing to set only technical operating parameters and allowing legal operation of any system that meets...