In the 1920s, radio emerged as a new and extremely popular form of mass communication. Soon, all kinds of content - much of it uncouth - began filling the American airwaves. This included programming from quack doctors.

The Federal Radio Commission shut these doctors down. However, they fled to Mexico, where the American government could not reach them, and broadcast back to the United States. Their stations had controversial programming, and - to make matters worse - created static on important domestic outlets.

What could the American government do? Or, perhaps the more interesting question is, should they have censored speech at all?

Citations:

Gene Fowler and Bill Crawford, Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002)

National Archives and Records Administration, RG 173

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Music:

https://sessions.blue/ (Blue Dot Sessions)