http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2015/08/03/herbert-hoovers-warnings-about-radio/

“Hoover was a staunch believer in public control of the airwaves. He wrote that when he arrived at the Harding Administration in 1920, radio broadcasting developers wanted regulation to prevent interference with each other, but “many of them were insisting on a right of permanent preemption of the channels through the air as private property – a monopoly of enormous financial value.” Mr. Secretary thought this was crazy. Their arguments for total privatization were “in a fashion comparable to private ownership of a water navigation channel,” he wrote.”