Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/History Cards

The FCC "History Cards" were collections of 5-by-8-inch (13 by 20 cm) index cards, maintained for each AM, FM and TV broadcasting station. They were introduced in early 1927, at the time of the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), and were taken over by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after its formation in 1934. The History Cards replaced earlier card files that had been maintained by the Commerce Department. (Commerce had regulated U.S. radio broadcasting from 1920 to 1927.)

The History Cards were stored in large, publicly accessible pull-out trays. They were individually updated using typewriters and were used until 1980, when they were replaced by the computerized Broadcast Application Processing System (BAPS). As part of the changeover, the History Cards for active stations (plus a few deleted stations) were copied to microfiche as reversed monochrome images. Subsequently the FCC converted the microfiche images to PDF files that were made accessible online.

The original card sets were sorted alphabetically by station call letters. The FCC PDF file copies were accessed via numeric letter IDs assigned by the FCC's Consolidated Database System (CDBS). As part of the transition to the Licensing and Management System, history cards and some other imported CDBS letters were added as attachments to the main LMS page at the bottom, e.g. [1]. Note that any substitution of CDBS links with LMS links must be manual. For instance, the history cards for KGUN-TV had a CDBS ID of 84607 but an LMS UUID of c0ae36ca-f607-53a6-3bed-eefd07b673c1.

FCC History Card organization

FCC PDF file version	Original card appearance
The first set of cards in an individual station's card deck were "buff" colored. The front of these cards were labeled "Broadcasting Station License Record", and they were used to record basic station data including "Date First Licensed", and current owner and transmitter and studio site information. For stations with a "Date First Licensed" prior to March 1927, the information comes from the earlier Department of Commerce files. This sample card is the first one for KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The backs of this first series of cards were labeled "Construction Permit and License Record". Recorded here was chronological summary information about Construction Permits, plus license grants and renewals
The second series in an individual station's card deck, which was initially called "Station Application Record" and later "Application Record - Broadcasting", summarized chronologically a station's applications. These cards were white in color. Although most of the History Card files only include information starting with the 1927 establishment of the Federal Radio Commission, for a few older stations someone transcribed information from the earlier Department of Commerce files, which was the case with KDKA.
In a small number of cases there was a third series of cards, "Record of Applications Requesting Facilities of Broadcasting Station", which recorded information about competing applications to supplant a station. These competing application cards were reddish in color. This sample card is for KYW, then in Chicago, which faced numerous competing applications until it was authorized to move to Philadelphia.

Earlier Department of Commerce files
From 1912 until the 1927 formation of the Federal Radio Commission, radio stations were regulated by the Bureau of Navigation within the Department of Commerce. In general all information from this period is omitted from the FCC History Cards, although there are a few cases the Commerce information was transcribed in the opening sections of the FCC History Cards: examples include KDKA Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, WPTF Raleigh, North Carolina and WTMJ Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Commerce had its own set of card files for record keeping, and maintained three sets of station card files, which were organized for cross-referencing purposes by call sign, by location, and by owner. The files were further divided between active and deleted stations. The Call Sign and Location files were on 5 by 8 inch (12.7 by 20.3 cm) index cards. and the Owner cards were 3 by 5 inch (7.62 by 12.7 cm). Until the early 1980s, the Commerce card files were publicly accessible at the then-FCC headquarters location at 1919 M Street, NW in Washington, D.C. Unlike the FCC History Cards, the Commerce cards files were never microfiched.
Under Commerce Department regulation, when a new station's initial application was received in Washington, call letters were immediately assigned and a Call Letter card, used for recording technical and ownership information, was created for the station. A second similar set of cards, organized by Location and sorted by city and state, was kept for cross-referencing purposes. KDKA in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was originally licensed to provide point-to-point communication between a group of Westinghouse-owned stations, but in early November 1920 it also began operating as the company's first broadcasting station. There wasn't a separate broadcasting service at this time, so, as would be true for broadcasting stations for close to two years, KDKA's station information was typed on a blue Coast Radio Station card. Information on the source and type of the new station application, plus the date of its arrival at Commerce, was normally typed on the back of a station's Call Letter card. The note typed on the back of KDKA's Call Letter card recorded that the initial station application was received in Washington on October 22, 1920 as a Form 761 plus a letter, which had been processed and forwarded by the regional Radio Inspector based in Detroit. Toward the end of 1922 it had become clear that broadcasting was more than a passing fad, so the Bureau created Call Letter cards for Broadcasting Stations, which were pink. This example card is for WIBW, which was initially licensed in 1925 in Logansport, Indiana.
The assignment of call letters basically provided an identifier for a station, but in order to transmit on a regular basis, a station also had to have a license or other formal operating authorization. Station license information was primarily documented in formal licenses issued to the stations, with a copy kept at Washington. It was also summarized in a third set of cards—Owner cards. Effective December 1, 1921, the Department of Commerce created the first formal regulations for broadcasting stations. During the period of the original broadcast service grants—consisting of Entertainment transmissions on 360 meters (833 kHz), and Market and Weather reports on 485 meters (619 kHz)—white index cards were used for the Owner files. Through 1922 the information on most of these cards was hand written . The initial Owner card for WSB in Atlanta, Georgia documents its first license, for 360 and 485 meters, issued on April 11, 1922. (WSB had received an initial authorization, by telegram, on March 15th, which was noted on the back of WSB's Call Letter card). In late September 1922, a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz), was added as the "Class B" wavelength. Stations on 360 meters, now known as Class A stations, continued using white cards. But for the new Class B authorizations the Bureau of Navigation recorded the license information on distinctive orange cards. As noted on WSB's first Owner card, on October 9, 1922 it "Entered Class B", and under its new classification its license information was continued on one of the orange cards used for this class of station The broadcast band was greatly expanded on May 15, 1923. Instead of just two individual entertainment wavelengths, bands of frequencies were created for assignments for the Class A and Class B stations. The Owner cards for the Class B stations continued to be orange, but Class A station Owner cards switched from white to blue. A dwindling number of stations, now referred to as Class C, remained on 360 meters, and their Owner cards continued to be white. Therefore, a station's category could be identified at a glance: blue for Class A, orange for Class B, and white for Class C. Doc Brinkley, A.K.A. The Infamous Goat Gland Doctor, had two incarnations for his station, KFKB. The first time, from 1923 to 1925, KFKB was a Class A station, so it merited a blue Owner card. In July 1926, adverse legal rulings caused federal regulation of broadcasting stations to break down, and until the early 1927 formation of the Federal Radio Commission stations were free to operate on frequencies and with powers of their own choosing. Therefore, the Bureau of Navigation went back to just using white cards for all Owner cards. Brinkley reactivated KFKB the station during the chaos of 1926, and began operating on a non-standard frequency of 695 kHz.