In November 1959 the U.S. House Oversight Committee initiated hearings. Back in those days of yore it was not about some political malfeasance or attempts to undermine the political order.
Rather it was about radio. Primarily AM radio. Although the first Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license for an FM station went to WDNG on November 14, 1938—in Anniston, Alabama*, which is located about 74 miles east of Birmingham—throughout the 1950s most radios—tabletop or portable transistors—were AM only. It wasn’t until 1958 that Sony started shipping FM-capable transistors to the U.S., so clearly there wasn’t a sufficient number of them in 1959 to get Congress agitated.**
The issue the committee looked into was “payola,” the practice of record companies paying disc jockeys to play specific records a set number of times during a prescribed period. The record companies figured that repeated plays made the music all the more appealing, so if they had to slip a few bucks (yes, there were some DJs who apparently made four figures, which would be about five figures today, based on inflation) to the people who were literally working the turntables, so be it.
Notably, although payola had a long history prior to the advent of rock and roll, which arguably gave rise to the various AM stations that popped up, it didn’t actually become illegal until 1960, when Congress amended the Federal Communications Act to outlaw “under-the-table [turntable?] payments.”
As time has passed, there have been a number of cases brought regarding illegal payments and the promotion of particular music.
And while the notion of transistor radios and disc jockeys like Alan Freed (who was charged early in the period of heightened concern—such that even President Eisenhower spoke out about payola—and was convicted, which led to Freed’s subsequent career being ignominious and his life being cut short, dying at age 43***) seem ol’ timey, last week the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general announced lawsuits against Google and iHeartMedia the settlement of which will require, among other things, a payment of $9.4 million.