Federal Communications Commission et al. v. Wncn Listeners Guild et al.

Decided March 24, 1981. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-824 · 450 U.S. 582 (1981) · Cited 222 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• National Broadcasting Co. v. United States · 319 U.S. 190 (1943)
• Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission · 395 U.S. 367 (1969)
• Federal Communications Commission v. National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting · 436 U.S. 775 (1978)
• United States v. Storer Broadcasting Co. · 351 U.S. 192 (1956)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Midwest Video Corp. · 440 U.S. 689 (1979)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation · 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Sanders Bros. Radio Station · 309 U.S. 470 (1940)
• Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · 401 U.S. 402 (1971)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 403 U.S. 602 (1971)
• Permian Basin Area Rate Cases · 390 U.S. 747 (1968)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co. · 309 U.S. 134 (1940)
• E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co. v. Train · 430 U.S. 112 (1977)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Woko, Inc. · 329 U.S. 223 (1946)
• Federal Power Commission v. Texaco Inc. · 377 U.S. 33 (1964)
• Federal Power Commission v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. · 365 U.S. 1 (1961)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 520 U.S. 180 (1997)
• Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 497 U.S. 547 (1990)
• Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 512 U.S. 622 (1994)
• FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project · 592 U.S. 414 (2021)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).