In March 1946, FCC Commissioner Clifford Durr received a three-page letter from William Tymous, an African American World War II veteran who was outraged by the radio programming greeting him upon his return home:

Racist caricatures in radio programs abounded, Tymous observed: “Rochester in the Jack Benny program, Bill and Beulah in Beulah, the maid in Crime Doctor, the maid in The Great Gildersleeve, the maid in the Judy Canova program and the Amos and Andy troupe.” Tymous worried that these sketches were “nailing down in the minds of millions of listeners derogatory and false judgments of fellow-citizens.” He feared that listeners were “conditioned” by these stereotypes to see “nothing wrong in such disguised fostering of race hatred.” He indicted the “sponsors, producers and executives of networks who permit such bigotry and anti-racial pieces on the air.”

Durr responded that he was sympathetic with Tymous’s views, enclosing with his letter a recently issued report that presented “a pretty fair idea of where the commission stands on the over-all responsibility of station licensees for programming” and offered listeners ideas for contesting “the seamier aspects of broadcasting.” The report arrived in a blue cover, its title in bold black lettering: “Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees.”