Charles Siepmann

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Charles Siepmann (1899–1985) was a British-born scholar who studied media and fought for stronger public responsibility in broadcasting. He spent much of his career in the United States as a professor in New York University’s graduate program in communication.

Siepmann was born in Bristol, England, and served in World War I. After the war he worked for the BBC, where he helped develop educational programming and led the Talks department starting in 1931. In 1937, after twelve years at the BBC, he moved to the United States with support from a Rockefeller Foundation grant to study educational broadcasting. He taught at Harvard University until 1942, then joined the U.S. Office for War Information.

In 1946, FCC commissioner Clifford Durr hired Siepmann to draft a report on broadcasters’ public service responsibilities. The document, Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees, came to be known as the Blue Book. It drew on data gathered by Dallas Smythe and was highly critical of broadcasters. It argued that they should devote more time to local, non-profit, and experimental programming and reduce excessive advertising. The Blue Book sparked strong opposition from the broadcasting industry, though it was seen as important by others in the field.

That same year, Siepmann joined New York University as Chair of the Department of Communications in Education and as Director of NYU’s film library, remaining there until 1968 before becoming professor emeritus. He later taught at Sarah Lawrence College until 1972 and continued mentoring students at his Vermont farm.

Siepmann wrote extensively about the role of broadcast media in a democracy. He published six books and contributed to many journals. His best-known works include Radio’s Second Chance (1946), The Radio Listener’s Bill of Rights: Democracy, Radio and You (1948), and Radio, Television and Society (1950). He argued that FM radio could reclaim opportunities lost with AM and that democratic society depends on informed, engaged citizens in relation to radio and television.

In addition to his books, Siepmann published articles in journals such as Studies in Philosophy and Social Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, and the Yale Law Journal. He married Charlotte “Dolly” Tyler in 1942, and they had two daughters and a son. Siepmann passed away in 1985 in London.