Editor's note.

• Author: Butler, Carl W.

Welcome to the second issue of the fifty-sixth volume of the Federal Communications Law Journal. This issue presents a diverse selection of communications law topics, including telegraph and wire service regulation, radio and television programming, global spectrum management, property and copyright law, spectrum license renewal mechanisms, and international standards for the Internet.

The staff is especially excited about the diversity of this issue's Article selection. The Articles track various elements of communications law across three centuries. In the first Article, FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy critiques the continued importance of the World Radiocommunication Conference and its role in future international communications affairs. In the second Article, Menahem Blondheim presents a critical historical analysis of the dawn of communications regulation, which begins with the development of domestic telegraphy and then develops into a coherent link between nineteenth century technological, business, and social developments and twentieth century First Amendment theory. Finally, in the third Article, Richard Kielbowicz and Linda Lawson explore the origins of sponsorship identification regulations as they pertained to early radio and television programming.

This issue also presents three student Notes, each written by members of the Federal Communications Law Journal at Indiana University-Bloomington School of Law. In the first Note, Ronnie Bitman discusses the intersection of sports, property rights, and copyright law in the context of recent dilemmas and litigation by professional sports organizations and...