Radio broadcasting emerged on a mass scale in the United States during the first half of the 1920s, with the number of stations in operation rising from 28 in 1921 to 571 in 1925. A new form of mass media had emerged. Congress passed federal legislation called the Radio Act of 1927 early in that year establishing a Federal Radio Commission (FRC), which was granted power to regulate the emerging industry, granting licenses and assigning broadcasting wavelengths to bring order to a chaotic market.