Technological progression in audio and video recordings, record-breaking pop acts, and high profiles for heavy metal and new age music highlighted 1987. Business boomed as sales of compact disk (CD) players rose rapidly and record companies issued many new albums and reissued old albums on CD. New technology included CD video, that blends video and high-quality digital audio, and super-VHS video, which gets very good video quality thanks to high-speed playing as well as high-speed recording.
Amending an earlier ruling, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in November 1987 said that stations would be free to air "indecent" material between midnight and 6 A.M. without concern of FCC actions. In the last two years, radio broadcasters especially had come under rising public strain because some disk jockeys had acquired recognition through the use of "shock radio" "vulgar, often sexually oriented comments and stunts. In April, the clash with shock radio caused the FCC to caution broadcasters that it would begin imposing a broader definition of indecency. That warning came in response to broadcasts at three FM stations "KPFK in Los Angeles, WYSP in Philadelphia, and KCSB in Santa Barbara, Calif. .
President Ronald Reagan vetoed a bill in Congress that would have made an FCC rule called the Fairness Doctrine a law on June 20. The rule, long out of favor by broadcasters, made television and radio stations air all sides of controversial issues. On August 4, the FCC voted unanimously to abolish the policy. Some members of Congress vowed to renew efforts to enact the policy into law. Broadcasters scored a major victory in 1987 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with President Ronald Reagan's blessing, abolished a policy called the Fairness Doctrine. That FCC rule, which dated from the 1940's and was long abhorred by broadcasters, required television and radio stations to air all sides of controversial issues.