John Francis Dillon (commissioner)

John Francis Dillon
Born	March 6, 1866 Bellevue, Ohio
Died	October 9, 1927 (aged 61)
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army, United States Signal Corps
Years of service	1898, 1917–1919
Rank	Sergeant
Battles/wars	Spanish–American War World War I
Other work	radio commissioner

John Francis Dillon (March 6, 1866 – October 9, 1927) was one of the first members of the United States Federal Radio Commission, the forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission.

Biography

Dillon was born in Bellevue, Ohio. He served in the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army during the Spanish–American War and was master electrician in the Signal Corps from 1904 to 1912. In 1912, he was appointed a Radio Inspector for the Department of Commerce, which had just been given authority over radio by the Radio Act of 1912. Dillon stayed until the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, at which point he re-entered the signal Corps. He ultimately attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After the war, Dillon re-joined the Radio Division and in 1923 was made Radio Supervisor for the 6th district, in San Francisco. In 1927, he was appointed to the Federal Radio Commission as commissioner from the Fifth Zone. He was generally considered the most knowledgeable about radio of the early commissioners, but he died just months after taking office. He was replaced on the Commission by Harold LaFount.