Christopher H. Sterling

Christopher H. Sterling (April 16, 1943 – July 1, 2023) was an American media historian. Sterling was professor of media and public affairs at The George Washington University (Washington, D.C.) where he taught from 1982. Author of numerous books on electronic media and telecommunications plus a host of research and bibliographic articles, his primary research interests centered upon the history and policy development of electronic media and telecommunications. He regularly taught courses in media law and federal regulation and society. He was an acting chair in the early 1990s and served as associate dean for graduate studies in arts and sciences from 1994 to 2001.

Life and career
Sterling was born on April 16, 1943. In 1969, he founded what is now Communication Booknotes Quarterly and served on the editorial boards of several research journals (he edited what was then the Journal of Broadcasting for five years in the early 1970s). During the 1970s, he edited five series of facsimile reprints of 140 important early books in broadcasting and telecommunications for the New York Times' Arno Press, primarily for the library market. Sterling was the recipient of several awards, including being named IRTS Stanton Fellow and the Broadcast Education Association's Distinguished Scholar and Education Service awards. He served as BEA's president for two years in the 1980s.

After earning his academic degrees at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Sterling taught at Temple University through the 1970s, then moved to Washington to serve as a special assistant to FCC Commissioner Ann Jones from 1980 to 1982. Sterling has testified before or done consulting for congressional committees, the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, the Office of Management and Budget, the former U.S. Information Agency, and the Federal Communications Commission. He has lectured in Europe, South America, and Asia on American communication policy and appears frequently in both American and foreign media as an authority on electronic media and telecommunications issues.

Sterling also published articles about several of his avocations, including Sir Winston Churchill, the development of commercial aviation (including Commercial Air Transport Books: An Annotated Bibliography [1996] and a Supplement [1998]), ocean liners, and the history of fortification.

Christopher H. Sterling lived in northern Virginia. He died on July 1, 2023, at the age of 80.