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. == Bibliography ==