Ex-FCC chief called network TV a ‘wasteland’
CHICAGO — Newton N. Minow, who as Federal Communications Commission chief in the early 1960s famously proclaimed that network television was a “vast wasteland,” died Saturday. He was 97.
Minow, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, died Saturday at home, surrounded by loved ones, said his daughter, Nell Minow.
“He wanted to be at home,” she told The Associated Press. “He had a good life.”
Though Minow remained in the FCC post just two years, he left a permanent stamp on the broadcasting industry through government steps to foster satellite communications, the passage of a law mandating UHF reception on TV sets and his outspoken advocacy for quality in television.
“My faith is in the belief that this country needs and can support many voices of television — and that the more voices we hear, the better, the richer, the freer we shall be,” Minow once said. “After all, the airways belong to the people.”
Minow was appointed as FCC chief by President John F. Kennedy in early 1961. He had initially come to know the Kennedys in the 1950s as an aide to Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, the Democrats’ presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956.
Minow laid down his famous challenge to TV executives on May 9, 1961, in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, urging them to sit down and watch their station for a full day, “without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-andloss sheet or rating book to distract you.”
“I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland,” he told them. “You will see a procession of game shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials — many screaming, cajoling and offending.”
As he spoke, the three networks were just about all most viewers had to choose from. Pay television was barely in the planning stage, PBS and “Sesame Street” were several years away, and HBO and niche channels such as Animal Planet were far in the future.
The speech caused a sensation. “Vast wasteland” became a catch phrase. Jimmy Durante opened an NBC special by saying, “Da next hour will be dedicated to upliftin’ da quality of television . ... At least, Newt, we’re tryin’.”
Minow became the first government official to get a
George Foster Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting. The New York Times critic Jack Gould (himself a Peabody winner) wrote, “At long last there is a man in Washington who proposes to champion the interests of the public in TV matters and is not timid about ruffling the industry’s most august feathers. Tonight some broadcasters were trying to find dark explanations for Mr. Minow’s attitude. In this matter the viewer possibly can be a little helpful; Mr. Minow has been watching television.”
CBS President Frank Stanton strongly disagreed, calling Minow’s comments a “sensationalized and oversimplified approach” that could lead to ill-advised reforms “on the ground that any change is a change for the better.”
For the criticism over his speech, Minow said he didn’t support censorship, preferring exhortation and measures to broaden public choices. But he also said a broadcasting license was “an enormous gift” from the government that brought with it a responsibility to the public.
His daughter, Nell Minow, told The Associated Press in 2011 that her father loved television and wished he would have been remembered for championing the public interest in television programming, rather than just a few words in his much broader speech.
“His No. 1 goal was to give people choice,” she said.
Among the new laws during his tenure were the All-Channel Receiver Act of 1962, that required that TV sets pick up UHF as well as VHF broadcasts, which opened up TV channels numbered above 13 for widespread viewing. Congress also passed a bill that provided funds for educational television, and measures to foster communications satellites.
In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Minow recalled telling Kennedy that such satellites were “more important than sending a man into space . ... Communications satellites will send ideas into space, and ideas live longer than people.” On July 10, 1962, Minow was one of the officials making statements on the first live trans-Atlantic television program, a demonstration of AT&T’s Telstar satellite.
Children’s programming was a particular interest of Minow, a father of three, who told broadcasters the few good children’s shows were “drowned out in the massive doses of cartoons, violence and more violence. ... Search your consciences and see if you cannot offer more to your young beneficiaries whose future you guide so many hours each and every day.”
Minow resigned in May 1963 to become executive vice president and general counsel for Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. in Chicago.
Paula K. Brandenburg, 79, passed away Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at Primrose in Findlay, Ohio.
She was born in Fostoria on May 4,1943 to Paul and Eloise (Huff) Ward. She married Larry L. Brandenburg on January 29,1967 and they were happily married 53 years before his passing.
Paula is survived by her brother Steve “Sam” (Deb) Ward of Fostoria and sisters, Tanya Abbott of Centerville, Lana Schlosser of Port Clinton, and Sara Ward of Bettsville.
After receiving her degree in education from The Ohio State University, Paula dedicated her entire teaching career of 30 years to the 5th grade students at Middletown Madison. Paula was an avid sports fan and provided loving support to her husband and his student-athletes during his entire coaching career at Middletown Madison High School. She enjoyed OSU football and basketball and was a season ticket holder to Dayton Flyers mens and womens basketball.
She loved her P. Buckley Moss prints and collected beautiful pottery on her trips to and from Myrtle Beach. She enjoyed spending her summers camping and boating at Lake Erie. As did her husband, Paula donated her body to Wright State Anatomical Gift Program to provide educational opportunities for those in the medical field of study.
No services are planned at this time. Donations may be made in her memory to the Larry L. Brandenburg Scholarship, c/o Middletown Community Foundation.
Pamela McIntosh passed away on April 13, 2023. She leaves behind her loving husband, Rodger McIntosh, her sister Cheryl Morgan and husband Jack, plus her brother Hugh Meyer and wife Vicky, and two nieces and a nephew, plus many cousins. Her only living aunt is Dorothy Pence. She was preceded in death by her mother Catherine Magee Meyer and father, Francis Edward Meyer, and her other aunts and uncles, plus various cousins. She was born on October 12, 1949. She was raised in Amelia, Ohio and graduated from school there. She has spent many years living in Hamilton, Ohio. She was married to Rodger for almost 33 years. The last 2 years she has lived at the Huntington Court Nursing Home. Memorial Ceremony will be at 10am on Thursday, May 11, 2023 at the Webb Noonan Kidd Funeral Home. The family will inter her cremains at Millville Cemetery following the service. Condolences may be left for the family at www.Webb-Noonan.com