ABSTRACT
On May 9, 1961, Newton Minow gave his first address as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Speaking to the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters, he described television programming as “a vast wasteland […] 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.” 1
