Newton N. Minow, the former Federal Communications Commission chief, died May 6 at his home in Chicago, after suffering from a heart attack. He was 97.
Minow’s death was confirmed by the Associated Press on Saturday afternoon.
Minow served for two years as the FCC chief during President John F. Kennedy’s administration and made waves in 1961 when he called network television “a vast wasteland.”
In his historic speech, Minow proclaimed that “you will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, Western bad men, Western good men, private eyes,