The Wasteland Speech was given by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow on May 9, 1961: The FCCs official seal. ... Newton Norman Minow (born January 17, 1926) is an American attorney and former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. ... is the 129th day of the year (130th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

"When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you — and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland."

This speech is properly titled "Television and the Public Interest". It was a landmark speech for the medium of television, at a time when there were only three networks in the United States and when the realm of television was much less vast than it is today. Nonetheless, it is counted as one of the one hundred best American speeches of the 20th century by several authorities and selected as one of the 25 Speeches that Changed the World by Vital Speeches. Related writings include his book (co-written with Craig LaMay) Abandoned in the Wasteland: Children, Television, & the First Amendment. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999...

Minow often remarks that the two words best remembered from the speech are "vast wasteland," but the two words he wishes would be remembered are "public interest."

External links

• "Television and the Public Interest", the text of Minow's speech
• Maclean's article, June 17, 1996
• "Update" April 24, 2001
• "Full text and mp3 file" May 9, 1961
• "Museum of Broadcast Communications article on Minow and the speech"
• "Assessment of the speech by Minow and 24 commentators for the Federal Communications Law Journal" May 2003
• "Interview with Minow about the state of television in 2006