The Home Front:
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Riding Herd on The Wasteland IT is Said that the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Newton N. Minow, made his recent sparkling speech...
...The broadcasting companies operate by authority of licenses which are renewed by the Commission every three years...
...A very few great companies through the years have given us magnificent programs with dignified advertisements, but these are merely conspicuous exceptions which demonstrate what can be done...
...After the 1960 election, when President Kennedy needed a new chairman of the FCC, Stevenson suggested the lively young Minow for the job...
...To secure a license, each company must promise to use its monopolistic public utility in such a way as to serve "public interest, convenience or necessity...
...Minow was completely right in emphasizing the good things which, the program-builders have given us...
...There are very few things going on in this country which are more important than its television programs...
...Through the years the radio-TV industry has developed enormously...
...Then came the payola scandals, the old FCC Chairman resigned and, finally, President Kennedy appointed a new chairman...
...We do not expect any spectacular improvements...
...There has been a good deal of grousing of late about our political system...
...As an old battler for improvement of the television programs, I hail Minow's appearance and offer what little support I can muster...
...Although Minow is said to be getting thousands of letters, most people will not write to him...
...In a sense, every letter which our champion receives represents at least a hundred supporters...
...With that kind of man on top, we may gradually make some of the improvements that we have been dreaming of since radio began back in 1920...
...If that was his purpose, he has certainly succeeded...
...But when the broadcasters come up for their accounting we expect the new Chairman to go over their programs with a sharp eye...
...The people of the country were unhappy, but nothing seemed to happen...
...In 1948, Minow was a student at Northwestern University, excited about a Chicago lawyer named Adlai E. Stevenson who was then running for governor of Illinois...
...For some years the FCC members have been sitting in their offices in Washington going through whatever motions they have to in order to draw their salaries...
...I and all of my friends wish him success...
...I suppose it could be improved, but I don't see how...
...By the time Stevenson ran for President in 1952, he and the young law student had become fast friends...
...They do not yet seem to realize that they are using the air—which belongs to all of us...
...The public has long complained about them and our humorists have done their best to pinpoint their ridiculousness...
...The new Chairman is perfectly right about the commercials...
...But there is one tremendously good thing about the old system: It allows new men—even new kinds of men—to come to the top in typical American success-story style...
...There is so much animated argument going on about television that I cannot resist the temptation to return to a subject which I long ago deserted in disappointment and disgust...
...News programs, for the most part are all right, as are the political shows...
...Practically everyone I know is discontented with what is being ladled out to us...
...the whole intent is reversed: The sales talks have become the basic show...
...You will observe," he said, "a vast wasteland...
...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, gangsters, more violence...
...Minow's address was followed by cries of "dictatorship...
...The broadcasters compare their freedom with that of the press...
...At the end of each three-year period, every licensee must offer an outline of a typical week's program to prove to the Commission that it has kept its promises...
...The FCC consists of seven members, with a chairman who has power enough to make himself strong and conspicuous if he wants to...
...During one recent afternoon show I counted five commercials displayed tandem...
...Still, they get worse instead of better...
...But their indiscretion may, in fact, lead to "dictatorship"—by the public...
...The new FCC Chairman has breathed new life into the whole field of public affairs...
...I am not convinced that the people's taste is as low as some of you assume...
...The TV programs were whatever they were...
...This happens repeatedly...
...The best, I believe, is the sportscasting...
...Minow went right to the point, however, when he asked the broadcasters to spend an entire day watching television...
...THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn Riding Herd on The Wasteland IT is Said that the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Newton N. Minow, made his recent sparkling speech to broadcasting executives in order to rouse public discussion...
...TV is now said to deliver its performances to 50 million American outlets...
...This vital chap came into the leisurely and lethargic office like a fresh wind from the West...
Vol. 44 • June 1961 • No. 24
