Vast Wasteland Speech

50th Anniversary: May 9, 1961 (Vast Wasteland Speech)

Speaking before the bigwigs of network TV at the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters, Newton Minow, the new chairman of the FCC, exhorted those executives to sit through an entire day of their own programming. He suggested that they" will observe a vast wasteland". Further, he urged them to try for "imagination in programming, not sterility;creativity, not imitation, experimentation, not conformity, excellence, not mediocrity".

For this speech "The Vast Wasteland" Criticizing the violence and frivolity of TV garnered him such ridicule in the industry that the sunken S. S. Minnow from Gilligan's Island was named for him. A statement from perhaps the most frivolous show of all time.

We have all 3 seasons of Gilligan's Island on DVD.