The Daily Dose/May 9, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
WE’LL BE BACK AFTER THIS: 59 years ago today, Newton Minow, the new chairman of the FCC, gave a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), a speech History refers to as the Vast Wasteland Speech, because that’s the term he used to refer to the state of TV then.
Yeah, This Is Interesting: Curious, we went and read it and it was a hell of a speech, cogent and prescient and, except for some historical context changes, it could well have been delivered yesterday.
Leading Off : After greeting everybody and saying the things speakers say in these situations, Minow got down to business.
Your industry possesses the most powerful voice in America. It has an inescapable duty to make that voice ring with intelligence and with leadership.
Broad, Historical Context: Boy, this mandate could not have been more ignored had prizes been issued for non-compliance. By any measure, the TV pulpit has been wasted. An opportunity to influence and pace America for the better was, and continues to be, squandered. And this was back when there were only three networks and a few local channels.
A Practical Exercise: Minow later invited NAB members to watch a TV station from sign-on to sign-off, this being the quaint days when stations weren’t on all the time:
Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you will observe is a vast wasteland.
Fly In The Ointment: Minow then completely overestimated the viewing public:
I believe in the people’s good sense and good taste, and I am not convinced that the people’s taste is as low as some of you assume.
Boy, was he wrong. Actually, there is some truth to this: our tastes have gone as low as TV has chosen to take us.
Dry, Technical Matter: Then Minow talked about TV joining family, school and church as the prime influencers of kids.
Today, there is a fourth great influence, and you ladies and gentlemen in this room control it…If parents, teachers, and ministers conducted their responsibilities by following the ratings, children would have a steady diet of ice cream, school holidays, and no Sunday school. What about your responsibilities?
Well, obviously TV has been utterly derelict in their responsibilities. The lowest common denominator, a phrase Minow used in the speech, still prevails.
FunFact: A kid who watches four hours of TV a day from birth throughout childhood will have spent three years – 16% of his life – watching TV.
What you gentlemen broadcast through the people’s air affects the people’s taste, their knowledge, their opinions, their understanding of themselves and of their world — and their future…You must help prepare a generation for great decisions. You must help a great nation fulfill its future.
Yeah, Right: And 60 years after this speech we are reaping the harvest of having TV as the focal point of American life. The American experience is a partisan, fractured and bickering mess, we’re a shooting gallery now and 42% of us are obese. We elected a president who’s a lying sexual predator who believes the moon is part of Mars. America is irrelevant now, the midpoint between influence and oblivion.
The Bottom Line: TV is a lot like government: we get what we choose to tolerate and we – well you, we don’t own a TV – will not get better TV until you start demanding it. The wasteland will continue to grow.
Editor’s Note: Click here to read the speech. It’s worth your time.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has the latest gas mileage figures for the new ride. Today’s Diary.
…frankly, matters are to the point now where we are all wondering how high it will go…Initially, it was great when we were at 32 MPG consistently and then 35 became the standard and I don’t know about you, but I’m wondering if (when?) we are going to hit 40 MPG…
Click here get in on the laffs: Sparrow, The Bottom Ten, the funniest books you’ve ever read. We offer 4Ever and Ever access, or cheapskates can purchase books and columns individually.
On This Date
The long march to today
In 1974 – The House Judiciary Committee opens impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon in connection with the Watergate scandal. In July the committee would approve three articles of impeachment against Nixon, one each of obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress. On August 5, the White House released what History refers to as the Smoking Gun Tape, which was recorded on June 23, 1972, and shows Nixon knew about the cover-up at its earliest stages. Nixon resigned as president on August 9.
In 1999 – Marshall McDougall of the Florida State Seminoles establishes new NCAA records for most home runs, RBIs and total bases in a game in a 26-2 win over the Maryland Terrapins. McDougall had six home runs, 16 RBIs and 25 total bases in the game, the six home runs consecutive, coming after McDougall singled in his first at-bat. The home run and RBI records still stand and remain NCAA all-division marks, and the total bases mark remains the Division I record. McDougall would later play 13 professional seasons, including 18 games with the Texas Rangers in 2005.
In 1987 – Cutting Crew is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second and final week with (I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight. It was the first single from the first album for the British group and was their first of three Top 40 hits. The song spent six weeks in the Top 10 and 13 weeks in the Top 40 and remains their biggest American hit. The song also went to #1 in Norway, Finland and Canada and peaked at #4 in Great Britain.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
But Tim had done his best to dramatize an election in which neither candidate dared to say what he meant to an uneasy people who realized something was seriously wrong with their political system. – Gore Vidal, The Golden Age
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The wire fox terrier breed has won 14 Best in Show awards at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the most of any breed.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
Who did Richard Nixon submit his resignation letter to? – Answer next time!
