Those Were the TV Days 
~ by James Banzer

   It's hard to believe that it was over four decades ago when President John Kennedy's Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minnow called television a "vast wasteland."
   The television industry was livid. Broadcast executives could not fathom how the president could have put a guy in charge of the FCC who would attack their young and growing business. Industry leaders
couldn't begin to understand the idea that some egghead would accuse them of running an industry with nothing to offer that had redeeming social qualities.
   At that time, Minnow in his wildest imagination could not have foreseen what television would later become. There's no need to go into all that television is now, as we have all seen it, and it is not a pretty picture. From that perspective, you've got to think that Minnow was just a little bit ahead of his time.
   TV in those days managed to entertain without stooping to the garbage heap of the human condition. The memories of what was then are of television events that will forever endure as great moments in broadcast history.
   During the 50s, we had Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, just to name a few of those who made us laugh. There was Ed Sullivan, who gave us a variety of live entertainment every Sunday night. Some of those people were still on the air when Minnow made his famous pronouncement. That was at about the time when the Smothers Brothers were bursting upon the scene with their own more modern form of variety show.
   For the enlightenment of those who were not around in the 50s and 60s, we enjoyed old movies which didn't have to be cut because of profanity. There was high-quality live television drama.
   There also was local television that went beyond the evening recap of nothing but the murders, fires and latest sex scandals. The local stations had shows for children. They had fun shows in the afternoon, and local hosts of movies. Almost all of that sort of thing is history now.
   Most TV fare back then was a bit crude. The majority of television in the early 60s was still in black and white, and there was not much fancy visual trickery. Most of the visual gimmicks had not been invented. They were not needed anyway, as the content was what
carried the day.
   We could use a little bit of yesterday thrown into today's television mix. Who's to say it can't happen? Life is a pendulum. The country constantly swings from conservative to liberal and back again to conservative for a repeat of the cycle. Maybe it can happen in
television, just as it happens in politics.
   Where is the blame to be placed for today's daily fare of junk TV? Is it the broadcasters who feed us their never-ending supply of the worst of the worst, or the advertisers who sponsor such tripe? Could it be the fault of a public which devours visual and aural cheapness as a quick entertainment fix? The answer is all of the above.
   Since you are probably not a television industry person or an advertiser, what you can do is simple. Just decide you are not going to watch the junk. Either view what little is left of truly good television, or do other things. Read a book. Take a walk. Rent an old movie. Sit down over dinner and chat with your family or friends.
   Tolerance for shoddiness has never been as prevalent as it is now. This needs to change, and one would hope that it will change when people wake up and say enough is enough.
   Newton Minnow, you old egghead, maybe your perspective in 1961 was through a crystal ball that projected what was to come 40 years hence.

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   James Banzer has enjoyed a long career in broadcast news and is now writing on his observations about the world around us. He is currently residing in Louisville, Kentucky. You may send an e-mail to him at jamesbanzer@yahoo.com .

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