Interview with My Dad, Newton Minow, about the FCC, the SS Minnow, Saying No to JFK, and Media Today
Posted on April 22, 2021 at 11:22 am
One of the great pleasures and honors of my life was the chance to interview my wonderful dad for Emmy Magazine in honor of the upcoming 60th anniversary of his famous speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, calling television “a vast wasteland.”
An excerpt:
Sixty years ago, on May 9, 1961, the 35-year-old Chairman of the FCC, Newton Minow, made three significant appearances. In Washington, he gave his famous “vast wasteland” speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, telling them that while “when television is good, nothing is better,” he expected them to do more to uphold their statutory obligation to serve “the public interest, convenience, and necessity.” Then he went back to the FCC office, where he met with Elizabeth Campbell to sign the original license for WETA, the first educational television station in the nation’s capital, now the producer of the Ken Burns documentaries and the nightly Newshour. And then he flew to Chicago to attend the father-daughter dinner for my Brownie troop.
Copyright Emmy Magazine 2021
I often thought about how those three events defined his character: inspiring those around him to do better, supporting the visions of people making enriching cultural content and reliable news sources widely available, and always putting his family first. Over the next decades this was reflected in his efforts as a founder and board chair of PBS, a director of CBS, helped create the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), where he served as vice chair until this year, worked to require the V-chip and closed captioning, helped get the start-up funding for “Sesame Street,” and argued for the rescission of the radio license of a station that broadcast virulently racist and anti-Semitic programming. And he and my mom will celebrate their 72nd wedding anniversary this spring.
Copyright Rotten Tomatoes 2018I’ve been a fan of Rotten Tomatoes since it started in 1998 and began adding my reviews to it shortly after. I check it several times every day. So it is one of the greatest honors of my life that I have been designated a “top critic!” That means my reviews will be highlighted on the site, along with those of so many of my favorite critics and friends. My deepest thanks to everyone at Rotten Tomatoes, especially those working so hard to make the site more inclusive and diverse.
Many many thanks to Tony Panaccio and Bleeding Cool for this delightful interview about my fangirl side. Excerpts:
Q: Let’s start at the beginning. What do you remember as your first experience with fandom?
I think my gateway drug, around the time I was nine, was MAD Magazine. As soon as I saw my first issue I asked my parents to let me subscribe and was very proud to get copies with my name on the address label. While I liked comic books before that, mostly Archie, Richie Rich, and Superman, like so many others I think of MAD as the turning point because it made me think critically about culture and it made me ask questions about the news so I could understand the jokes.
Then, senior year in high school, I was lucky enough to meet a guy who not only had a fabulous collection of MAD and comics (a #1 Spider-Man!) and original comic art, but who had gone by himself to New York (from Chicago) at age 14 to attend a con, where he talked to Frank Frazetta, Al Williamson, and Neal Adams. In one of our early conversations, he was describing the National Cartoonists Society’s annual Reuben Awards, and I said, “Named after Rube Goldberg!” We were clearly made for each other.
We have been married for more than 40 years and he is now a member of the National Cartoonists Society, so we get to see the Reuben awards ceremony in person. On the walls of our home are selections from his amazing collection of original comic strip, MAD, illustration, and comic book art, which make me very happy every time I look at them. And I will not confirm or deny that we named our son Ben after Ben Grimm, but he might tell you that!
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do at a comic con?
I love everything at SDCC! I love the panels, especially the behind the scenes ones, with costume designers, production designers, location scouts, visual effects people, voice talent, and people talking about the history and impact of comics and sci-fi. I love the people, not just the ones in costume but all the fans. It’s one of the most purely happy places I know. Many people are like one person I heard once who said, “It’s the rest of the year I’m in costume. This is the real me.” Just about 99 percent of the time, everyone is so glad to be there and so happy to support not only what they love but whatever everyone else’s special pop culture obsessions are, too. There’s very little judgment. I don’t know anywhere else that is so spaciously, generously accepting.
Also overheard once at Comic-Con: “What time is the Klingon wedding?” I am so happy to live in a world that has Klingon weddings. And I love SDCC’s combination of cutting edge technology and fandom. Many years ago I saw my first 3D printer/hand-held 360 degree scanner combination there, and it was being used to print out action figures of Predator holding the individual bloody severed head of anyone lucky enough to get in line in time to get one.
I love the passion and fearlessness of the fans; the people who come to SDCC know what they like and do not wait for anyone to tell them what is cool. The people who did not want to sit with them in high school will not know two years from now when they’re excited about the next Game of Thrones or True Blood that it was the fanboys and fangirls who saw them first and loved them without being told they were on anyone’s “must” list. I always say it’s the Iowa Caucuses of pop culture.
My most important rule at SDCC is this: if I can’t get into something I want to see, I will open whatever door is nearby and go to that instead. And every year, that leads me to something I never would have known about otherwise and those are often among the best experiences of the Con.
Thanks to Hollywood Genes and Zoe Krainik for This Lovely Interview
Posted on October 10, 2019 at 3:32 pm
Zoe Krianik from the wonderful Hollywood Genes blog was kind enough to interview me.
An excerpt:
What is your earliest memory of watching a classic film? What did it do for you? Why do you remember it?
My dad says the first movie I ever saw in a theater was the Disney film Westward Ho the Wagons when I was four, and that after that I wanted to see a movie every day. Now I do! But the first film I remember seeing in a theater was another Disney film: Snow White. I instantly became a fan of Disney animation, musicals, and sitting in a dark room watching stories on a big screen.
Which is your favorite (fictional) film family and why?
The Sycamores in You Can’t Take it With You— because they are all so encouraging of each other’s dreams. Runners-up: the Marches in Little Women, the Winstons in Houseboat (who would not want to have Sophia Loren and Cary Grant as parents?), the Gilbreths in Cheaper by the Dozenand Belles on Their Toes, the Mackays in Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, and the Browns in National Velvet because Anne Revere is my favorite movie mother.
One of the great pleasures and honors of my life was the chance to interview my wonderful dad for Emmy Magazine in honor of the upcoming 60th anniversary of his famous speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, calling television “a vast wasteland.”
