Newton Minow, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who famously referred to television as the "vast wasteland," died at his home in Chicago at 97 years old. As chairman of the FCC, he pushed for funding for Sesame Street and Presidential debates on TV. Minow was appointed to head the FCC by John F. Kennedy and only stayed in the post for two years. However, his powerful and disparaging remarks towards television's programming delivered in a speech at the National Association of Broadcasters in 1961, challenging broadcasters to watch their own programming, sparked a national debate that is still talked about today. Americans were consuming black and white TV programming from only three networks-CBS, ABC, and NBC, with shows he described as a "procession of game 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, and cartoons." He went on to say, "When television is good, nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse." Newton Minow's influence had a lasting impact and his legacy will be remembered.