Nell Minow

Most of the tributes to my father, Newton Minow, after he died in May of this year led with his famous critique of television as a “vast wasteland” in a speech to the National Association of Broadcasters when he was Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in 1961. The tributes then spoke of his contributions to expand viewer choice though the creation of PBS, cable and UHF channels, and, perhaps his most impactful contribution, legislation to launch the first telecommunications satellite. Telstar, developed by Bell Labs, was the beginning of technology that made possible everything from GPS to VoIP calls and international simultaneous broadcasts.

President Kennedy asked him why it was so important to him, and he said, “It is more important than sending a man into space, because the satellite will send ideas, and ideas last longer than people.” 

Pictured here is a souvenir of the launch. It was on his desk when we were growing up, later on a shelf by the window with some of the dozens of awards he received over his seven decades of dedication to the public good.