Broadcasting

Newton Minow, Hugely Influential FCC Chair, Dies at 97

While he famously called television programming a "vast wasteland" in 1961, Newton Minow shaped the mass media landscape for decades. 

Remember Vin Scully With His Classic Call of the Last Outs of Sandy Koufax's Perfect Game

The legendary broadcaster's ability to say just enough to frame the drama of a moment without overshadowing it was on full display on September 9, 1965 at Dodger Stadium. 

Baseball and the Unspeakable

As history teachers struggle with how to handle racist slurs in primary sources, an unexpected remark from a ballplayer in 1938 illustrates that this struggle isn't new. Columnist Neil Steinberg asks if making words unspeakable blows up in the faces of teachers more often than bigots.

Reviewed: The BBC: A People's History

David Hendy's book was built on complete access to BBC archives, but a reviewer finds that it's long on bureaucratic history and short on analysis of the programming that made the Beeb a national institution. 

Restoring the Fairness Doctrine Can't Prevent Another Rush Limbaugh

by Heather Hendershot

"The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine alone did not create Limbaugh or the presidency of Donald Trump. Catering to market demands for shock and awe programming did, and that is why neither Limbaugh’s death nor a return to this network-era regulation will solve the problem."