Chicago, Illinois - Former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chief Newton Minow, known for calling network television a "vast wasteland," has passed away.

Minow reportedly passed away at his home in Chicago on Saturday after suffering from a heart attack at the age of 97, per Variety.

For two years during former President John F. Kennedy's administration, Minow served as the FCC chief and infamously called network TV "a vast wasteland" in 1961.

At the time, he claimed that "you will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation 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. And endlessly, commercials – many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of all, boredom."

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During Minow's time as FCC chief, he is credited for requiring that TV sets in the US were equipped to receive ultra-high-frequency (UHF) signals and very-high-frequency (VHF) broadcasts.

Minow also helped pen legislation that opened the door to satellite communications, thus allowing the US to dominate in the sector throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This piece of legislation also allowed the TV industry to acquire program diversity.

He resigned from his role as FCC chief in 1963 and later became an executive at Encyclopaedia Britannica before he joined a Chicago law firm in 1965.

In 2016, former President Barack Obama awarded Minow with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Minow is survived by his daughters – Martha, Nell, and Mary – and three grandchildren. His wife, Josephine Baskin Minow, passed away in 2022.