‘News will be the star’: Ted Turner’s extraordinary uphill battle to launch CNN
Turner bet 24/7 coverage would create demand and pushed CNN ahead despite doubts about whether the network could fill every hour.
- On June 1, 1980, Turner launched the Cable News Network, dedicating the channel "to America" as a 24/7 news operation.
- To broadcasters, the premise seemed absurd: Turner sought to supersede ABC, NBC and CBS networks that allotted only half an hour for news nightly, with critics deriding the project as "Chicken Noodle News."
- Meteorologist Flip Spiceland, who led the first weather report, said Turner "had decided we'd go on air at 5:00 June 1st, ready or not," launching with "technical warts and missed cues."
- After learning Fidel Castro watched CNN via a smuggled satellite dish, Turner realized "we ought to be able to sell this all over the world" and expanded into CNN International.
- Former CNN anchor Judy Woodruff said Turner "proved all the critics wrong" by supplying live coverage, while Christiane Amanpour recalled the network became a "first-ever global TV 24/7 behemoth.
14 Articles
14 Articles
The banks scoffed. Potential partners rejected the idea. Newspaper owners ridiculed it. But Ted Turner persevered and won.
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What did Ted Turner accomplish with CNN?
Ted Turner’s CNN legacy Ted Turner, the media entrepreneur who founded CNN, died at age 87. His most durable impact was helping create the modern 24 hour news cycle—an approach that reshaped how television news is produced, staffed, and consumed. The headline takeaway CNN is widely credited as one…
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