Few individuals have had a greater impact on television and how billions of individuals saw the world than Ted Turner. Wildly ambitious and plainspoken, Turner is one of the most influential media moguls of the 20th century.<\/p>\n
He took on the television establishment and led the charge that made cable TV the power it would become, founding TBS and the nation\u2019s first \u201csuperstation\u201d and launching the first 24-hour cable news network.<\/p>\n
\u201cTed\u2019s business style was unique,\u201d says Terence McGuirk, a longtime chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting System and the current chairman of the Atlanta Braves. \u201cI think in another world he would have fancied himself as a wonderful battlefield general. He was a great strategist.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1938, Robert Edward Turner III was born in Cincinnati. When the U.S. entered World War II, the elder Turner \u2014 known as Ed \u2014 joined the Navy and relocated his wife and new daughter to the Gulf Coast, leaving the younger Turner \u2014 Ted \u2014 behind at boarding school.<\/p>\n
Turner matriculated at Brown University but was expelled prior to graduation after school officials learned of a woman in his dorm room. Leaving Brown, he joined his father\u2019s business, Turner Advertising, in 1960 and, following his father\u2019s suicide in 1963, succeeded him as president and CEO.<\/p>\n
With Ted at the helm, Turner Advertising rebounded from debt, bought several radio stations, and was renamed Turner Communications. In 1970, he purchased a struggling UHF television station \u2014 WJRJ Atlanta, changing the call sign to WTCG (for \u201cWatch This Channel Grow\u201d) \u2014 as well as a wide range of situation comedies and old movies to fill the hours.<\/p>\n
After RCA launched its SATCOM II communications satellite in 1975, the forward-thinking Turner immediately secured a satellite channel to further expand the reach of WTCG. Following the company\u2019s rebranding as Turner Broadcasting System, WTBS became television\u2019s first superstation.<\/p>\n
WTCG had been the broadcast home of the Atlanta Braves since 1973, and Turner bought the team in 1976 and added the Atlanta Hawks in 1977, in part to provide additional programming for his superstation. And, with nearly every home in North America receiving the superstation, the Braves acquired a nationwide fanbase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the superstation came along,\u201d says Ernie Johnson, one of the top on-air talents at Turner Sports today, \u201cno matter where you went, you\u2019d hear, \u2018Hey, we watch the games all of the time \u2014 in Idaho.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Turner would again revolutionize the television industry with the idea of a 24-hour news channel. In 1980, he launched the Cable News Network, better known as CNN. Despite overwhelmingly negative press and a lack of respect from established news organizations, CNN persevered and, after only five years, turned a profit.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of my colleagues thought Ted was nuts,\u201d says Tom Johnson, who served as CNN\u2019s president in the 1990s. \u201cHe didn\u2019t care about ratings as much as he cared about being the most trusted name in news. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll see another one like him again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turner made his mark across other sports as well. A well-regarded philanthropist, he sought to improve relations between the Soviet Union and the U.S. after the two Cold War powers had boycotted each other\u2019s Summer Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, respectively. In 1986, Turner hosted the inaugural Goodwill Games.<\/p>\n
In 1988, Turner shook up the professional-wrestling universe when he purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and lined it up to compete directly with the sport\u2019s undisputed giant, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Turner\u2019s showdown with the McMahon family sent wrestling\u2019s popularity through the roof and established what would become known at the \u201cMonday Night Wars\u201d during the late 1990s.<\/p>\n
Turner has received abundant honors, including, in 1991, becoming the first media figure to be named Time magazine\u2019s Man of the Year. These days, following the massive merger of Turner Broadcasting and Time Warner Communications in 1996, Turner spends most of his time enjoying his large ranches and riding his horses. However, he\u2019s still a man looking to make big impacts across the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI intend to conquer the world,\u201d he once told a television-festival crowd in England, \u201cbut, instead of conquering with bombs, I intend to conquer with good ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has done so, in a big way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":765,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[29],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees\/519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/inductees"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/inductees"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbroadcastinghalloffame.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}