Ted Turner

Born Robert Edward Turner III in Cincinnati, Ohio, the boy who would grow up to be Ted Turner was inspired by his dad Robert Edward Jr to become a businessman. His dad had a billboard advertising business. In the 1940s, the Turners moved to Savannah, Georgia (The US State). Throughout his childhood, Ted was made to work every aspect of the outdoor advertising business by his dad who wanted to implant the understanding of running a business.

When he enrolled at Brown University in 1956 where he majored in classics at first, his dad told him via a letter that he was “appalled, even horrified” by the choice which almost made him throw up. Ted later changed his major to economics.

He was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, vice president of the Brown Debating Union and the sailing team’s captain. He also supported the football team there. He was expelled after being caught with a woman in his dorm room but he would also insist that the suspension happened as he was preparing to leave the university.

 

Following this and some time in the US Coast Guard, Ted joined his dad at the Atlanta based family business where he became general manager of one of the company’s branch offices in 1960. When he was 24-years-old, his dad took his own life and he inherited a billboard company from his dad. He coped with the loss by working harder. One thing that helped him with that hard work drive was sailing (a passion from his early years) which also saw him win The Americas Cup. That same level of determination led to him expand the family business, starting with a struggling radio station and used the extra ad space he had with his billboards to promote the station and this led to a faster growth in his income than competing stations. Best of all, it was now easier to acquire the other stations too now that he had the money to do so. It allowed him to increase his hold in the market.

 

He also bought a struggling Ultra High Frequency Atlanta based TV station after selling his radio stations. He transformed it into WTBS and bought the Atlanta Braves baseball as well as old films and TV shows (which he had colourised) so the channel had content to broadcast on the channel nationwide. His purpose for buying the station was to revitalise UHF into a new world of satellite television. WTBS became the first “super station” in the United States. His investment into the Atlanta Braves saw the team become World Series Champions!

 

A big part of Ted Turner's legacy is the creation of CNN (Cable News Network). He launched it after missing the news broadcasts after coming home from work late numerous times and felt that those like him would like to have the news on for longer periods.

He launched the service on June 1st 1980. It was the first 24 hour news service in the world. It faced formidable opposition in the major news networks (ABC, CBS and NBC). Its early struggles led to its being called the "Chicken Noodle Network".

 

However it struggled on and slowly began to gain a following from its Atlantta base.

Certain events allowed it to become a world source of news.

1. Challenger Space Shuttle disaster - the only national network to cover the event live

2. The Gulf War - live 24 hour coverage of the bombing and battles gave the public a new experience.

3. The OJ Simpson Trial - turned a murder trial into a soap opera.

 

In 1996 CNN was sold to Time Warner for USD 7.5 billion.

 

It has continued its job bringing 24 hour News to the Glober.

It has done this in spite of 24 hour competition from Fox and MSNBC.

It maintains its niche as unbiased news in a setting of partial news reporting. It also popularised the concept of the bug, a small version of a station’s logo in the corner of the screen throughout all of the videos. This was done in 1982 to mark CNN’s footage as well as to protect their IP and copyright from those who were pirating their content. Having the “bug” helped with telling the viewers where the footage came from.

 

Following the launch of CNN, Ted Turner launched more channels like TNT (Turner Network Television) and TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

 

Then in 1991, Ted acquired animation studio Hanna- Barbera for $320 million. With the library of Hanna-Barbera’s iconic properties like Scooby-Doo! As well as The Flintstones and Wacky Races alongside the MGM film and television library he obtained before May 1986 meant that Ted had enough content for a network focused on children’s programming.

With the appointment of TNT’s Senior Vice President, Betty Cohen, Ted as well as Betty launched that network as The Cartoon Network Inc on 1^st October 1992. This is now known as Cartoon Network. For the first few years of the channel’s existence, the channel showed the acquired programmes before eventually producing original content through its own studio While The Moxy Show was the first exclusive original show for the channel, it was Dexter’s Laboratory (created by Russian immigrant Genndy Tartakovsky) that fully kicked off the influx of original content on the channel.

In short, Ted Turner was one of a select few post Walt Disney big cheeses who genuinely cared about animation.

 

Ted also set up a wrestling promotion called World Championship Wrestling for his paying customers. This was a rival organisation for the World Wrestling Entertainment who were known back then as the World Wrestling Federation before the World Wildlife Fund demanded that they change their name at the turn of the millennium. One of the most iconic wrestlers who was part of WCW was Hulk Hogan. The WCW would later be bought by the WWE in the 2000s.

 

Before the 1990s were over, Ted Turner sold his media empire to Time Warner which later became WarnerMedia. Despite being promised a followed up role at CNN post the sale of his company, this was ultimately phased out. This made him see the sale as a mistake “the mistake I made was losing control of the company.” In the 2000s, he founded a restaurant chain called Ted’s Montana Grill and had ranches in Patagonia, Argentina. The restaurant chain was supplied by a herd he owned of about 50,000 bison.

 

Ted was also a productive philanthropist and he showed that by founding the United Nations Foundation in 1998. He had donated $1 billion to the United Nations. He had also showcased his environmentalism through the cartoon Captain Planet that featured a super hero summoned by five teenagers from different parts of the world who each have a different power ring representing a different environmental aspect. Each episode featured villains trying to ruin life on Earth and the Planeteers teamed up to save the planet with the summoning of Captain Planet should the situation become overwhelming. While the main topic was saving and protecting the environment, some episodes featured a social issue like substance abuse, political violence (with that episode having a scene in Belfast, Northern Ireland) and the AIDS epidemic. He also expressed the cause of protecting the environment through The Turner Foundation which has also bestowed millions to environmental causes. The environmentalism didn’t stop there as he also invested and promoted in clean energy. He became one of the biggest private landowners in the United States with more than 1.9 million acres/ 770, 000 hectacres in six states. He also dedicated his ranch in Montana to saving the bison.

Ted also founded a non-profit advocacy organisation called the Nuclear Threat Initiative. It described itself as an international security organisation working to reduce threats threatening humanity like nuclear, biological and emerging technological threats.

He leaves behind five children. He was married and divorced twice with his second wife being actress Jane Fonda.