CNN launches 1980
On this day in 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world’s
first 24-hour television news network, makes its debut. The network
signed on at 6 p.m. EST from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a
lead story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader
Vernon Jordan. CNN went on to change the notion that news could only be
reported at fixed times throughout the day. At the time of CNN’s launch,
TV news was dominated by three major networks–ABC, CBS and NBC–and
their nightly 30-minute broadcasts. Initially available in less than two
million U.S. homes, today CNN is seen in more than 89 million American
households and over 160 million homes internationally.
CNN was the brainchild of Robert “Ted” Turner, a colorful, outspoken
businessman dubbed the “Mouth of the South.” Turner was born on November
19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and as a child moved with his family to
Georgia, where his father ran a successful billboard advertising
company. After his father committed suicide in 1963, Turner took over
the business and expanded it. In 1970, he bought a failing Atlanta TV
station that broadcast old movies and network reruns and within a few
years Turner had transformed it into a “superstation,” a concept he
pioneered, in which the station was beamed by satellite into homes
across the country. Turner later bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team
and the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and aired their games on his
network, TBS (Turner Broadcasting System). In 1977, Turner gained
international fame when he sailed his yacht to victory in the
prestigious America’s Cup race.
In its first years of operation, CNN lost money and was ridiculed as
the Chicken Noodle Network. However, Turner continued to invest in
building up the network’s news bureaus around the world and in 1983, he
bought Satellite News Channel, owned in part by ABC, and thereby
eliminated CNN’s main competitor. CNN eventually came to be known for
covering live events around the world as they happened, often beating
the major networks to the punch. The network gained significant traction
with its live coverage of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the
network’s audience grew along with the increasing popularity of cable
television during the 1990s.
In 1996, CNN merged with Time Warner, which merged with America
Online four years later. Today, Ted Turner is an environmentalist and
peace activist whose philanthropic efforts include a 1997 gift of $1
billion to the United Nations.
(More Events on This Day in History)
-
American Revolution
- 1779 Benedict Arnold is court-martialed
-
Automotive
- 1934 Nissan Motor Company founded
-
Civil War
- 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor begins
-
Cold War
- 1977 Soviets charge Shcharansky with treason
-
Crime
- 2004 Opening statements begin in Scott Peterson murder trial
-
Disaster
- 1965 Coal mine explosion kills 236 in Japan
-
General Interest
- 1941 Crete falls to German forces
- 1958 De Gaulle reassumes French leadership
- 1968 Helen Keller dies
- 1990 Superpowers to destroy chemical weapons
-
Hollywood
- 1926 Marilyn Monroe born
-
Literary
- 1809 Coleridge begins to publish The Friend
-
Music
- 1967 The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
-
Old West
- 1871 John Wesley Hardin arrives in Abilene
-
Presidential
- 1900 Future President Hoover caught in Boxer Rebellion
-
Sports
- 2005 George Mikan dies
-
Vietnam War
- 1964 Top U.S. officials meet in Honolulu
- 1971 Vietnam Veterans group announces support for Nixon
-
World War I
- 1916 Germans launch attack on British lines in Ypres Salient
-
World War II
- 1942 News of death camp killings becomes public for first time
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