| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 01.06.16 16:54l 55 Lines 2661 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 95396_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jun 1
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<GB7CIP<N0KFQ
Sent: 160601/1441Z 95396@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1980
CNN launches
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.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-Mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Message timed: 09:40 on Jun 01, 2016
Message sent using WinPack-Telnet V6.80
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
