Ted Turner's death marks the end of an era for cable TV

John Ory Dupont, Post SouthTue, May 12, 2026 at 9:42 AM UTC

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It’s not uncommon for big stories to show up on my computer screen just as I’m in the daily routine of putting stories together.

Some are local, others not. In many cases, however, it seems major headlines hit almost always hit at a moment when I don’t have time to read them.

In the case of one bulletin last week, it was a story about someone with whom I was very familiar.

The death of media mogul/former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner came as little or no shock. He was 87 and had been in poor health for more than a decade.

Even so, it marked the loss of a cable TV pioneer and someone who defied odds many time along the way.

I’m aware this has little or no connection to Iberville Parish — or Louisiana, for that matter — but his innovations changed habits of people across America and beyond.

Turner started with very little money and saw his father struggle to succeed in business. Turner was willing to think outside the box — way outside of it — to take chances most would never consider.

He bought a low-powered UHF TV station for a fire-sale cost from owners who thought he was out of his mind for buying it. Instead of beaming it to Atlanta and its metropolitan area, he decided to put it on a new concept called “cable television.”

Within a few years, his station’s signal reached millions of homes coast to coast.

It was only the beginning.

John Ory Dupont

I first heard his name not long after this innovation called “cable television” found its way to Plaquemine in fall 1979.

Until then, we  only access to four TV stations — WBRZ, WAFB, WRBT (now WVLA) and WLPB. The notion of more than four stations seemed mind-boggling.

Once my dad gave in and got cable for the then-lofty sum of $12 a month, it mesmerized me.

The thought of a TV station running programs 24 hours a day seemed far-fetched. Station such as WWL in New Orleans would run all-night movies on weekend, but otherwise midnight meant the National Anthem and a test pattern until 5 or 6 a.m.

The programming on the “Superstation,” as Turner christened his station, consisted of mostly reruns of programs from the 1950s and ‘60s (most of them in black-and-white), along with cartoon and movies dating back anywhere from the late 1920s to the early 1970s.

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I then discovered two other pastimes. One was a guilty pleasure called “Georgia Championship Wrestling,” with a raspy-voiced announcer named Gordon Solie, who also worked in radio. I’d see guys like Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes and others who always gave me a good laugh.

The Superstation and the Atlanta Braves — a Ted Turner property — also fueled my love for Major League Baseball, although I was hooked on WGN’s telecasts of the Chicago Cubs and Harry Caray’s play-by-play. Ironically, his son Skip called the Braves games.

None of those immortalized the Turner name, however, quite like Cable News Network. It was the laughingstock of NBC, CBS and ABC when he launched it in June 1980.

Critics proclaimed that nobody in their right mind would ever watch news 24 hours a day. The “Big 3” deemed it “Chicken Noodle Network.”

Words can come back to bite. Such was the case with the “Big 3,” whose ratings dipped while the CNN viewership gradually rose.

It wasn’t just 30-minute newscasts which were rerun ad nauseum throughout the day. It was news conferences and public appearances CNN covered live.

Turner proved its worth March 30, 1981, when his network covered President Ronald Reagan’s speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton.

Cameramen followed him to his limousine when shots rang out. The other networks — those that snickered at the so-called “hillbilly in cheap suits” — found themselves seeking video of the shooting from CNN.

He had the last laugh and continued snickering while his network grew and traditional network news lost a bit of traction.

Turner would eventually acquire MGM and Warner Bros. He also expanded his news network and started networks such as TNT and Turner Classic Movies (still a favorite of mine).

Turner also pushed for world peace with “The Goodwill Games” and prided himself as an environmentalist. In terms of political issues, he was never at a loss for words.

He eventually slipped out the public eye and spent more than 10 years suffering from dementia.

How history will remember Turner remains to be seen. He was brash and willing to take chances others would not dare consider.

Most of the time, he flourished. He will be remembered as a maverick, an innovator and someone who took risks just for the sake of doing it.

It’s not a bad way to be remembered.

This article originally appeared on Plaquemine Post South: Ted Turner left lasting impact on cable TV and media

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