What Happened

On June 1, 1980, Ted Turner launched CNN at a converted Jewish country club in Atlanta. Rick Diamond//Archive Photos hide caption

Ted Turner — the bullish founder a channels, not to mention a bison steakhouse, a non profit designed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and an international sports competition — died Wednesday 87. He had announced just before his 80th birthday Dementia, a degenerative disease that causes dementia and muscle failure.

"If Alexander conquer , why couldn't I start CNN?" Turner Winfrey.

He launched Network — the nation's first continuous all-news television station — on June 1, 1980 at a converted Jewish country club in Atlanta. The network broadcast news 24/7 indeed built a global array of bureaus.

Why It Matters

Former executive Eason Jordan says Turner took inspiration from 24-hour radio stations that relayed news headlines, and endless sports highlights on ESPN. Turner remained baffled why the broadcast giants — ABC, — hadn't launched cable stations.

" logical couldn't understand why nobody ," Jordan says. "."

Sixteen years later, NBC (in partnership with Microsoft) launch sibling cable news channels. Each ultimately found success by embracing strong (though opposing) points of view. Broadcast networks subsequently sought to replicate the original stripped down streaming services.

Turner, a colorful figure with a Southern -thin mustache, had pronounced views himself, often (though not exclusively) of a liberal bent. But he wanted his station to reflect the news, not ideology. He thought human understanding across borders would benefit from reporting on stories and people around the world.

What Comes Next

"He was a visionary, a trailblazer, a rabble-rouser, a do-gooder — and he thought a market for it," Jordan says.

Ted Turner office in October 1986. "He was a visionary, a trailblazer, a rabble-rouser, a do-gooder," says former executive Eason Jordan. Jean-Louis Atlan/Sygma hide caption

Turner often carried a mischievous twinkle . And his values had been incubated in an earlier era.

Jordan joined CNN in 1982 college, working overnights as a desk assistant during . Back then, Turner a pull-down Murphy office above the newsroom. newsroom to grab coffee, Jordan recalls, usually interact . , Jordan says, was because Turner had a guest.

"It was Raquel Welch," Jordan says. " bathrobes. himself for having such good company that he introduced himself and Raquel Welch to everyone in the newsroom at 4 o' morning."

a mainstay of television journalism 's hard to remember underestimated in its infancy.

In the 1980s, many people didn't understand , longtime broadcast journalist Joie Chen recalls.

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