I was somewhere in this crowd:
June 1, 1980. Day one of CNN, an abbreviation that was still new to every ear. Cable News Network, the dream of this handsome fella, who died this week at 87:
He was the star of the show that day. What a wild idea, news that ran all day every day. He led small-group tours of the building, with one question coming up over and over, in various forms: How on earth will you fill 24 hours a day with news? Back then, recall, broadcast news came on in the morning (usually a blur of chatty-housewife features), 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Turner, rich as hell on his daddy’s fortune (billboards) and his own expansion of it (WTCG, an Atlanta UHF station he had the idea of putting on the satellite, renaming it WTBS, aka the Superstation) had a different idea.
You can’t say he didn’t give the staff everything they needed to make it work. He had bureaus all over the world, because Americans needed to know they weren’t the most important people in it. He hired commentators to do talking-head editorials, across the political spectrum. I spoke briefly to Phyllis Schlafly on day one. I think Daniel Schorr, who’d recently run afoul of CBS, was another. And a lot of the talent did double duty with WTBS — Flip Spiceland, the weather guy, was one. Here’s a gift link to the NYT obit; the video includes a few seconds of a Flip blooper.
It’s safe to say not everyone believed in this idea; Turner was every inch a southerner, and didn’t share the DNA of the NYC/DC journalism axis. For one thing, he had a sense of humor and believed it was fine to try weird things on the air, even at 2 a.m. Maybe especially at 2 a.m. He hired people like Bill Tush, who was a radio guy, then an announcer, then an anchor, then a comedian, all for WTBS, which also ran 24 hours a day, unlike most stations at the time, which still signed off sometime around midnight.
How do I know all this detail? Because I have a good source, none other than J.C. Burns, who worked first for WTCG, then WTBS, and never exactly for CNN as a full-timer, although he did a lot of work for them, mostly graphic design. And he’s how I ended up in the crowd on day one of CNN — he’d been telling me it was coming, and I offered to cover it for the Dispatch. There was a lot of why-would-we-care, but seeing as how I was going anyway, sure (the editor said), go ahead and get credentialed and file something. My story ran inside; no one cared because no one thought it would amount to much.
But hey, it did. That same why-not attitude he brought to the 3 a.m. time slot on WTCG was the spark for 24-hour cable news. The world bureaus didn’t last, the commentary eventually dwindled away, but the idea of news-around-the-clock did. It’s a mixed blessing, but it’s here to stay.
Later, much later, Turner would go Hollywood to some extent, marrying Jane Fonda, buying his Montana ranch and giving up his media empire. But I’ll always remember the man who resembled a 20th-century Rhett Butler (or Clark Gable, anyway, with that dimple in his chin and ‘stache), a championship sailor who won the America’s Cup and was so drunk at the press conference afterward he sank under the table with a bottle in each hand. He was half-crazy, but he was a smart businessman and he made his mark. RIP.
Trivia question: The first story read on the air on CNN? An update on the attempted assassination of Vernon Jordan in Fort Wayne, two days before.
Two bits of bloggage, both gift links, before we let the weekend wash over us:
Jeffrey Epstein’s purported suicide note is as semi-literate as his emails. “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!” the note reads. No, we wanted you to stand trial and serve a long stretch in prison, but what’s done is done.
And The Atlantic hits another one out of the park in its probe into Kash Patel, drinking man:
President Trump’s FBI director has a great deal of affection for swag. Merchandise for sale on a website he co-founded—still operating, nearly 15 months into his term—includes beanies ($35), T-shirts ($35), orange camo hoodies ($65), trucker caps ($25), “government gangsters” playing cards (on sale for $10), and a fight with kash Punisher scarf ($25).
One thing not for sale is liquor, because liquor is something Patel gives away for free.
… it is not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon. The bottles bear the imprint of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, and are engraved with the words “kash patel fbi director,” as well as a rendering of an FBI shield. Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: ka$h. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature, with “#9” there as well.
There’s a picture of the bottle, which the magazine bought on eBay. The seller said it was a gift from Patel at an event in Vegas.
All over the south this week, Republicans are gerrymandering the shit out of individual states and carving up majority-black districts. This moment seems to capture the weirdness and injustice of it all:
Chaos in Alabama:
Last night, Republican State Senators rammed through a bill to advance redistricting while tornado sirens blared, the chamber was being evacuated, and the livestream went dark.
When this is how they pass it – that tells you everything you need to know.
— Fair Fight Action (@fairfightaction.bsky.social) May 7, 2026 at 12:02 PM
And that’s our republic today. I’m not CNN, but I do my best. Have a great weekend, all.