Benztown has released an audio tribute for Ted Turner, the cable television pioneer and founder of CNN, who died on Wednesday at the age of 87.
The tribute was written by Mike McVay, voiced by Darren Silva and produced by Thomas Green. You can listen to it here. Benztown provides radio imaging, voiceover, programming, podcasting and jingles.
While famously known for revolutionizing television, Turner’s legendary media career has roots in radio.
After taking over his late father’s billboard company in 1963, Turner entered the broadcasting industry in the late 1960s by acquiring several southern radio stations.
According to Wikipedia, Turner Communications Corporation’s radio properties included WGOW and WYNQ — now WSKZ — in Chattanooga, Tenn.; WTMA(AM/FM) — now WSSX(FM) in Charleston, S.C.; and WMBR(AM) — now WBOB(AM) — in Jacksonville, Fla.
By 1969, Turner used the profitable radio properties as leverage for a deal with Rice Communications. He held onto the Chattanooga stations until 1977.
In one more roundabout tie to radio, Turner acquired the iconic WTBS call letters from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979.
According to the MIT Admissions website, Turner, who intended to distribute his TV station in Atlanta, then WTCG, over satellite to cable operators, wanted to use the call letters WTBS for his station, and contacted MIT with an offer.
The purchase of call letters was not yet allowed by the FCC, but Turner and the lawyers for both stations found a legal loophole made possible by the MIT station’s recently-obtained nonprofit organization status: $25,000 would be donated to the station by Turner under the condition that WTBS would apply for and receive new call letters, according to MIT Admissions.
Turner would then apply for WTBS, and would donate an additional $25,000 if the FCC granted him the call sign. The deal became reality: WTBS at MIT became WMBR(FM) on May 24, 1979. He got the WTBS calls and WMBR received $50,000 from Turner.
For more on Turner’s life and contributions to cable television, read our sister site TV Tech’s remembrance of Turner.
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