Editing Ted Turner (section)

=== WTBS ===
After leaving Brown University, Turner returned to the South in late 1960 to become general manager of the [[Macon, Georgia]], branch of his father's business. Following his father's suicide in March 1963, Turner became president and chief executive of Turner Advertising Company when he was 24 and turned the firm into a global enterprise. He joined the [[Young Republicans]], saying he "felt at ease among these budding conservatives and was merely following in [his father]'s far-right footsteps", according to ''It Ain't as Easy as It Looks''.<ref name=bibb5556 />

During the [[Vietnam War]] era, Turner's business prospered; it had "virtual monopolies in Savannah, Macon, [[Columbus, Georgia|Columbus]], and [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]]" and was the "largest outdoor advertising company in the Southeast", according to ''It Ain't as Easy as It Looks''. The book observed that Turner "discovered his father had sheltered a substantial amount of taxable income over the years by personally lending it back to the company" and "discovered that the billboard business could be a gold mine, a tax-depreciable revenue stream that threw off enormous amounts of cash with almost no capital investment".<ref>{{cite book |last=Bibb |first=Porter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BaWaAAAAIAAJ&q=%22discovered+his+father%22 |title=It Ain't as Easy as it Looks: Ted Turner's Amazing Story |date=1993 |publisher=Crown Publishers |isbn=978-0-517-59322-6 |page=52}}</ref>

In the late 1960s Turner began buying several Southern radio stations.<ref>{{cite book |last=O'Connor |first=Michael |title=Ted Turner: A Biography |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2009 |chapter=5 |isbn=978-0-313-35043-6}}</ref> In 1969, he sold his radio stations to buy a struggling television station in Atlanta, [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] Channel 17 [[WPCH-TV#As WJRJ-TV|WJRJ]] (now WPCH).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Merger is proposed by Rice, Turner |periodical=Broadcasting |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc. |date=July 14, 1969}}</ref> At the time, UHF stations did well only in markets without [[Very high frequency|VHF]] stations, like [[Fresno, California]], or in markets with only one station on VHF. Independent UHF stations were not ratings winners or that profitable even in larger markets, but Turner concluded that this would change as people wanted more than several choices. He changed the [[call sign]] to WTCG, erroneously claimed to have stood for "<u>W</u>atch <u>T</u>his <u>C</u>hannel <u>G</u>row" but in actuality stood for <u>T</u>urner <u>C</u>ommunications <u>G</u>roup.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=For the Record |periodical=Broadcasting |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc. |date=April 13, 1970}}</ref> Initially, the station ran old movies from prior decades, along with theatrical cartoons and bygone sitcoms and drama programs. As a better syndicated product fell off the VHF stations, Turner would acquire it for his station at a very low price. WTCG ran mostly second- and even third-hand programming of the time, including fare such as ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'', ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', ''[[Star Trek]]'', ''[[Hazel (TV series)|Hazel]]'', and ''[[Bugs Bunny]]''. Other low-cost content included humorist [[Bill Tush]] reading the news at 3 a.m., prompting Turner to jokingly comment that, "we have a 100% share at this time". Tush once delivered the news with his "[[Anchorman|co-anchor]]" Rex, a [[German Shepherd]]. The dog (who belonged to an associate) was shown next to Tush on set, wearing a shirt and tie while eating a peanut butter sandwich. Rex appeared only on one episode, but a myth grew where many people thought the dog was a nightly guest.<ref name=Saporta>{{cite web |url=https://saportareport.com/bill-tushs-30-year-tv-career-began-the-lucky-moment-he-stopped-by-channel-17-for-a-job/archived-columnists/chris-schroder/adminmegan/ |title=Bill Tush's 30-year TV career began the lucky moment he stopped by Channel 17 for a job |date=May 21, 2012 |website=Saporta Report |publisher=saportareport.com |access-date=August 19, 2021}}</ref> By 1972, WTCG had acquired the rights to telecast [[Atlanta Braves]] and [[Atlanta Hawks]] games.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Program Briefs: Hawks roost beside Braves |periodical=Broadcasting |publisher=Broadcasting Publications, Inc. |date=October 16, 1972}}</ref> Turner would go on to purchase UHF Channel 36 [[WCNC-TV|WRET]] (now WCNC) in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]], and ran it with a format similar to WTCG.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

[[File:Ted Turner smoking a cigar.jpg|alt=refer to caption|thumb|upright|Turner {{circa|1976}}]]
In 1976, the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) allowed WTCG to use a satellite to transmit content to local cable television providers around the nation. On December 17, 1976, the rechristened WTCG-TV Super-Station began to broadcast old movies, [[situation comedy]] reruns, cartoons, and sports nationwide to cable-television subscribers.<ref>"Ted Turner." ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'', 2nd ed., vol. 15, Gale, 2004, pp. 355–357.</ref> As cable systems developed, many carried his station to free their schedules, which increased his viewers and advertising. The number of subscribers eventually reached 2 million and Turner's net worth rose to $100 million. He bought a {{convert|5000|acre|ha|adj=on}} plantation in Jacksonboro, South Carolina, for $2 million.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Endicott|first=Eve|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rFDTnLS_KCwC&q=ted+turner+5000+acre+plantation&pg=PA96|title=Land Conservation Through Public/Private Partnerships|date=1993|publisher=Island Press|isbn=978-1-61091-349-2|language=en}}</ref>

In 1976, Turner bought the Atlanta Braves, and in 1977, he bought the Atlanta Hawks, partially to provide programming for WTCG.<ref>{{cite news |date=January 7, 1976 |title=Yachtsman Turner Purchases Braves |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/01/07/archives/yachtsman-turner-purchases-braves-yachtsman-buys-braves-for-at.html |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nba.com/hawks/news/hawks-raise-banner-honor-turner|title=Hawks Raise Banner To Honor Turner|first=Micah|last=Hart|date=November 30, 2004|work=[[National Basketball Association|NBA.com]]|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref> Using the rechristened WTBS superstation's status to broadcast Braves games into nearly every home in North America, Turner turned the Braves into a household name even before their run of success in the 1990s and early 2000s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bleacherreport.com/articles/309493-call-me-the-owner-why-the-braves-need-ted-turner-back|title=Call Me Owner: Why the Braves Need Ted Turner Back|first=Jordan|last=Bagbey|website=[[Bleacher Report]]|date=December 16, 2009|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref> At one point, he suggested to pitcher [[Andy Messersmith]], who wore number 17, that he change his surname to "Channel" to promote the television station.<ref>{{Cite news| url = http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080320&content_id=2446061&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl|title= Messersmith: The game's first free agent|author=Gary Caruso |work=[[MLB.com]] |date =March 20, 2008}}</ref>

In 1978, Turner struck a deal with a student-operated radio station at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], [[WMBR|Technology Broadcasting System]] (now WMBR), to obtain the rights to the WTBS call sign for $50,000. Such a move allowed Turner to strengthen the branding of his "Super-Station" using the initials TBS. Turner Communications Group was renamed [[Turner Broadcasting System]] and WTCG was renamed [[WPCH-TV|WTBS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2011/04/08/wmbr_fm_celebrates_50_years_on_the_air/|title=Tune in, turn on...|first=Jonathan|last=Perry|date=April 8, 2011|website=[[The Boston Globe]]|access-date=September 7, 2020}}</ref>

In 1986, Turner founded the [[Goodwill Games]] with the goal of easing tensions between capitalist and communist countries. Broadcasting the events of these games also provided his superstation the ability to provide Olympic-style sports programming.<ref>Burton, Paul. "Turner, Ted." ''Notable Sports Figures'', edited by Dana R. Barnes, vol. 4, Gale, 2004, pp. 1651–1653.</ref>

[[Turner Field]], first used for the [[1996 Summer Olympics]] as [[Centennial Olympic Stadium]] and then converted into a baseball-only facility for the Braves, was named after him.<ref>{{cite web | title=Centennial Olympic Stadium | access-date=September 11, 2024 | date=January 3, 2024 | url=https://olympics.com/ioc/news/centennial-olympic-stadium | work=olympics.com | quote=Renamed Turner Field – after Ted Turner, the founder of Cable News Network (CNN) whose global headquarters are in the city – the stadium has hosted Major League Baseball (MLB) for almost 20 years. }}</ref>