By the early 1980s, Ted Turner had built CNN from scratch, taken his Superstation nationwide, and outlasted the networks’ counterattacks. But there was still one thing he didn’t have — a broadcast network.
In this episode, we follow Ted Turner’s audacious bid to buy CBS and how his network dream became possible in a new Wall Street era fueled by Reaganomics, deregulation, junk bonds, and corporate raiders.
From secret meetings with CBS executives to the rise of the Yuppies, this episode’s got it all — connecting the dots between media, money, and power, and showing how Ted Turner’s takeover attempt helped shape not just television, but modern media itself.
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Credits
Writing, research, and production by Web Barr.
Artwork by Dylan Lathrop.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Chapters
(00:00): Bonfire of the Networks
(11:15): Fourth Network Dreams
(20:00): Reagan’s Eighties
(39:00): Cable’s Rise
(49:00): Ted’s Sports Network
(54:00): Ted’s MTV Competitor
(1:12:00): Cable’s Limitations
(1:24:00): Networks in 1984
(1:37:00): ABC + Cap Cities
(1:52:00): Ted Prepares His CBS Bid
(2:24:00): Ted Announces CBS Bid
(2:49:00): War
(3:15:00): Onto the Next Deal
Sources
Books used in Episode 8. Get em here!
It Ain't As Easy As It Looks: Ted Turner's Amazing Story
Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News
Ted Turner Speaks: Insights From the World's Greatest Maverick
CNN: The Inside Story: How a Band of Mavericks Changed the Face of Television News
Confessions of an Advertising Man
Lead Follow or Get Out of the Way: The Story of Ted Turner
Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire
Clash of the Titans: How the Unbridled Ambition of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch Has Created Global Empires that Control What We Read & Watch Each Day
Call Me Ted
Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the rise of the modern cable-TV business
Me and Ted Against the World: The Unauthorized Story of the Founding of CNN
Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers
Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business from John Jacob Astor and J.P. Morgan to Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey
Roone: A Memoir
Triumph of the Yuppies
Three Blind Mice
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