CNN at 25
It may seem trite to say this in the age of blogging, vlogging and podcasting, but CNN changed the world. Ted Turner’s upstart cable news network changed the landscape of television and has helped shape Atlanta into the city it is today.
25 years ago today, June 1, 1980, Ted stood on the steps of the Techwood mansion and ushered in the new network. A nice rundown of the genesis, history and transformation of CNN can be found at Wikipedia.
Do you think Atlanta would be the same without CNN? Was/is CNN influenced by it’s city of origin? Do you remember when CNN Center had an ice-skating rink?
FULL DISCLOSURE: I work for TBS.
I remember when CNN had a movie theater! Oh man…I wish they still did.
Isn’t that the building that used to be called “The Omni”? I saw Ratt in concert there, if that tells you anything. I mean about my age, not about my musical tastes — I only went because I got the tickets for free.
The Omni was demolished to make way for Philips Arena. The Omni Hotel is still a part of CNN Center, it just got much larger.
Well then, that tells you how much attention I paid to things here in ATL after I left Tech and returned to Alabama for 15 years or so :)