Up All Night
Page 31
Additional Libraries That Offered Invaluable Assistance
Atlanta-Fulton Public Library
Americanradiohistory.com
Brown University Archives, Providence, RI
The Cable Center, Denver, CO
Los Angeles Public Library
New York Public Library
The Paley Center, New York and Beverly Hills
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, CA
Sarasota County Libraries
Television Academy Foundation, North Hollywood, CA/The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
Vanderbilt Television News Archive, Nashville, TN
Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, Druid Hills, GA
Congressional Appearances Involving Channel 17 and Ted Turner
Cable Television Regulation Oversight. 94th Congress, 1st session, House of Representatives. July 20, 1976. Ted Turner’s testimony begins at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112104109845; view=1up;seq=468.
Amendments to the Communications Act of 1934, part 3. 96th Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science. May 10, 11, and 16 and June 5–7, 1979. Ted Turner’s testimony begins at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b5176504;view=1up;seq=1345.
Subscription Television. 90th Congress, 1st session. October 16, 1967. Statement of W. Robert McKinsey, president of WJRJ-TV, Atlanta at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b654511;view=1up;seq=664.
Acknowledgments
I’ve often wondered what direction my life would have taken had I not run into my Midwood High School classmate Peter Brackman on the Newkirk Plaza subway platform on a sweltering summer day in 1981.
I was seventeen, on my first summer home from college, en route to a video store near the United Nations, where I was working as a clerk. The future wasn’t my concern as much as helping defray my enormous tuition bill.
Peter was in a three-piece suit on his way to 1 World Trade Center, where he had a summer internship in finance. Each day, he couldn’t help but pass the fishbowl newsroom of the just-over-a-year-old CNN. Brooklyn wasn’t yet wired for cable, and though my father brought home a stack of newspapers every night, I’m not sure I was aware of its existence.
Peter glowed about the ability to peer into the inner workings of a television operation and recalled my involvement in the school newspaper. Print was where I wanted to be, but—already in the early eighties, even before the information cataclysm caused by the World Wide Web—newspapers were said to be dying.
When I got to the store, I furtively used the phone to dial directory assistance in pursuit of CNN’s phone number. (A decided no-no, since that incurred an extra charge.) Then I snuck in another call. A gruff man answered. “Newsroom. Roth.”
Assignment desk editor Richard Roth, today one of the last remaining CNN originals, told me to report for duty the next day. There was no formal internship program. He just put this warm body to work.
After three summers in the CNN New York and D.C. bureaus, there was one logical place to hit up for a real job when I graduated from Hampshire College in the winter of 1984. My last supervisor, the late and great writer and media critic Chris Chase, contacted Burt Reinhardt on my behalf and arranged for me to head to Atlanta to work for CNN Headline News. I booked a one-way plane ticket, and off I was to “Tara on Techwood.” (The dark personal reason why I moved on from Atlanta after several years involves an incident I’ve discussed briefly in my first book, Radio Shangri-La.)
Over the years since, many of the jobs I’ve had trace back to that very first one, which offered this young woman from humble means incredible connections and experiences. In particular, I would like to thank former CNN supervising producer Mark Benerofe for introducing me to the Internet at a seminal time for the new medium, and long ago nurturing my goal to become a writer of something other than broadcast copy. Thanks to him, I was able to make the transition and to become immersed in another thrilling period in media history, the run-up of the dot-com era.
My dear friend Sid Leader, whom I met in the CNN Headline News newsroom on practically the first day I arrived in Atlanta, suggested I write this book after he read my last one, about the founding of another iconic American company (McDonald’s) run by a larger-than-life character (Ray Kroc) almost as intriguing as Ted Turner. After surveying what had previously been written about the launch of CNN, I decided the time was right to tell the CNN origin story. I had no idea how complex my self-assigned task would be.
I’m grateful for the people who worked at channel 17, as well as the CNN originals, who generously gave their time, dug deep into their memory banks, and sleuthed through storage in search of documents to assist me.
In particular, I can never adequately thank those who I leaned on the most: Reese Schonfeld, Bill Tush, Ted Kavanau, Jane Maxwell and Rick Brown (who also invited this complete stranger to stay as a guest in their home), Bob Sieber, Mike Boettcher, Melanie Goux (whose late husband, Jay Antzakas, had the foresight to digitize and post many channel 17 videos), Jim Schoonmaker, Tom Gaut, Glen Olsheim, Scott Leon, and David Bell, self-appointed keeper of a formidable and indispensable private archive. CNN original Jeff Jeffares stepped forward with incredible photographs he took that very first day, which are being published here for the very first time.
Among the many, many others who have helped:
Danielle Amos, whose late husband, Paul, was a CNN original and mentor (and later my employer at a variety of post-CNN ventures). Cotten Alston. Gary Arlen. Bailey Barash. Bob Cramer. Myron Kandel. Renée Edelman. Judy Milestone. Gail Evans.
Randy Harber; Ken England; Verna Gates; Ken Gwinner; Dini Diskin and Bill Zimmerman; Lois Walker and Dave Hart; Peter Fox; Dave Rust; Jon Nordheimer; Sid Topol; Mark Goldsmith; Bob Berkowitz; Mark Walton; Peter Ross Range; Nick Taylor; Gerry Levin; J. C. Burns; Jiggs McDonald; Larry Sprinkle; Curtis O. Peters; Ed Valenti; Tony Clark; Greg Gunn; Marty Harrell; DeAnn Holcomb; Bob Hope; Steve Korn; Will Sanders; Denise LeClair Cobb; Derwin Johnson; Kymberleigh Richards; Roger Strauss; John Towriss; Diane Durham; Mary Alice Williams; Sandra Bevins; Terry McGuirk; Merrill Brown; Bill Lance; Glenn Hubbard; Arthur Sando; Tom Wheeler; Gerry Goldberg; Bev Haut; Brian Kenny of the Cable Center; Peter Kiley at C-SPAN; Andrew Schwartzman; Gerry Harrington; Rip Pauley; Adam Clayton Powell III; Liz Wickersham; Carl Cangelosi; John Corporon; Rick Davis; Dick Enerson; Toni Shifalo; Howard Polskin; Ron Kirk; Greg Daugherty; Rafael Ortiz-Guzman; Faye DeHoff; Kenny Reff; John Hillis; Tex Walters; Debbie Masterson and her colleagues in Ted Turner’s office. Thanks, too, to all who patiently responded to my queries on social media.
And then there was the eleventh-hour surprise that lead me to veteran CNN cameraman Bill Langley, a confluence of events courtesy of performance art on display at Track 16 in DTLA, an elevator ride, Sally Granieri, and Ted (Habte-Gabr), to whom this book is dedicated.
In addition to my agent and friend Dan Conaway and his assistant, Lauren Carsley, I am deeply grateful to Genevieve Gagne-Hawes, who helped us get the proposal for this book to the stage where it convinced Jamison Stoltz at Abrams Press that the project had merit. Thanks to the entire team there for their enthusiastic support—including assistant Sarah Robbins, senior publicist Maya Bradford, marketing manager Kim Lew, social media and digital marketing manager Mamie Van Langen and senior managing editor Lisa Silverman. Andrea Monagle painstakingly copyedited this book, though any errors remaining are my own. A special thanks, too, to Jane Cavolina, the footnote goddess.
Lucy Stille’s enthusiasm in bringing this to the attention of Hollywood, in particular to Danny Strong and Blumhouse Productions, has been the super-fudge buttercream icing on the cake.
I am fortunate to have an army of wonderful friends and family who, as always, offered tremendous encouragement and support, even when it hasn’t been entirely clear what I’ve been up to.
Aside from brief but lovely stints at the far-flung homes of dear and generous friends Barbara Rybka, Matthew Mirapaul, Kat
herine Weaver, and Susan Stern, this book was written largely in the high-rise on Bunker Hill in downtown Los Angeles that I’ve called home for too many years now (in between laps in the swimming pool and only temporarily jolted by two earthquakes that shook the building as I was working) as well as at my beloved mother Jane’s home in Florida, where the memory of my father, Vincent, who would have loved seeing this project reach fruition, looms large.
Index
Aaron, Hank Atlanta Braves and, 85, 86, 88, 90, 90, 103, 156
Carter, Jimmy, and, 103
legacy, 85
Turner, Ted, and, 86, 88, 90, 90, 156
ABC, 151, 241 affiliates, 18, 173
programming on, 238, 239
Telstar and, 45–46
ABC News early years, 40–41
Kennedy, John, assassination and, 50
with Reagan, Ronald, shooting of, 215–17
Shaw and, 176–77
Walters and, 72
Westinghouse and, 220
Abdullah the Butcher, 196
Abend, Martin, 112, 116
Abrams, Roz, 176
Academy Award Theater (television show), 68
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 157
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (television show), 38
advertisements CNN, 207, 207
commercials, 8, 64, 66–68, 152
revenue, 29, 50, 152
sponsors, 119, 121, 152
WTCG, 61, 61, 63, 66–68, 152
affiliates, network, 18, 65, 155, 173
AFL-CIO, 213
African Americans civil rights movement and, 85
racism against, 116, 155, 156, 205
women newscasters, 155, 176, 204, 204
Agnew, Spiro, 70
Ailes, Roger, 56–57
Akron Beacon-Journal (newspaper), 47
Albuquerque Journal (newspaper), 10–11
Alexander the Great Castro and, 226
Hitler and, 89
Turner, Ted, and, 23, 28, 89, 226
Ali, Muhammad, 90
All-Channel Receiver Bill, 55
American Eagle, 146
American Society of News Editors, 225
America Online (AOL), 2, 243
America’s Cup, 122, 126, 142 defending, 107–8
failed bid for, 92, 98
history of, 98–99
popularity of, 106
preliminary trials, 194–95
Amos, Paul, 191
Anderson, John, 209–10
Andersson, Donald, 101, 120
Andrea Doria, SS, 41
The Andy Griffith Show (television show), 65
Annan, Kofi, 243
Anti-Defamation League, 104
anti-Semitism, 6, 18, 23, 104, 118, 164
AOL. See America Online
AP. See Associated Press
arms race, 228, 235
Arnett, Peter, 241, 242
Associated Press (AP), 49, 162–63, 194
Association of Independent Television Stations, 110
astrologers, 131
Atlanta Braves Aaron and, 85, 86, 88, 90, 90, 103, 156
club history, 85, 86
critics and, 94–95
dedication to, 86–87
Hope and, 86–90, 95–97, 99–100, 102
Lucas and, 99, 129–30, 156
pep rally, 87–89
promotional tour, 89–91, 102
with promotions for fans, 89–90, 95
publicity stunts with, 91, 97, 98
purchase of, 85–87
revenue, 210
with scoreboard technology, 93
stats, 86, 88, 96, 104–5, 105
support for, 85–86, 98
suspension from, 98–101, 105–8
team members, 88, 91–96, 98, 102–3
team staff, 93–94
wages for, 92, 96
World Series and, 86, 87, 103
WTCG and, 87
Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, 89
Atlanta Constitution (newspaper), 19, 61, 61, 94, 206
Atlanta Flames, 65, 98
Atlanta Hawks, 65, 101–2
Atlanta Journal (newspaper), 94
Atlas, Charles, 195, 228
AT&T, 43, 84 breakup of, 245
competition from, 57
with networks paying transmission bills, 41, 55, 56
television production and, 7
awards sailing, 26, 26, 195
of Turner, Ted, 1–4
back-timing, 189
Baird, Bill, 78
Baker, Cissy, 207, 213, 218
Baker, Howard, 214, 218, 219
Baker, John, 184–85, 188, 191
Baker, Lisa, 19
Bakker, Jim, 66
Bakker, Tammy Faye, 66
Baltimore Sun (newspaper), 11
Barker, Bob, 13
Barrett, Rona, 114
Bartholomay, Bill, 86
basketball, 65, 101–2
Basys Newsfury computer system, 189
Bathtubs Are Coming, The (industrial musical), 181
Batista, Fulgencio, 224, 225
Bauman, Steve, 113–14
BBC. See British Broadcasting Corporation
beg-a-thon, at WRET, 64–65, 79, 155
Bell, Jack, 49
Biden, Joe, 232
Bigfoot, 114
Big Mo, 42
Bisher, Furman, 89
“blame game drill-down,” 208
Boettcher, Mike, 221–23, 225–26, 243
Bogart, Humphrey, 197
bomb threat, 67
Borders, William, 199, 201–2
boxing, 65
Braden, Tom, 237
Brady, Jim, 216, 218
The Bride Wore Boots (television show), 66
Brinkley, David, 47
Bristol, Dave, 104
Bristol-Myers, 152
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 44, 153
Broadcasting (trade magazine), 184
Brothers, Joyce, 131, 199
Brown, James, 66
Brown, Jimmy, 28, 156
Brown, Rick, 162–69, 177, 242
Brown University, 3, 23
Buchanan, Pat, 237
Bumble Bee Seafoods, 119
Cable Music Channel (CMC), 234
Cable News Network. See CNN
cable operators, FCC decision on, 81
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network. See C-SPAN
cable television growth of, 232
TNT, 233
cable television news, growth of, 232
Cain, Bob, 214–15
Camel, 8
Campbell, Glen, 94
Captain Outrageous, 128, 134, 142, 165, 225–26, 235. See also Turner, Ted
Caray, Skip, 101
Carnegie, Andrew, 157
Carnegie, Dale, 237
Carter, Amy, 102
Carter, Billy, 102, 103
Carter, Jimmy, 78 Aaron and, 103
on CNN, 243
interview, 206
Jordan and, 205
as president-elect, 102–3
presidential debates and, 209–10
Carter, Lillian, 103
Carter, Rosalynn, 102
Castro, Fidel Alexander the Great and, 226
CIA and, 225
on CNN, 229–30
interview with, 224–25, 234
Reagan, Ronald, and, 222, 225
Turner, Ted, and, 222–30
CATV. See Community Antenna Television
CBS, 151 affiliates, 17–18
failed takeover of, 233
Morning Show, 78
programming on, 238, 239
Telstar and, 45–46
CBS News with CNN purchase, 211–12
Cronkite and, 46, 50–51, 70, 70, 131
early years, 9, 40–41
with Elizabeth II, coronation of, 44
with expanded hours, 169
Kennedy, John, assassination and, 53
Murrow and, 117–
18, 119
Rather and, 126–27, 131, 218
Schonfeld, Pat, at, 164
Schorr and, 117–20, 134
CBS radio, 117
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Castro and, 225
with illegal activities, 119
Chambers, Stan, 9–10, 11
Chaney, Darrel, 92
Channel 17. See WTCG
CHAN-TV, Vancouver, 147, 148
Charlemagne (lion puppet), 78
Charlotte Coalition, 155
Chayefsky, Paddy, 131
Chicago Cubs, 47
Christian Science Monitor (newspaper), 117
CIA. See Central Intelligence Agency
Cincinnati Reds, 98
civil rights movement, 85
Clark, Tony, 236, 238–39
Clarke, Arthur C., 43, 45
Clearing the Air (Schorr), 120
CMC. See Cable Music Channel
CNN (Cable News Network) advertisements, 207, 207
beginnings, 124–35
Brown, Rick, and, 162–69, 177, 242
Carter, Jimmy, on, 243
Castro on, 229–30
CBS News with purchase of, 211–12
control room, 203, 203
crew, 182–87
critics of, 137–38, 200–201, 212
early years, 140–61
entry-level jobs and, 183–86
farm report, 193–94
finances, 155
Freeman and, 180–82, 244
gardens at, 193–94, 220
Grass Valley 1600 switcher with, 145, 145
growth of, 235
headquarters, 233–34
with hires, new, 162–88, 207, 221–22
with Inside CNN manual, 188–89
Kavanau and, 165, 168, 170–74, 183–84, 186–87, 191–94, 203, 208, 220–21
launch of, 193–206, 196
Maxwell and, 162–71, 177, 205, 220
Nagle and, 171–75, 178, 190, 191, 203, 205, 220–21
newscasters and, 174–78
newsroom design, 143–46, 144, 145
on-air talent, 174–82