Ted Turner

A pioneer of cable broadcasting, Robert Edward "Ted" Turner revolutionized the news media with the 1980 launch of CNN, the world's first live 24-hour all-news television network. An enthusiastic sportsman, Ted Turner won the America's Cup yacht race in 1977. Turner Broadcasting also owns major sports franchises. including the Atlanta Braves baseball team. When the Olympics were disrupted by politically motivated boycotts in the 1980s, Ted Turner created the Goodwill Games to provide a forum for international athletic competition beyond the reach of Cold War politics. In this podcast, recorded at the 1984 Achievement Summit in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he discusses many of these aspects of his career in a freewheeling exchange with the Academy's honor students. After the 1996 merger of Turner Broadcasting with Time Warner, Turner headed the conglomerate's cable network division. In 1997, he made the historic pledge of $1 billion to the United Nations Foundation. Today he supports an array of international philanthropic and environmental activities as Chairman of the Turner Foundation Inc.