WarnerMedia dedicated the Techwood campus in Atlanta to cable legend Ted Turner, honoring the maverick founder of Turner Broadcasting, TNT, CNN and countless other innovations in the media industry.
The event was emceed by Wolf Blitzer, CNN’s lead political anchor and host of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, and included remarks from John Stankey (President & Chief Operating Officer, AT&T Inc. and CEO WarnerMedia), Dennis Williams (SVP Corporate Social Responsibility, WarnerMedia), and Turner himself.
“Turner Broadcasting and its networks, including CNN, are my proudest professional accomplishments and they always will be,” Turner said at the event. “The Techwood campus holds a lot of meaning to me because this is where it all began.”
Turner launched CNN from the Techwood campus in 1980, ushering in the era of 24-hour cable news. For years the former country club was the headquarters of CNN and other components of the Turner Broadcasting empire, before operations moved to the larger CNN Center campus in downtown Atlanta seven years later.
AT&T purchased Turner parent Time Warner Inc. in 2018, folding the Turner assets into WarnerMedia.
In September 2018, Ted Turner revealed in an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes that he is suffering from Lewy Body Dementia.
WarnerMedia unveiled a commissioned mural portrait of Turner by famed mural portrait artist Jeks and announced a $550,000 grant to the University of Georgia, which will establish:
- The Ted Turner Exhibition Hall & Gallery at UGA’s Library
- The Ted Turner Scholarship Fund, providing need-based scholarships to students at UGA’s Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication
- WarnerMedia’s Ted Turner Maverick Internship, in partnership UGA’s Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication
“It is hard to identify a single word for someone as multi-dimensional as Ted, but from his business decisions to his commitment to the environment, the word that comes to mind is audacious,” Stankey said at the event. “This dedication event is so appropriate given the history of what Ted has done for this company. We are forever honored and awed to be part of Ted’s legacy.”
