57 Facts About Ted Turner

1. Ted Turner said he joined the K-9 division after spending some time assisting officers as a decoy for canine training exercises.

2. Ted Turner loved to talk, he said, switching from subject to subject with lightning speed.

3. Ted Turner is America's second-largest individual landowner, with roughly 2 million acres, including ranches in Argentina.

4. Ted Turner owned 17,000 head of bison on three ranches, was a major supplier of the North American Bison Cooperative, and sold $6 million to the federal government to feed poor Native American families.

5. In 1960 Ted Turner became general manager of Ted Turner Advertising Company at its branch office in Macon, Georgia.

6. Ted Turner actually began a full–time "career" at just nine years of age when his father had him work summers at his billboard company—Turner Advertising.

7. In 1992 Ted Turner established two more cable and satellite channels: the Airport Channel, which offered flight information at US airports, and the Cartoon Network, which was supported by his recently purchased cartoon library.

8. In 1960, Ted Turner became Ted Turner Advertising Company's general manager at its branch office in Macon, Georgia.

9. Ted Turner actually began a full-time "career" at just nine years old when his father had him work summers at his billboard company—Turner Advertising.

10. Ted Turner starts out by talking about his early career in television broadcasting, when he created Superstation TBS and CNN.

11. In 1980, Ted Turner launched the Cable News Network to provide viewers with news and information twenty-four hours per day.

12. Ted Turner used the wealth he gained from his broadcast stations to buy the Atlanta Braves professional baseball team and the Atlanta Hawks professional basketball team.

13. In 1976, Ted Turner turned his independent station into a national cable TV network.

14. In 1962, Ed Ted Turner expanded his billboard advertising company into a number of new cities.

15. In 1960 Ted Turner married Judy Nye, whom he had met through yacht racing.

16. Ted Turner continued his successful debating career in college, becoming vice president of the Brown Debating Union.

17. In 1997, Ted Turner announced he would give $1 billion to United Nations programs; he has underwritten a number of other programs devoted to international understanding and peace and the environment.

18. In 1996, TBS merged with Time Warner Inc Ted Turner became vice chairman of Time Warner in charge of the TBS subsidiary, a position he held until he became a vice chairman of AOL Time Warner.

19. Ted Turner expanded his sports franchise when he founded the Atlanta Thrashers, a National Hockey League expansion team that began play in 1999.

20. Ted Turner won the same award again in 1973, 1977 and 1979.

21. Ted Turner took control of a new Time Warner division that combined its HBO and Cinemax channels with his TV networks.

22. Ted Turner made his first large sports purchase in 1976, buying the Atlanta Braves baseball team.

23. In 2002 Ted Turner helped organize the firing of the company's chairman, Steve Case, but he was not named to replace Case as he had hoped.

24. In 1994 Ted Turner founded the cable channel Ted Turner Classic Movies, taking advantage of his huge film library.

25. In 1987 Ted Turner began colorizing MGM black-and-white motion pictures, generating protests from film critics and filmmakers.

26. Ted Turner tried to buy CBS, but CBS's management successfully fought him off with a harsh negative publicity campaign.

27. On June 23, 1960, Ted Turner married Judy Gale Nye, a young woman he had met while pursuing his passion for sailing.

28. Ted Turner wanted to attend the United States Naval Academy, but his father demanded that he attend Harvard.

29. Ted Turner was placed in the Georgia Military Academy near Atlanta.

30. In 1990 Ted Turner founded The Turner Foundation with the aim of assisting with the conservation and preservation of the environment worldwide.

31. Ted Turner was the recipient of numerous honours, including a Peabody Award in 1997.

32. Ted Turner was one of the largest landowners in the United States, and many of his ranches were involved in sustainability and ecotourism.

33. In 1970 Ted Turner purchased a financially troubled UHF television station in Atlanta, and within three years he made it one of the few truly profitable independent stations in the United States.

34. In 1995, Ted Turner agreed to sell Ted Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner for $7.5 billion.

35. Ted Turner maintained his successful UHF formula for programming on the new superstation.

36. In 1970 Ted Turner took his first step into the television industry.

37. In 1985, Ted Turner used some of his profits to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

38. In 1976, Ted Turner made a strategic move to reach an even larger audience through the use of satellite technology.

39. Ted Turner eventually expanded into television, purchasing the rights to old movies and situation comedies.

40. In 1950, Ted Turner started attending McCallie, an elite boarding school in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

41. Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 19, 1938.

42. Ted Turner had built a media empire and virtually invented the idea of a twenty four hour news network with CNN.

43. Ted Turner endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 US presidential election.

44. Ted Turner was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 1993, and the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2011.

45. Ted Turner appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on July 4, 1977, after being chosen to lead the 1977 America's Cup defense as skipper of the yacht Courageous.

46. Ted Turner had purchased the property in 2001 primarily to raise bison.

47. Ted Turner caused a stir in Montana in 2003 by funding a project to restore westslope cutthroat trout to Cherry Creek and Cherry Lake.

48. Ted Turner once called observers of Ash Wednesday "Jesus freaks", though he apologized, and dubbed opponents of abortion "bozos".

49. Ted Turner appealed to Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn, and showed up to manage the Braves when they returned home.

50. Ted Turner has had a long-running grudge with fellow cable magnate Rupert Murdoch for years.

51. Ted Turner resigned as Time Warner vice chairman in 2003 and then from the board of directors in 2006.

52. Ted Turner bought a 5,000-acre plantation in Jacksonboro, South Carolina, for $2 million.

53. Ted Turner created the environmental-themed animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

54. Ted Turner was the largest private landowner in the United States until John C Malone surpassed him in 2011.

55. Ted Turner helped revive interest in professional wrestling by buying World Championship Wrestling.

56. Ted Turner turned the Atlanta Braves baseball team into a nationally popular franchise and launched the charitable Goodwill Games.

57. Ted Turner currently serves as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors.