The Ted Turner Saga | Part 4: The Satellite Brings a Superstation
Media Moguls with Web Barr
HBO's Bet on Satcom 1
Web Barr recounts HBO and Time Inc.'s bold $9 million Satcom 1 lease and the risks for early adopters.
This episode explores the boldest gamble of Ted Turner's life to date — launching his scrappy Atlanta TV station, WTCG Channel 17, into orbit via satellite and transforming it into America’s first SUPERSTATION.
From Arthur C. Clarke’s 1945 prediction of satellite TV to Telstar I’s first live broadcast to HBO’s 1975 Thrilla in Manila transmission that took the tech to a new level, we land in the mid-1970s, when Turner saw what others missed: satellites weren’t just technology — they were a platform for a much bigger future.
With a $1 lease and a million earth station, Ted Turner took on the networks, the government, and the laws of gravity to beam his local TV station's signal to the entire nation.
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Credits
Writing, research, and production by Web Barr.
Artwork by Dylan Lathrop.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Chapters
- (00:00): Opening Monologue
- (08:06): Telstar I Goes Up
- (13:00): First Live International Broadcast
- (19:00): How Satellites Work
- (28:31): HBO Takes the Leap
- (36:30): AT&T Plays Prevent D
- (41:10): Ted Joins the Race
- (1:01:11): Southern Satellite System
- (1:15:30): WTCG Goes National
Sources
Books used in Episode 4. Get em here!
- It Ain't As Easy As It Looks: Ted Turner's Amazing Story
- Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News
- Ted Turner Speaks: Insights From the World's Greatest Maverick
- Confessions of an Advertising Man
- Lead Follow or Get Out of the Way: The Story of Ted Turner
- Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire
- Clash of the Titans: How the Unbridled Ambition of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch Has Created Global Empires that Control What We Read & Watch Each Day
- Call Me Ted
- Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the rise of the modern cable-TV business
- Me and Ted Against the World: The Unauthorized Story of the Founding of CNN
- Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers
- Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business from John Jacob Astor and J.P. Morgan to Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey
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