Ted Turner launching CNN in 1980.
Forty years ago, CNN was launched as the world’s first 24-hour cable news network. Ted Turner was willing to take the risk by investing $3 million per month in CNN and its staff of 300, knowing that he could lose up to $2 million per month during the first 18 months. (1)
Forty years later, CNN spans the globe and is available to two billion people in 200 countries of the world. Forty years of broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week – 350,400 hours without interruption. Major world events like the Gulf War and the September 11th terrorism attacks, and many more, have been covered extensively around the clock.
At 5 PM EST, Sunday, June 01, 1980, CNN went live with the playing of the National Anthem. It was customary for every television station to sign on each day by playing the national anthem and to sign off the same way.
Signing on that June 01st Sunday was to be the first and last time CNN would ever sign on. The owner, Ted Turner, said before CNN was launched:
“We won’t be signing off until the world ends. We’ll be on, we’ll be covering it live, and that will be our last, last event. We’ll play the national anthem for one time on the first of June and that’s all. When the end of the world comes, we’ll play “Nearer My God to Thee” before we sign off.” (2)
As the Titanic was sinking, the ballroom band played one last song:
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee;
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.
Was Ted Turner trying to be humorous? Was he mocking the Bible that says there is a day of judgment coming for the world that crucified God’s Son – a planet that stubbornly rejected His many overtures of love and grace? Or did his bravado comments mask – but also expose a deep-seated underlying fear that he must meet God someday?
Ted Turner has been thinking about the end of the world for decades. In 1991, he poured millions into a new charitable organization, Nuclear Threat Initiative, which he helped to establish. He pushed for an intense focus on reducing nuclear dangers, as he feared the world would end that way.
‘Fearing the end’ weighed heavily on Turner’s mind. Tom Johnson, who led CNN for a decade, confirmed that there was an ‘end of the world video’ in the CNN archives, ready to be called into action by the last news anchor standing. The band’s regiment, the US Army Forces Command, played for the video recording outside CNN’s original headquarters – which was the Turner mansion in Atlanta, GA. (3)
Johnson had viewed the video, and during his tenure, he ensured the most senior producers knew how to access it. “Most of us saw both humour and seriousness in it,” Johnson explained. “Ted always worries about a nuclear accident or another possible end of our world.” (4)
The reality is many of us, including Ted Turner, maybe signing off long before what he fears most actually happens – the apocalyptic end of the world. It is one thing to prepare a corporation for a cataclysmic event, but here’s the bigger and more urgent question: is Mr. Turner himself prepared to die? Are you?
Prepare to meet your God. Amos 4:12
Even though Ted Turner once said that Christianity was for losers, he is now on record as saying:
Sadly, Ted Turner (81) revealed in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning in 2018 that he is suffering from Lewy body dementia
If you are a Christian, you can pray that Ted Turner will turn to God in repentance before he signs off in this life and moves out onto the eternal stage. Pray that before he leaves, he will come as a sinner to Jesus and trust Him as his personal Saviour.
What about yourself? Are you prepared? Have you repented of your sin? Have your sins been forgiven? Have you embraced Christ as your Saviour?
[God] now commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man [Jesus] whom He has appointed; and of this, He has given assurance to all by raising Him [Jesus] from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31
If you can identify with the target group in the verses below, there is definitely hope for you. If you can appreciate anything that Christ did for you, as stated in these verses, could you thank Him?
For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8
Only those who have been made right with God through personal faith in Jesus Christ have something to sing about when they are signing-off. Are you prepared? Only a Christian has a bright future beyond death.
Sources:
- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/1980-cnn-launches-ted-turner-says-it-wont-bow-ad-pressure-1116082
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamjeakle/2020/06/01/cnn/?sh=dd574dd43b62
- https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jan/06/cnn-apocalypse-video-nearer-my-god-to-thee?view=mobile
- hhttps://heaven4sure.com/2013/11/18/heaven-jane-fonda-thinks-ted-turners-a-shoo-in/
- ttps://jalopnik.com/ted-always-worries-cnns-ex-ceo-and-employees-on-the-do-1677766203