Long before live sports dominated television and drove billions in media rights deals, the televised sports landscape was limited, local, and low-priority. In this episode, we explore how Ted Turner saw something no one else did: that sports weren’t just games — they were powerful, 162-game-long TV shows. And when he turned the worst team in baseball into a programming goldmine for his upstart UHF station, he didn’t just change his channel — he changed the entire business of sports.
From the rise of color TV to the birth of cable, Ted Turner saw that sports could be more than entertainment — they could anchor an entire network. When he bought the Atlanta Braves, it wasn’t for wins; it was for airtime. He packed his station with baseball games, outrageous stunts, and a whole lot of personality, turning a last-place team into the South’s favorite pastime. Along the way, he redefined sports ownership, took on the league’s old guard, and helped lay the groundwork for the 24/7 sports era we live in today. This is the wild, unlikely story of how one media maverick turned a struggling team into a national phenomenon — and rewrote the rules of both television and sports in the process.
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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
(06:05): Factors in the Sports TV Revolution
(18:00): TV Hurts Attendance?
(22:20): Technology Improves Sports
(32:30): Sports Labor Issues Begin
(42:30): Ted's WTCG Gets The Braves
(56:45): Ted Buys the Braves
(1:05:31): Day 1 as Owner
(1:19:00): Ted's Home Game Atmosphere
(1:36:00): Role of a Sports Commissioner
(1:40:06): Free Agency Begins
(1:49:00): Channel 17 Andy Messersmith
(1:54:50): Hank Aaron Home Run Race
(2:00:00): 1976 World Series Party
(2:09:14): Ted Suspended
(2:22:00): Ted Turner Manages the Braves
(2:37:00): Free Agency Frenzy
(2:42:00): Satellite Expansion
(2:52:00): Professional Sports
Sources
Books used in Episode 3. Get em here!
The Big Time: How the 1970s Transformed Sports in America
How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius: What Game Designers, Economists, Ballet Choreographers, and Theoretical Astrophysicists Reveal About the Greatest Game on Earth
The New York Times (01/04/1977)
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
Tube of Plenty: The Evolution of American Television
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