Ted Turner, the brash mogul once known as the "mouth of the South" for his brazen behavior, took on established broadcasters and fundamentally changed television news.
In February 1982, Turner's startup cable news channel CNN was not yet two years old and bleeding $2 million a month. To help make payroll, Turner was cashing in krugerrands he had stashed in his private safe. Concession sales from the Atlanta Braves, which he owned, also helped keep the fledgling network afloat.
ABC, one of the trio of broadcast networks Turner had intended to run out of business, had just announced plans to create a rival all-news service that was sure to have more viewers and significantly more resources from the start. The situation was so dire that Turner was even considering an alliance with CBS.
