Ted Turner Biography

9 Pages 2312 Words

Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 19, 1938. When Turner was nine years old he and his family moved to Savannah, Georgia. Turner then attended the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee from 1948 to 1956. He then went on to receive a degree from Brown University, where he was vice president of the Debating Union and commodore of the Yacht Club. It was here that Turner began exercising his substantial negotiating skills that helped him become the media mogul he is today. Just recently in 1999, he was elected to Brown University's board of directors.
Ted’s career in media originated with his father Edward Turner whom developed a successful billboard company known as Turner Advertising Companies. Although prosperous, Edward Turner was ultimately a depressed advertising executive. Unfortunately his depression led to his suicide in 1963 leaving Ted at age 24 the new COO of Turner Advertising Companies.
As the new COO of Turner Advertising Companies, Ted first renegotiates a deal his father was about to decline prior to his death in order to expand the company. As a result of Turner’s aggressive expansion techniques, Turner Advertising Companies becomes the number one billboard company in the south and fifth in the country within five years as COO. However, growth in this segment was not enough for Ted as ideas to expand the company in to other areas of the media soon followed.
In 1968, Ted acquired a small radio station in Chattanooga seeing it as an opportunity for a billboard on the airwaves. He then continued to purchase more billboards that advertised his station resulting in more tuners tuning in to listen. Enjoying the synergy of his new advertising mediums Turner went on to purchase another radio station and learn a very crucial lesson in business. Ted for the first time hesitated and thought about his acquisition of the new radio station resulting in the loss of the sale to someone else. Realizing ...