Ep. 167 – The Atlanta Pioneer Who Went From Bison Burgers to Media Mogul

Don (00:00) I had the pleasure of hopping in an elevator, you know, like ding, that you're saying, get an elevator, go to the like, elevator door is open, like, there's Ted. I mean, he's in the back of the elevator, right? Cause we're going up, yeah. Yeah, full mustache, much taller than you think he would be. was a taller guy. Yeah, I mean. Rob (00:06) ⁓ there's man. Full mustache like there is. Okay. Don (00:14) But also it's Ted Turner and I'm like a baby, you know, so there's kind of a mystique about Ted Turner, you know what I mean? Like everyone had stories about Ted Turner and things like that, Rob (00:21) Sure. Yeah. Don (00:45) Alright, we're back Rob episode and I see the shoulder shrug going episode 167 167. Yeah, absolutely. Rob (00:52) Right. We were talking about 167 right before we started the podcast today. And I was like, admittedly, because I'm old, I didn't know what it meant. Like, I know the kids say it, but I had no idea what it meant. What's that? We're just a little hazy. I have no idea. Nor have I spent really any time thinking about it. But. Don (01:06) Yeah, yeah. The origin of hair is hazy, you know. I said the origin is hazy, like how it just kind of became like the, yeah. Rob (01:19) Just out of curiosity, I went to Google and typed in the number six, seven, and ⁓ for all our listeners, go do that and watch what happens. ⁓ We'll just leave it at that. Don (01:29) Yeah, yeah. Every once in a while, Google has some really good little Easter eggs in there, just hidden little things that. Absolutely. Rob (01:35) Yeah, this is one of those. Nothing fancy, but it just caught me off guard. ⁓ For those who don't know, mean, go look it up anyway, but I guess now the accepted definition is brain rot. It basically means brain rot, which as a parent, I'm very familiar with brain rot. Don (01:43) Yeah, it does. I mean. Yeah, I would. ⁓ I would agree that like it just it does like it's it's it's not going away, but it just seems like brain like why what it's not even like what are we doing here people you know, like, it's not even a slang that like makes sense. You know, it's not like aura and other things that everybody said, you know, it's like. Rob (02:10) Yeah. Yeah. No, I was in ⁓ a hotel elevator a couple of weekends ago, and a pretty crowded elevator, and somebody hit floor number six, and somebody hit floor number seven. And my daughter immediately was like, six, seven, and said it out loud, and everyone in the elevator was like, ⁓ So it is pretty, it's pretty universal. Don (02:19) It's a weird one. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't. It seems like it's gonna stay around for a while because it's been around for a while and it doesn't seem like it's going to fade, know, like, like how things fade, you know, ⁓ or like hactua, you know what mean? Like, no, no one says that anymore. Like, we're done with that. That had its moment in the song. We're gone, you know, like, I mean, things come and things go, but it seems like six, seven for whatever reason. The youth, the youth is holding on, you know, if we want to sound like old people. Rob (02:46) I sure hope not. I sure hope it doesn't. Yeah. That's right. I hope so, I got the 6'7 tattooed on my chest. I hope it's going to stay with me forever, that's for sure. Don (03:07) There you go. There you go. Yeah, emblazoned on the chest. ⁓ All right, so, so we had an awesome topic, we're gonna punt it to next week, I think, ⁓ because we both just found out that Ted Turner died. I know. I know super weird. ⁓ You are an Atlanta native and I came to Atlanta. Rob (03:13) It will never fade. It will never. Yeah, RIP, RIP Ted Turner. Don (03:35) Indirectly because it's a term my very first job right out of college was to go work for Turner Entertainment, right and I was kind of a freelance little internee designer II person as a full-time employee, but ⁓ I worked on all of the different Entertainment Network so not news, know, so for the first six months of my career in Atlanta. I worked on like, you know TBS TNT ⁓ TNT Latin America. I mean, I kind of floated around and did all sorts of stuff. I was a lighting does you know, stand. I mean, it was low man on total pole and a television. You know, I mean, I did a little bit of everything. But it was awesome. Like, what's that? That was 9797. Yeah, 97. I don't think it was 96. I don't know. I'm bad with the space time continuum. You know? Yeah, no, it was right after the Olympics. So it was I think I may have Rob (04:06) Yeah. What year was that? What year would that have been? Okay. Okay. 96 was Olympic year, so maybe you. OK. Don (04:30) It was 97. It had to have been 97 because I don't think I was right after the summer. I didn't come during the summer. was after because I had a weird graduation schedule because I transferred in. So I had a weird semester break or whatever. But yeah, I mean, you know, wrestling got to the WC. I mean, I've got a million stories I could tell about all the fun the first year of my career with thing. But but yeah, Ted Turner, man, it was it was weird, you know, the Superstation, you know, and dude was awesome. I mean, I'll call him an Atlanta original. I mean, that guy is uniquely Atlanta, right? Back in the day, you know? Rob (05:01) Yes, he is. And by all accounts, I don't, I've never met him. ⁓ But by all accounts, a very eccentric, just kind of maniac, in a good way, in a good way. Don (05:12) I think, yeah, well, yeah, I mean, if you could put a funny kind of internet spin on it, it's almost like ⁓ using ADHD for good. And I have no clue if he had ADHD whatsoever, but the guy was a wild man. I mean, it was, boom, we're doing wrestling. Boom, we're doing the Braves. Boom, we're doing, boom, we're doing, ⁓ we're gonna buy old movies and put them on, and then we're gonna do the classic movies. Then we're gonna recolor the Wizard of Oz. Then we're gonna, I mean, like, it's like, Rob (05:25) Nobody does? Yeah. Don (05:39) Whoa, we're gonna do 24 hour news. I mean, the guy just kept going and going and going and going and going. I have, again, I have no idea what his deal was, but like full of energy and kind of just an interesting oddball character. So I had the pleasure of meeting him once by accident. I did a bunch of time at the entertainment side, which is over on like the 14th street, the 10th street where the mansion was. Rob (05:54) Yeah, did you ever meet him? Don (06:09) Then I did a book, I, yeah, then I transferred down to CNN and I worked down at CNN Towers, right? The north and south. And so I had the pleasure of hopping in an elevator, you know, like ding, that you're saying, get an elevator, go to the like, elevator door is open, like, there's Ted. I mean, he's in the back of the elevator, right? Cause we're going up, yeah. Yeah, full mustache, much taller than you think he would be. was a taller guy. Yeah, I mean. ⁓ Rob (06:09) block away from here. Okay. ⁓ there's man. Full mustache like there is. Really? Okay. Don (06:34) But also it's Ted Turner and I'm like a baby, you know, so there's kind of a mystique about Ted Turner, you know what I mean? Like everyone had stories about Ted Turner and things like that, right? It was, this was pre, because let me think about this. bought, what was it? They bought AOL, no, it was, they merged with Time Warner and then AOL bought Time Warner, right? It's kind of the three, the three thing. So I was there at the tail, the beginning of that, which was the tail end of my turn of career. Anyway, I'm getting off topic. So the elevator door's open. Rob (06:40) Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's correct. Don (07:03) And Ted Turner's in there. And obviously I have a look of like, oh, oh, shit, that's Ted Turner, you know. And this, I mean, poor guys probably happened to him 10 times a day, as far as I know, you know what mean? But he immediately was like, Hi, I'm Ted. He had his he had his famous line, because everybody told me. No, he had he had like a security guy or something with him. You know, I mean, it wasn't like Ted Turner solo, you know. There were no other random employees. It was him somebody else that was with him. Rob (07:18) Was he the only one in the elevator? OK, OK. But there weren't other random people in the elevator. OK. Don (07:32) which I assume was security, could have just been, somebody else was with him, and ⁓ me, right? And I very clearly had the badge, the lanyard. mean, I was very clearly at a CNN elevator. was over on one of the towers already. So it wasn't like I was out with the masses, if that makes sense. Like I had already badged into wherever my thing was, Rob (07:33) Got it. Yeah, yeah, really unemployed. Yeah. Don (07:54) ⁓ And so I later found out that this is what he tells everybody because of course I told everybody, my God, just met Ted Turner in the elevator, know? But he was, so I walk in, I'm super shocked and he just puts his hand right out and he says, hi, I'm Ted, what do you do for me? That was kind of his catchphrase, right? ⁓ I mean, the prism of memory, maybe he said it slightly differently, but it was basically like, I'm Ted Turner, what do you do for me? And I was like, ⁓ Rob (08:08) Ha! That's great. That's great. I love that. I'm a work in graphic design and I... Don (08:20) Yeah, hi, Mr. Turner. Voice crack or what you know, like whatever. And then it was like, Oh, let me let me turn and hit the elevator button and just cut like it was it was a little it was a little awkward. It was I didn't know what you know. So so I mean, is that meeting someone? I don't know. I mean, I said hello, I shook his hand. I told him my name and what I did and you know what I mean? And you know, maybe there was a pleasantry upon departure, like you know, have a good day or Rob (08:28) We didn't say another word, we didn't say a word after that, like that was it. It was like. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Don (08:48) nice to meet you or something like that. know, I mean, shit, this was a long time ago. But that's the only time I ever was really. mean, I think I went I went to a symphony once and I went to some other things where him and Jane Fonda were there. So like, you'd see him from afar in Atlanta and things like that, you know, but that was the only time I actually had the pleasure of like shaking his hand and saying hello. Yeah. It's totally badass. It's like this whole empire is here because I did this, you know what mean? Rob (08:55) I love that. Yeah. Well, what a great icebreaker line that is though. That's brilliant. I love that. What do you do for me? It's funny, it's great. It's great, that's a great line. Don (09:17) Yeah, so and we used to do like I used to do all I mean my day one of my daily jobs and to bring this around to advertising one of my daily jobs was typesetting the ads right the ⁓ for like TV guide and newspapers and things right so you had this half inch tall ad that ran like seven or eight columns wide. And it would be like tonight, you know, and they would do like tonight on the Superstation, you know, Atlanta Braves or, know, or whatever movie or whatever something, you know what mean? So I'm an illustrator. It's like, what do you do? You can't design with like, it's like a half inch by like 11 inch, you know, there's only so much you can do, you know, Oh my God. So I used to do that. And it was always, if you recall this, it was always on the five. So it was 735, 835. Yeah. Rob (09:40) Yeah. Yeah, right. The Braves always played at 7.05. Like, what, like, right. Don (10:08) 705, it was always on the five, right? And do know why that changed? Just weird Atlanta trivia or little trivia action. Rob (10:14) I don't, I know you've told me that before, but I don't remember. So you need to tell everyone. Don (10:18) It'll come back to the minute I say yeah, everything was on the five that was there. That was their hit. That was our little, you know, hook, right? Because it was ⁓ everybody else is on commercial, we're not going to be on commercial when everybody else is on in case anybody's clicking around and doing things, right? What killed it is TiVo. TiVo was what killed that. Because TiVos could only at the very beginning be programmed for the hour and a half hour, right? And then all of a sudden people were getting pissed. Rob (10:39) Mm, yeah. It cuts off at 730 and you missed the last five minutes. Yeah. Right. Don (10:51) Exactly. They missed the last five minutes of whatever the drama TV show was and like you can't get that back, you know. There's no streaming. There's none of that stuff. And they were the only ones that did that, right? So it's like, well, TiVo is not going to bend their rules just for one station. You know what I mean? Like that type of thing. Rob (10:58) I'd be pissed. I would Yeah. Is Tivo still around? Don (11:14) I think didn't they just roll into like DVRs and things? I mean, didn't they kind of like partner up with like DirecTV and it's like now with TiVo, like home recorders? Yeah. They had a fun little logo of like their little, it was like a little television with like, which was so counterintuitive because it had like the rabbit ears kind of on it and like little legs or whatever, you know, like it was kind of a fun little thing. Rob (11:22) I feel like maybe they got swallowed up somewhere along the way here. I'm looking on the, yeah, the little TV guy. Yeah. Okay. So the quick answer to that question is that, yes, TiVo is absolutely still around, but they no longer manufacture. They're not in the hardware business. So they no longer sell you the thing. And it's all, it's all just digital rolled into, to whatever else. well, obviously his, you know, his legacy is, is, ⁓ I would say complex, but most well known, certainly for the 24 hour. Don (11:46) Okay. The box, yeah. I mean, that makes sense. That makes sense. Rob (12:05) news network. Yeah, I the idea that we are going to run news 24 hours a day, which now is just obviously ubiquitous. But back then it was like groundbreaking. Like what? ⁓ Don (12:06) Cable news, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he not only did one, but then he did another. He did headline news after the fact, right? He had two 24 hour and headline news was like the bite size. It was almost like before we had phones, our attention span in television, you know, because it was like the same loop of like 20 minutes or whatever, like over and over and over over and over again. So I remember I was at at CNN one time and it was, you know, Rob (12:22) Yeah. Don (12:45) peek behind the television curtain and you'd see people like running around like television personalities with like all their makeup done and like the little tissue papers in their shirts and everything, right? ⁓ And I remember there was a guy, God, I can't remember his name. His first name is Don, I remember that. And he had a bag of Cheetos in his lab. He used to like do headline news, but he had like his morning Cheetos in his lap. then, and like, he would just do the news, they cut to commercial and then he'd like give himself the finger brush. I remember like, I don't have any orange in my teeth, kind of, and I was like, wow, this is so weird. Rob (12:54) Right. Don (13:15) Like what? But yeah, the 24 hour news, mean that's probably, I don't know, you know what's kind of interesting to think about is I bet there's different audiences out there that sort of know him for different things, right? Like you, I mean, I would agree with you. It's the 24 hour news and the beginning of CNN, right? But there are probably tons of people out there that only know him for wrestling, right? Rob (13:41) Dude, and I bet even one step further, like the younger generation, wouldn't... Some might know him from Ted's Montana Grill. Don (13:50) I mean, well said, know, well said. Yeah. Rob (13:53) You know what I mean? They wouldn't know him as the news guy or anything, but his name is on the door for bison burgers, which is another just proof of, think his eccentricity, right? Is like, ⁓ Don (13:58) I know. I know. Which actually, I would say I'm a Ted's Montana Grill fan. I'm not anti, like, yeah, yeah. Rob (14:07) I'm a fan. I'm a fan. We had one in downtown Decatur, but it shut down, which was a bummer. don't, I bison shortage. I don't know. Don (14:11) It did. Yeah, there was one up the street from us and that I think the real estate got too expensive or something and they should have. But they still have the one down by the tabernacle, right? Is that still there? No one on like Lucky Street. Yeah, yeah, I please packed. Yeah, yeah. Rob (14:18) When I think that, I think. Oh, that's right. think that one on the corner, because it's always, I mean, that's built in packed all the time. Yeah, I'm a fan of Ted's. We used to go there when the kids were little and they loved it. I have a bunch of picky eaters and it was like, we went there because it was like, oh, universally beloved. Everyone can eat it. And I think that was because I know at one point in time, in fact, check me on this, Don (14:31) Yeah. something for everything. Something for everyone I should say. Rob (14:49) Well, I know he was one of, if not, I think for a while he was the single largest landowner in the United States. Right. And I read so it's like 2 million acres of land or something, something just crazy. Don (14:56) You are correct. Yeah, you are correct. Yeah, something insane. And I feel like it was in Wyoming or Montana or something. I it was out west, I feel like, right? Yeah. Yeah, obviously. Yeah. Rob (15:08) I guess, somewhere where they're bison, I believe. mean, and I think that's how we got into the, I might just be making this up, but that makes sense, right? I think it was just, yeah, he's got all these bison. Don (15:15) Yeah, I'm- I don't think you're making it up. I'm pretty sure that was at one point in time. He was like, you know, he did this, he did this, he did this. And then also, by the way, he did, you he brought hockey back to Atlanta. I mean, I was working at Turner when the Thrasher's came back, right? Because there was a time when what Turner owned the Braves, the Hawks and the Thrasher's and they owned what's now State Farm Arena, but was Phillips at the time, right? Which was kind of Rob (15:27) Yeah. Yeah. yeah, the trashers. Miss Phillips Arena here. Don (15:48) built right next to the CNN Center. ⁓ And it was awesome. We used to get tickets like it was awesome. We used to get vouchers as like, as an employee, you would get like, and this is old school, you get like a little perforated booklet, like, like a little tear off. Yeah. And the trick with the vouchers was, you could double up your vouchers for better seats. So you could take two, you know, if you got a I think I think everybody got like 10 vouchers for braves tickets, or maybe 20. I can't remember. But Rob (15:54) I'm not sure. Well, ⁓ Okay. Each voucher was one seat, I'm assuming. Okay. Don (16:19) Each voucher with one seat. And they're free seats. I mean, they're the bad seats all the way in the back. But you could, you know, we used to do this. We would go around the office, get everybody's vouchers, just give us all your vouchers, all of them, hundreds, right? Go down to the ticket office, okay? And then double up all the vouchers and just get tickets to every single baseball game. And then we had a calendar in the office, right? In the department we were in. And then everybody could get, because no one's going to go to every single game. Rob (16:25) Yeah, right. Yeah. Don (16:48) and there's 80 some odd home games, right? So then you'd reserve the ones you wanted and because we doubled up, we'd get better seats. So I mean, they'd still be like outfield seats or, mean, no one's getting the best of the best, but it was like, man, what an awesome, I mean, you know, first job audit. Yeah, great perk, like, I'm going to the... Rob (16:49) Right, right. Yeah. That's a great perk. Yeah. Yeah. Especially first job, you're like, this is the greatest thing. This is the greatest thing in the world. Don (17:07) Dude. my God. Yeah, this was like the great, the great. So yeah, I mean, I don't know. It's kind of a weird, it's a weird vibe. I'm kind of like not in my feelings a little bit, but it's kind of weird. Like, shit. You know, like Ted Turner died. That is weird. I don't even know how old he was. I didn't even know. He's like in his late eighties, I feel like. Rob (17:17) That's okay to be in your feelings. That's okay. I mean, I think it's factually accurate to say he was your first boss. Don (17:29) Yes, I will. I will take that I will take that. ⁓ Yeah, I mean, as an Atlanta native, what's the cause he also didn't manage the Braves for like one or two games and then they were like no, you can't do that or something. Do you remember any of that or? Rob (17:31) I mean, I think you can say that. And he acknowledged that in the elevator. I don't recall that, maybe, could be, maybe. Don (17:51) You know, it's funny, as Kyler in the office probably would know the total, this entire story. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, I mean, you could, you could make the argument. mean, he obviously put a regional product on national television, which I think is interesting too, right? I mean, he made like, you know, a large portion of America Braves fans, right? Because it was programming. I mean, it makes sense. You think about it now. It's like, well, how do get into wrestling? Okay. It was inexpensive. I mean, Rob (17:55) he would know which games they were and win. Don (18:21) programming for late night, you know, TV, right? I mean, like, we got to fill the air with something, right? I mean, gone are the days of like, you just go to static, right? Like, you know, I mean, yeah, what Walter Cronkite like, and that's today's broadcast. Yeah. I know. But isn't it crazy to think that there used to be an off it? Like, I mean, you would do the news. And then it's like, All right, we're done with today's programming. Yeah, just everybody turn their TV off, you know, like, Rob (18:24) Great. Yeah, yeah. There is no off air. There's no off air anymore. Good night. We'll see you tomorrow. All right. I guess we're going to bed now. ⁓ Don (18:51) Yeah, so, you know, he I mean, what an eccentric, interesting, weird I don't I mean, I don't know a lot about the part, you know, Rob (18:56) Yeah, well, I think it's, think, you know, coming from Atlanta, like we're proud of the guy. He felt like a hometown hero, right? Cause I mean, you're right. We, he, mean, such close affiliation with the Braves and all the sports franchises here in town. And he took us to the big leagues and see it, you know, launch CNN to the world. ⁓ So yeah. Don (19:03) Yeah, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he put Atlanta on the map to a certain extent for sure. You know, mean, you know, Atlanta is lucky, I think too, and that Arthur blank is kind of the next version. Right? I mean, I mean, he is kind of now, you know, Atlanta's grandfather, right? I mean, he's got the obviously as the Falcons, but ⁓ Rob (19:17) in a lot of ways. You call? and call and the Atlantic United. Don (19:35) Yeah, ⁓ absolutely. Yeah, Falcons, Atlanta United, but well, and the women's team. ⁓ And I was going to say like Children's Hospital and all like a lot of philanthropic things around the city, not just sports teams, I guess, if that makes sense. You know, I mean, that huge Children's Hospital thing going on. And I don't know, you know, Home Depot, obviously, is where he got his, you know, where everything started. But ⁓ yeah, I mean, who will be Atlanta's third unofficial grandpa, you know? Rob (19:38) and the new women's team, yeah. Right, right. yeah. Well, and I mean, let's not forget, I mean, he was married to Jane Fonda. beautiful, smart, amazing, talented woman. I mean, guy had a lot going for him. Good stuff. Who's gonna be the next Atlanta, Captain Atlanta? I don't know yet. I don't know that we know yet. I'm not seeing any emerging candidates quite yet. Don (20:09) Yeah. Yeah. No, it's going to be. Yeah, I have no idea. Yeah. Doesn't seem like it, not yet, not yet. I think. Rob (20:27) But mean blank's slowing down for sure. So I mean the torch is gonna be passed soon, I feel like. Don (20:31) Well, I was just going to say he's got to get the seconds and the thirds in the captain seat because I think that and I think he is restructuring things or whatever for the Arthur Blank Foundation and Rob (20:40) He is. Yeah. Yeah. He's stepping, he's back from, from a lot of things. Yeah. Don (20:44) Mm hmm. Yeah, it's it's a I mean, what a cool Atlanta original dude, Ted Turner, you know what mean? Like, I don't know, I feel like, hopefully, there'll be like just a bunch of cool stories that come out over the next couple days, what a badass the dude was, or you know, like, and a lot of good black and white photography, you know what mean? Like a lot of good, like, I'm looking forward to that. I think that'll be cool. Like, Ted, when he was young doing this or that, or whatever the deal is, you know, so truly an Atlanta original. Rob (20:56) Yeah. Yeah. Yep. true media pioneer, we'll say. A man of many talents and many interests. All right. Well, that was a fun one. And RIP ⁓ Ted Turner, man. Don (21:15) Totally. Yeah. of Atlanta pioneers, where can you find your next Atlanta pioneer? I know that didn't really segue very well, it? There you go. Rob (21:27) made it. Ooh, ooh, exactly. Yeah. ⁓ wherever you get your podcasts, of course, ⁓ also, ⁓ online at mock the agency.com and on all the socials, we are pretty easy to find. ⁓ all right. Six, seven, everybody closing it out. Bye. Don (21:40) Totally, All right. All right, we'll catch you next time. Yep. Thanks.