Ted Turner’s Charlotte adventure underwrote CNN

Good morning! Today is Monday, May 11, 2026. You’re reading The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with local business-y news and insights for Charlotte, N.C.

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Happy Monday, Ledger readers, it’s Ashley. Today’s newsletter is (inadvertently) a bit media industry-heavy — longtime media reporter Mark Washburn tells a compelling story about something newer Charlotteans might not know: what Ted Turner’s time in the Queen City was like before he started CNN. We also have an analysis of what gets covered a lot (and what’s underreported on) among local news organizations, based on a Columbia University report, and we’re introducing our summer interns — one of whom starts with us this week! Plus, much more.

Today's Charlotte Ledger is sponsored by The Village on Morehead. The Village on Morehead’s Aging Boldly Speaker Series continues May 20 with Ramona Holloway, “Navigating Change, Embracing Opportunity,” followed by Riley Fields, Director of Community Relations, Carolina Panthers on June 17.

by Mark Washburn

Ted Turner’s wild ride through Charlotte’s broadcasting world in the 1970s began with a bankruptcy and finished with a fortune.

Turner, who died last week at 87 after earning billions, revolutionizing cable television and creating the 24-hour news cycle, spent that fortune creating the Cable News Network.

A little-known chapter of Turner’s chaotic career began in 1970 when he drove up from his local independent station in Atlanta to buy some broadcast equipment from Charlotte’s fledgling Channel 36, which was in receivership after years of losses.

Turner looked the station over and decided he’d just buy the whole thing by assuming its debt of $1.2M.

It was such a hopeless investment that his board at Turner Communications refused to put any money into it, leaving Turner to buy it out of his own pocket.

He changed the station’s call letters to WRET (for his formal name, Robert Edward Turner III) and started showing movies, wrestling, roller derbies and reruns of “The Andy Griffith Show.” 

Channel 3 (WBTV) and Channel 9 (WSOC) were Charlotte’s dominant stations. Both were network affiliates, both had large newsrooms and both were highly profitable.

Turner’s WRET barely had a pulse. As a UHF station, its signal was weak, viewers needed a special antenna to receive it, and it wasn’t even on the TV dials of the time that covered channels 2 through 13.

WRET sold prime-time 30-second ads for $24 and found few takers. Over at WBTV, by comparison, 30-second spots were going briskly at $800.

In February 1972, WRET was in such straits that Turner launched a “Save Our Station” fundraiser.

“And as a bonus,” he said from the station’s decrepit studios on Hood Road, “we’re going to run a good movie ... with no commercial interruption.”

He also promised to repay the contributions when the station became profitable. Viewers donated $52,000, including a check for $500. That held off the creditors and kept WRET going.

Turner soon landed a heaven-sent client. Pat Robertson began buying time on the station to air his Christian Broadcasting Network.

Then another religious group began buying hours: the Fort Mill-based "PTL Club" starring Jim Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye.

In 1974, the station began making a profit, and in 1976, Turner kept his word: He not only repaid his telethon donors but added 6% interest. One little girl who had mailed in a quarter got back 32 cents.

WRET’s programming also improved slightly, particularly after Turner acquired the Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks, both league doormats, and started airing their games in Charlotte.

And something historic happened, though no one noticed at the time. Larry Sprinkle, Charlotte’s longest-serving TV personality and still on Channel 36, began hosting afternoon movies on WRET in 1976 — yes, that’s 50 years ago — between gigs on local radio.

Saturday nights featured one of the station’s highest-rated shows, a horror movie with WRET’s announcer, Bob Chassen, rising from a casket in vampire attire as “Dead Ernest” to introduce the feature.

Chassen’s Saturday night shtick was also carried on Turner’s Atlanta station, where it delighted a captive audience. Fan mail poured in to the wisecracking ghoul from inmates at the Atlanta federal penitentiary.

➡ Click here for more on Turner’s Charlotte story, including how a then-record-high multimillion-dollar deal was struck for WRET.

Today’s supporting sponsor is Landon A. Dunn, attorney-at-law in Matthews:

Editor’s note: Freelance writer/editor Ken Garfield, a frequent contributor to The Ledger, first wrote about the Salisburys for Charlotte magazine in 2015.

Andy Salisbury attended his son’s wedding on Saturday, if not in body then in heart and soul. 

A Charlotte lawyer who used to play rugby and ski downhill fast, Andy Sr. was 44 when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Today, 29 years later, he is 73. Credit his guts, his doctors’ expertise and the support of family and friends.

Chief, as he is known to many, lives at the Southminster retirement community in south Charlotte. The brain disorder has left him in a wheelchair, unable to talk. His warrior of a wife, Camille, has been beside him every step of this journey.

Now to Saturday’s wedding at Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Ga. And at Southminster.

Andy Jr., the youngest of the two Salisbury kids, graduated from Charlotte Country Day School. He’s a lawyer in New York. His bride, Sarah Louise Boland, has worked in sales development. Their 5:00 wedding in the sanctuary of Sarah’s hometown church was, as Rev. Brandi Casto-Waters told the gathering, filled with love.

So, too, she said, was the room at Southminster where the father of the groom was taking it all in.

Unable to make the trip to Augusta, Andy Sr. “attended” the wedding via livestream.

With a dozen friends and longtime family helper Rosa Cornelius, he watched Andy Jr. walk his mom down the aisle, one of them smiling, the other teary. When the pastor asked who gave this bride away, Andy Jr. hugged his father-in-law-to-be. Back in Charlotte, Andy Sr. whispered, “I remember that part.” He watched his daughter (and bridesmaid), Sara, walk down the center aisle with Vivian in her arms — Sara’s daughter and Andy Sr.’s granddaughter. Among the groomsmen was Partha, Sara’s husband and Andy Sr.’s son-in-law.

When it came time for the congregation in Augusta to recite The Lord’s Prayer, Andy Sr. whispered it along with them: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…”

Not even Parkinson’s could steal the words of his faith.

On the day his son was married, Andy Sr. wore a flower in his lapel. There was cold shrimp for the occasion. And champagne. And a toast, of course.

As the bride and groom marched out of the sanctuary to applause and then to the wedding reception, 160 miles away, the father of the groom smiled. Then wept. —Ken Garfield

A new analysis of more than 18,000 stories from Charlotte media organizations over the course of a year shows that uptown received a disproportionate share of coverage, while many other parts of the city received very little. 

The study, released last month by researchers at Columbia University, examined the types of stories produced by local media, including the geographical locations of the subject matter and the types of organizations producing the material. The goal was to better understand Charlotte’s information needs, which could help philanthropic donors allocate money in ways that are more effective.

It found that of Charlotte’s 183 census tracts, Tract 5.01 — which contains Third Ward uptown, including Bank of America Stadium — was referenced in 487 articles in a 12-month period in 2024-25, the most of any census tract. In the same period, 52 Charlotte census tracts received 10 or fewer mentions.

The study’s authors concluded that articles with identifiable locations tended to “cluster in Center City and other neighborhoods, such as University City South, that contain the airport, hospitals, or event venues.”

It said that while Charlotte’s media scene appears robust, with dozens of outlets, there are still “neighborhoods with content gaps, which we define as areas outlets claim to cover but in fact do not.”

The study also found:

Racial gaps in coverage: “Predominantly Black neighborhoods are more likely to be covered in the context of crime, while predominantly white neighborhoods are more likely to be covered in the context of entertainment,” the study said.

Who’s providing info: The report identified 66 providers of local news in Charlotte. It said about half (32, including The Charlotte Ledger) were “local journalism originators.” The others, which are typically culture and lifestyle outlets, “do not employ journalists or do not provide a watchdog function.”

By medium: Print is still the main medium for 15 Charlotte outlets, or 23% of the total. Websites accounted for another 23%, followed by television (14%), radio (14%), newsletters (11%) and magazines (11%). 

Ownership: About 2/3 of Charlotte media organizations studied are locally owned. The remaining 21 nonlocal owners include large media companies such as Axios; TV station owners Charter, Nexstar and Tegna; and McClatchy (which owns The Charlotte Observer). “Local ownership has been shown to be crucial for the quality of local journalism in myriad ways, resulting more often in original reporting about the communities it serves,” the study said. 

Communities served: About 29% of the Charlotte media organizations explicitly serve nonwhite or ethnic audiences, including 10 serving Hispanic communities, five aimed at Black Charlotte residents and others serving Jewish, Greek Orthodox and Asian communities. —Tony Mecia

➡️ You can read the full study on Charlotte media here

The Ledger put out a job posting this spring seeking a part-time reporting intern for the summer. We were lucky to get so many excellent applications that we were able to hire not just one, nor two but three (!) interns to work with us this summer. They’ll begin working with us at different times throughout the summer, but will each be with us for eight weeks.

Get to know The Ledger’s summer 2026 intern cohort:

Events submitted by readers to The Ledger’s events board:

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