By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
BOSTON – Earlier this month, upon his death, WWYI paid tribute to Ted Turner.Earlier this week, the baseball team Turner once owned came to town for a three game set against the Red Sox. There were Atlanta Braves fans everywhere you looked, and it was all a credit to Turner’s vision to place his Braves on a SuperStation that reached every corner of the United States.
For the youngsters in this column’s readership group, let’s go back to the days of black and white television when there were 13 slots for television channels. Quite a number of them went unused. There were three networks with national programming (ABC, CBS, and NBC). In each local market, there were a handful of others. As an example, in New York, there was Channel 5 (Metromedia, as FOX TV was yet to be a thing), then WOR TV – Channel 9 (which carried the Mets, Knicks and NHL Rangers), WPIX-TV 11 (which carried the Yankees), and Public Broadcasting, Channel 13 (Sesame Street and Mister Roger’s Neighborhood were just about to unfold.
When cable tv first made its way through suburban and city households and apartments, the channel selection increased to a maximum of 33 slots, many were used by teletype messaging and music, as broadcasters had yet to adjust to the new availability and the eventuality that one day, there’d be an unlimited universe of cable tv channels.
Home Box Office (HBO) was an early adapter and with it came first run movies and some sports. HBO launched on November 8, 1972 with a New York Rangers vs Vancouver Canucks game, live from Madison Square Garden. By 1980, HBO launched Cinemax and the whole concept of premium channels to headline “basic cable” came about.
Turner was smart enough to grab a slot on basic cable and broadcast a signal to a larger number of households basic cable served. The Braves and, to some extent, the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, became regular programming in homes all over the United States. With that exposure, Turner had created his SuperStation TBS, a golden opportunity for advertisers and, little did we know – fans – all over the States.
Of course, along with Superstation TBS (that’s Turner Broadcast System), came a little gem called Cable News Network – “CNN” – and then CNN Headline News, TNT (Turner Network Television), and a host of other channels which originated in Turner’s burgeoning Techwood Drive and Peachtree Street studios in Atlanta. Along with the multitude of programming, along came “man’s best friend,” the remote control. In fact, in our “household,” we lovingly call our remote control, “Ted,” as in … “Can you please pass “Ted” to me?”
With all of that as background, let us examine a little, three-game set at Fenway Park this week.
The ballpark was packed with Braves fans. In some cases, there might’ve been three generations of Braves fans in various groups, and most of them were not from Georgia. Braves fans are everywhere. The oldsters can be identified because of their Greg Maddux or Chipper Jones uniform tops and sometimes you might even see a HenryAaron (pictured) or a Rico Carty replica. Then come the John Smoltz or Phil Niekrouniforms, and don’t forget Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones.
It all added up to national fandom, and to a great degree, the Braves earned the respect and admiration of their massive fanbase. The Braves posted 14 consecutive divisional crowns, and a couple World Series banners, to boot.
The Braves’ faithful enjoyed the series opener, an exciting 7-6 Braves’ win on Tuesday night at Fenway.
On Wednesday, maybe the TV audience changed channels to TruTV for the Carolina vs Montreal NHL Stanley Cup Playoff game? If they stayed for the Red Sox game, the fans would’ve seen Boston’s biggest inning at Fenway since a September 14, 2025 opening stanza against the New York Yankees.
In the bottom of the 4th inning of that game, the Sox’ bats awoke. The outburst, combined with a stellar effort by Boston starter Connelly Early, resulted in an 8-0 Red Sox win.
Base hits, walks, a couple Braves’ errors, a wild pitch, a stolen base and three consecutive singles by Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu placed six runs on the scoreboard, five of them earned and the barrage sent Atlanta starter Bryce Elder packing before reliever Dylan Dodd walked to the mound to ease the pain. Elder lasted only 3.1 innings and gave up nine hits.
On the flip side, Boston’s promising pitcher, Early, tossed seven innings of scoreless baseball, allowing only four hits with three walks. He struck out seven Atlanta batters and threw an efficient 97 pitches of which 65 were strikes. He earned his fifth win of the season (5-2).
The Braves and their fans lived to see another game, a Thursday afternoon, 10-2 thrashing of the Red Sox. Braves’ pitcher Chris Sale, the former Red Sox ace, and Boston’s promising lefty, Payton Tolle settled-in to a 2-2 tie until Ronald Acuna Jr.took reliever Greg Weissert long for a Grand Slam which broke the game wide-open while breaking the Sox backs. The Atlanta Braves fans flocked to Fenway, once again, while others tuned-in on Braves Vision rather than TBS, as there’s been a lot of change for RSNs since the 1970s when SuperStations were king and Braves owner, Ted Turner, owned the throne.
Editor’s Note:
Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and a pioneering figure in the media industry, passed away on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87. His death marked the end of a remarkable career that transformed how news is consumed and established Atlanta as a media hub.
Early Life and Career
Birth: November 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Education: Attended Brown University and served in the U.S. Coast Guard.
Business Beginnings: Took over his father’s billboard company after his father’s death in 1963.
Media Innovations
Turner Broadcasting System: Launched in 1970 with the purchase of a UHF station, which became TBS.
CNN: Founded on June 1, 1980, as the first 24-hour news channel, revolutionizing news broadcasting around the world.
Contributions and Achievements
Sports Ownership: Acquired the Atlanta Braves in 1976 and the Atlanta Hawks in 1977, significantly impacting Atlanta’s sports culture.
Philanthropy: Donated over $1 billion to various causes, including the United Nations Foundation and to many environmental initiatives. He also launched the Goodwill Games in an effort to utilize sports to bridge geopolitical gaps between countries all around the world.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: On the night of June 3, ABC/ESPN’s No. 1 NBA commentator Mike Breen will call Game 1 of his 21st consecutive NBA Finals series. Breen recently did a podcast for the New York Post and he delved into a ton of anecdotes and memories. NYP reporter Dexter Henry did a fine job. But, there’s a few points which must be made. First: For anyone who grew up watching the 1970-73 New York Knicks (and many other sports such as the NHL’s New York Rangers, NFL games, you name it on the Six and 11 o’clock sports on WNBC TV-4, and even David Letterman’s Late Night with the Wild & Wacky, there was NO WAY anyone could be better than Marv Albert.
“No chance,” says the columnist at WWYI. As in, “There’s no chance anyone could be a better baseball player than Willie Mays,” or “No chance there’d be a better goal scorer than Mike Bossy.”
Well, “Mike Breen has gone above and beyond Marv Albert in calling the NBA.”
“Mike (Tirico) and myself and Ian (Eagle), we’re all kind of the same age, longtime NBA play-by-play man Kevin Harlan explained.
“Because Mike has been this friend in the NBA for 30-plus years, and I’ll speak for everybody of our age group,” said Harlan, “I kind of feel like we’re there calling the Finals because Mike is such a leading voice for our group of broadcasters. He’s covered this succession of Finals that will never be equaled again, I don’t think, in the industry. So I feel like I’m right in back of him, enjoying the moment with him as his voice is chronicling these great Finals that we’ve had a chance to watch.”
Aside from the likes of Harlan, Tirico, and Ian Eagle, Breen has the village of support from Walt “Clyde” Frazier and Madison Square Garden colleagues like former MSG Network head Michael McCarthy and longtime producer/director Howie Singer,among many others who helped mold Breen into being the best.
One semi-forgotten gem is the fact Breen worked the Olympic Games with the great player-coach Doug Collins and that two-man combo might’ve been the best announce team of all time.
June 3rd will be Breen’s 113th NBA Finals game, extending his own record for broadcasters by far.
TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Nothing says an “Original Six” Stanley Cup Final like Las Vegas against Carolina. Not!
As a reminder, the Original Six of the National Hockey League were the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers. Hey? There’s one non-stop a day, as opposed to the 72 one-stop flights. … The last time there was an Original Six Stanley Cup Final was 2013 when the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins, 4-2. … Let’s make note that Bruce Cassidy has coached his teams (Boston-2019), Vegas (2023, 2026) to the Stanley Cup Final in three of the last eight years, winning in 2023.