CNN first went on air on June 1, 1980

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - Cable News Network, or CNN, began live coverage at 5 p.m. Eastern on June 1, 1980. It was the first 24-hour news network.

The network was the brainchild of Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld. Turner said he believed people wanted to see news at other times than the few broadcast stations offered. Critics told him it couldn’t be done.

When CNN launched, it was only available to less than two million cable TV homes. Turner promised it would continue until the end of the world. During the opening ceremony, he said CNN would cover it, play “Nearer My God to Thee,” then sign off.

Initially critics panned the network as full of technical flaws. They called it the “Chicken Noodle Network.” CNN continued to build as the cable industry itself expanded.

In 1986 CNN was the first with live coverage of the Challenger space shuttle disaster. Five years later, CNN sent reporters to cover both sides of the first Persian Gulf War with live reports.

Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett, John Holliman Wolf Blitzer, Christiane Amanpour, and Paula Zahn became familiar faces. Larry King Live was one of the network’s most popular series, running from 1985 to 2010.

In 1996 Turner sold his entire media empire to Time Warner, Inc. Today the company is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery.