Ted Turner, the maverick businessman and philanthropist who turned a financially struggling Atlanta TV station into a media empire around CNN, the first 24-hour cable news station , has died.

Ted Turner, a brash and outspoken television pioneer who raced yachts, owned huge chunks of the American West and transformed the news business by launching CNN in 1980, has died at age 87.

Nic was part of the CNN team that got a live feed of bombs falling on Iraq, solidifying the network as a force to be reckoned with.