Interview

Talking With TED TURNER

Ted Turner is the kind of man who has only one speed--flat out.

Not only that, he has juggled more than one professional career throughout his working life. While breaking ground as a media mogul, he ran a professional baseball team. He also made time to win one of sailing’s most prestigious events, the America’s Cup. And he’s been a philanthropist.

So how does such a high-octane person find time to record his autobiography, CALL ME TED?

Easy. He underwent surgery.

“It was great because I’d just had back surgery, and I couldn’t do anything anyway,” he says in his characteristic Southern accent, which is not a drawl really, more of a twang softened by years in Atlanta and the business world.

“I had just gotten out the hospital, and I couldn’t walk very well. So I sat there in a studio in Atlanta and did the audiobook. The average person can’t dedicate that much time to sit in there reading, but I enjoyed it.”

He describes the recording experience as a bit like delivering a prepared speech, “except that it had to be exactly right. But unlike a speech you can go back and do it over again. If the producer doesn’t like a line, you go back and do it over again until they’re happy with it. It happened quite a bit. I didn’t find it to be bothersome. I really enjoyed the experience. But I was glad to get to the end of it after 26 hours.”

Turner adds, “Not having recorded an audiobook before, it was a unique experience for me. It seems like I always enjoy doing something new as long as it’s not dangerous. I’ve gotten to the point in my life where I don’t want to put myself in harm’s way when it’s not necessary, like driving too fast or flying in small planes if I don’t need to.”

New experiences are something Turner always has craved. He has had multiple business careers. But he’s no dilettante. What he does, he does seriously and in depth. “You’d have to look pretty hard to find someone who’s had so many different kinds of in-depth experiences because I’ve been with the Braves for 25 years, and I’ve been in television for close to 30 years. And we catch that, at least I think we do, in the book. You’ll have to judge that for yourself when it comes out.”

Turner listens to audiobooks occasionally while driving long distances. But his daily driving around Atlanta is done with a driver. At those times, he says, “I’m on the phone all the time to utilize that time, rather than have it be dead time.”

The last line in Turner’s memoir is “I have nothing more to say.” But he hints that there may be more to come. “I’m actually working on another book that goes into greater depth in the environmental area and some other areas because it was impossible to cover all aspects of my life in 320 pages in any kind of meaningful depth.”--Richard C. Gotshall

OCT/NOV 08
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