Up All Night

Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News

By: Lisa Napoli

Narrated by: Lisa Napoli

The wild inside story of the birth of CNN and dawn of the age of 24-hour news

How did we get from an age of dignified nightly news broadcasts on three national networks to the age of 24-hour channels and constantly breaking news? The answer - thanks to Ted Turner and an oddball cast of cable television visionaries, big league rejects, and nonunion newbies - can be found in the basement of an abandoned country club in Atlanta. Because it was there, in the summer of 1980, that this motley crew somehow, against all odds, launched CNN.

Lisa Napoli’s Up All Night is an entertaining inside look at the founding of the upstart network that set out to change the way news was delivered and consumed. Mixing media history, a business adventure story, and great characters, Up All Night tells the story of a network that succeeded beyond even the wildest imaginings of its charismatic and uncontrollable founder, and paved the way for the world we live in today.

©2020 by Lisa Napoli. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

The birth of CNN

Great book on Donald Trump's nemesis the mighty news network, CNN and its founder, Ted Turner.

Awesome book.... just wish it was longer

Up All Night is a fantastic retelling of the birth of CNN. That being said, it’s really about the infancy of the network, not so much about what it later became. Because of that, about 75% of the book serves as a biography of Ted Turner, the maverick that made it all possible. The author’s portal of Ted is both hilarious and honest. Ted was an over the top person and the author does his wild spirit justice. I would’ve loved to see this book go deeper into CNN history. But I still love it like this

Well done!

I recall watching Bill Tush off the satellite while living in Anchorage, Alaska in 1978 (9). It was very funny and different. Who knew that it was he who really was the one who inspired this CNN thing. Although it did morph into a real news giant a few years later and became a powerful voice, I liked the Tush version better. When the overpaid Mike Douglas flopped on the People Tonight show , they brought it Tush. I worked with him in both Los Angeles and NYC and we had lots of laughs. I say without my pal Tush, there would be no CNN.

Riveting World of 24-Hour News

Lisa Napoli artfully conveys the wild history of transforming the news and birth of CNN.

A Non-Stop Roller Coaster Ride Through TV History

Buckle your seatbelts and get ready for a great, heart-stopping ride. Lisa Napoli writes—and narrates—the definitive story of CNN's founding and its impact. "Mouth of the South" Ted Turner comes alive in this rollicking history, along with Maurice "Reese" Schonfeld, Ted Kavanaugh, Bernie Shaw, Daniel Schorr, and a (literal) cast of thousands. You'll learn plenty about the inner workings of television news, a force that shapes our lives in myriad ways today. Napoli's writing is matched only by her broadcast radio-honed delivery. A delight from start to finish.