The first time I really saw CNN was on vacation while they covered the JFK Jr plane crash. I was utterly transfixed. Wow. This is what being an adult and plugged into the world feels like in real-time. That was back in the 90's where it was the only game in town. It felt like the glorious future. - ThreadSky

swiftonsecurity.com • 8 days ago

The first time I really saw CNN was on vacation while they covered the JFK Jr plane crash. I was utterly transfixed. Wow. This is what being an adult and plugged into the world feels like in real-time. That was back in the 90's where it was the only game in town. It felt like the glorious future.

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derekballing.com•8 days ago

Remember when CNN Headline News was 30 minutes of concentrated news, over and over again updated each cycle. “You give us 30 minutes and we’ll give you the world”.

Now it’s just …. Shite.

swiftonsecurity.com•8 days ago

That was back when the CEO of CNN was a former newspaper publisher. In this 1995 broadcast the presenter casually mentions you'll "need a 386 with a modem."

https://youtu.be/942IlJJU4Yk

swiftonsecurity.com•8 days ago

The commercials on CNN in 1995 are kind of unbelievable in how up-market they are, literally just mindshare for firms to get their names in front of businesspeople. Many don't even try to sell you anything. It's just, "hey FYI, recognize our name next time you see us in a purchase requisition."

anotarian.bsky.social•8 days ago

The Sunday morning talk show ads had me convinced that GE and ADM and Monsanto and BASF would never hurt me or my loved ones.

omnirabbit.bsky.social•8 days ago

Amazingly, I believe CNN Mundo (the Spanish version) still keeps this pedigree much like BBC World Service does, as hard hitting news is still popular outside of our Murdoch hell scape. When I first watched it in Spanish it felt like the first time the gringos got things right about us

ghostwithashell.bsky.social•8 days ago

Rockwell's retro encabulator was a big product line back then.

prrsignal.bsky.social•8 days ago

I suspect Cable cost a lot more in real dollars back then.

ogilvie-chris.bsky.social•8 days ago

Those sorts of ads are wild.

I live in Ottawa, and the bus shelter ads outside the Prime Minister's Office always make me do a double-take.

I think most recently they were advertising the Saab Gripen.

kmagnacca.bsky.social•8 days ago

It was also partly because they made all kinds of stuff. I remember in the 80s we had a hose valve or something made by Rockwell with the logo and was like "hey wait those guys also make missiles".

hakirsch.bsky.social•8 days ago

Very hyperencabulator

futuremonkey.bsky.social•8 days ago

The days when I had a 386 with a modem were better in every way than the modern internet. Bring back BBSs.

erobertlee.bsky.social•8 days ago

You've done a good job of explaining that if someone can hold your attention on a subject for an hour, that means their actual expertise is talking, not necessarily that subject. Cable news being the version of sportcenter that makes middle class liberals feel worldly is parallel in very bad ways

jefffreyspies.bsky.social•8 days ago

My first clear memory of CNN was during the military coup that eventually ended the USSR, even though I was on vacation at the beach I was glued to the television for hours. I’m exceptionally boring and always have been.

shadowdwolf.bsky.social•8 days ago

Similar experience for me, though this was during Desert Shield/Desert Storm/the first Gulf War. My parents had one of those old 12-foot satellite dishes in those days.

onetruestephen.bsky.social•8 days ago

Carlin called it “the first war that was on every channel, plus cable!”

mam4music.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is how I’d like to remember CNN https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-04-11-ca-77-story.html

what-about-fred.bsky.social•8 days ago

DUDE that 90s CNN vibe hit different—like breaking news with grainy graphics!! But JFK Jr’s crash? Eerie echoes of our boy Fred Noonan, who ALSO vanished mid-air with a high-profile pilot. Coincidence?? Or is Fred somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle running an aviation club for lost legends??!! ✈️👻

spalm.bsky.social•8 days ago

I visited the US for work in 1991 a couple of days after the start of the first Gulf War. I was glued to CNN and the live reporting from on the ground by Peter Arnett and Co.

justa9.bsky.social•8 days ago

I remember seeing CNN-I as a tween and thinking I was such a little international elite.

justa9.bsky.social•8 days ago

I also remember CNN Airport which was just CNN but with all air crash stories removed.

trubludevil.social•8 days ago

The 1991 Gulf conflict - my dad was serving at the Pentagon; I walked in after sports practice and CNN was on, talking about jets dropping bombs, and I got shushed by both parents.

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