Ahead of CNN starting a new chapter with its morning programming on Monday, its Atlanta-based newsers used the studios within the CNN Center one last time on Sunday.
At the end of their respective broadcasts, CNN This Morning with Victor Blackwell and Amara Walker and CNN Newsroom with Fredricka Whitfield mentioned they would no longer be anchoring out of the CNN Center and would be presenting their broadcasts from a newly built studio located at the Ted Turner Techwood Campus. The new studio is a few miles north of the CNN Center in midtown Atlanta.
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the news.
Uma última transmissão de CNN This Morning, de CNN Center, Atlanta. A partir de semana que vem em novo local. pic.twitter.com/6sBhtW5enm
— Gabriel Menezes (@briel_menezes) February 25, 2024
Whitfield’s show was the last broadcast to be anchored out of the CNN Center, which has been the home to many monumental news moments, including coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, Gulf War I and II, the Oklahoma City bombings, the 9/11 attacks and the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. It also served as CNN’s main election headquarters until the 2002 Midterm elections.
O último que sair, que apague as luzes!
Hoje foi dia de despedida de CNN Center em Atlanta.
As últimas edições dos telejornais e programas de CNN EUA e CNN Internacional não será mais da icônica sede que foi vendida. pic.twitter.com/flH4xgvqZ8
— Gabriel Menezes (@briel_menezes) February 26, 2024
Daybreak with Donna Kelly, Brian Nelson and Reid Collins was one of the first broadcasts to originate from the CNN Center in 1987, when it moved its world headquarters there.
The news on the new facility
WarnerMedia, now Warner Bros Discovery, announced its move to sell the CNN Center and prioritize Techwood as far back as 2020.
And for the better part of 2023, CNN had strategically moved its staff out of the giant complex. All of CNN’s Atlanta operations will be housed at the Techwood facility, which was prepared to accommodate many of CNN’s functions, including multiple studios and control rooms.
For instance, CNN International’s Atlanta broadcasts moved out of their studios in 2023 and have been working out of flash studios at the Techwood campus.
Earlier this month, a CNN spokesperson said the network “should be completely moved over (to the Techwood facility) in the next couple of months.”
There is no word yet on when the giant letters at the top, inside and outside of the building, will be removed. CNN’s Atlanta postal address no longer lists the CNN Center building but now directs to the Techwood Campus.
Always making moves
The CNN Center move may be its largest and most complex, but the network has moved its New York operations twice since the start of this century, with the most recent one happening in 2019.
CNN also relocated its London offices in 2020 and will soon move its Los Angeles operations from its famous Hollywood location to Burbank.