Back in 1980, Dave Walker and Lois Hart didn’t know exactly what CNN would become, but they were there–not just on day one, but newscast number one. They sat side by side, co-anchors of CNN’s very first newscast. “We were both very nervous, and I’m told that we looked very calm, so that’s good,” said Hart in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.
The husband-and-wife team–“Dave and Lois”–had anchored together at a station in Sacramento, and took a leap on CNN, even though the idea of 24-hour cable news was untested and risky. “Ted Turner had a reputation as a maverick, and so that was exciting,” Walker told Bloomberg Businessweek. It was an adventure, and we were young and we don’t have kids, and it seemed like something that would be interesting, a lark, perhaps.”
CNN has survived, and evolved. Wagner and Hart left the network and later helped launch CNBC. But CNN–that adventure, that lark–clearly remains special to them. “I think I closed the newscast by saying it would go forever, and I hope that’s true,” said Hart.