The Show
“Talk Back Live” was billed as the first truly interactive television show. Merging new technology, the World Wide Web or what was then called the information superhighway with television, viewers of the program could call-in like many of CNN’s other talk style shows. Viewer could also fax or go online with partner CompuServe to post their comments on the show’s topic in a custom chatroom. Comments from faxes and CompuServe were often incorporated into the show. What made the show interactive is the host would allow panelist and audience members to respond to the fax and online comments. Also, the show partnered with MCI and American University in Washington, D.C. to have students and professors provide comments and questions via desktop video technology. “Talk Back Live” originally aired from 1-2 pm on CNN/USA in the time slot previously occupied by "Sonya Live." The show was later pushed back to 3pm to make way for "CNN Today."
CNN partnered with online service CompuServe to provide an online forum to host comments on the show’s topics. This would later serve as the catalyst to CNN Online or what is now known as CNN.com.
Discount drug store chain Drug Emporium was a major sponsor of “Talk Back Live” during the first year of the show. General admission tickets to the show could be found in its Atlanta area stores along with a life-sized poster cutout of “Talk Back Live” host, Susan Rook.
“Talk Back Live” would tackle hot button issues like abortion, sex education, homosexuality and race in America just to name a few. The show’s topic was often influenced by what was happening in the news on that day. During the early days of “Talk Back Live,” many of the show’s topics were about the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The first show was repeatedly interrupted by coverage of the O.J. Simpson case. Many of “Talk Back Live’s” panelists went on to bigger and brighter careers.
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