CNN is reporting that its founder Ted Turner, the outspoken and often outrageous television pioneer, has died at age 87.

The network says Turner died Wednesday, citing a news release from Turner Enterprises.

Turner transformed an obscure Atlanta television station into the first satellite-based “superstation” and founded Cable News Network, the first 24-hour, all news TV network.

The brash southerner owned sports teams, was a champion yacht racer and was married to actress Jane Fonda for 10 years. The onetime “Mouth of the South” once quipped: “If only I had a little humility, I’d be perfect.”