• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 6, 2019

Arthur Sando, a pioneering public relations executive who may best be known for being the mouthpiece for the “mouth of the South,” Ted Turner, died Sept. 3. He was 71.

Sando served as the first public relations director of then fledgling Atlanta broadcast TV station TBS, which Ted Turner ultimately turned into the world’s first satellite-distributed “Superstation,” paving the way for CNN and one of the most powerful portfolios of early cable TV networks.

Sando ultimately rose to vice president-communications and marketing of Turner Broadcasting System, expanding its communications organization to New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, London, Moscow and Hong Kong and devising the communications and serving as the chief spokesman for its media properties.

During his career he held senior PR roles at King World/CBS, Comcast Corp., Winstar Communications, as well as working for porn king Larry Flynt on First Amendment issues.

As managing partner of Sando Communications, his clients included the MLB Network, Holding Pictures, Tyson Ranch, R-Water, MonaVie and the UN Foundation.

A memorial service will be held at noon on Tuesday, September 10, at: Nationals Park (home of the Washington Nationals Baseball Club), 1500 South Capitol Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003.