In 1980, Ted Turner launched a 24-hour cable news channel appropriately called Cable News Network, or CNN. He vowed to keep bringing us news until the end of the world. And CNN made preparations for just such an event. Turner said,
We'll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event. We'll play the National Anthem only one time, on the first of June [the day CNN launched], and when the end of the world comes, we'll play 'Nearer My God To Thee' before we sign off.
Turner no longer owns CNN, but the video is still there, still ready to play, labeled “hold for release” until the end of the world is confirmed …although it’s a little fuzzy as to who would confirm it. Michael Ballaban was an intern at CNN in 2009, and found the video. It’s in a format more appropriate for 1980 TV sets, but you can watch the band play at Jalopnik. -via Uproxx