O.J. Simpson died this week — a couple months before the 30th anniversary of his famous police chase. That chase, and Simpson’s subsequent murder trial, changed media forever.

Simpson had been a star athlete at the University of Southern California, a running back in the NFL, and a Hollywood star. But it was his arrest for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, that would change American culture forever.

Simpson was ordered to turn himself in to the police, and was then spotted on an interstate in a white Ford Bronco. An estimated 95 million watched the ensuing chase.

A year later, 150 million would watch the jury declare a shocking not guilty verdict. Robert Kardashian helped defend Simpson, putting the family in the spotlight for the first time.

Simpson was later found liable for the wrongful deaths of Simpson and Goldman by a civil jury. He was sent to prison in 2008 for armed robbery, kidnapping, and conspiracy.

The car chase and trial presaged the media culture to come. It cemented the role of rolling cable news channels packed with talking heads. Michael Socolow, a professor, told CNN that the trial convinced Rupert Murdoch to launch Fox News in 1996.

The trial put camera crews inside the courtroom. It was the original true crime show. It was infotainment. It was America’s first reality TV obsession.