<description>&lt;p&gt;Tom Freston&amp;rsquo;s resume is real, but reads like fiction: he served cocktails in the Caribbean, created a fashion brand in India, co-founded MTV, became CEO of Viacom&amp;hellip; and after he was unceremoniously fired, he helped launch a TV network in Afghanistan and became an advocate for global health initiatives. As if that wasn&amp;rsquo;t enough, he&amp;rsquo;s written an extraordinary memoir, &lt;em&gt;Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu&lt;/em&gt;. So today Tom sits down with Mango to talk about some of those adventures, including the time he ended up in a sauna with David Bowie and Paul McCartney, how &lt;em&gt;The Real World&lt;/em&gt; came to be, and why he believes TV can change the world.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Buy&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/unplugged-adventures-from-mtv-to-timbuktu-tom-freston/77b234b8839c4f1c?ean=9781668089798&amp;amp;next=t"&gt;Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu&lt;/a&gt;, or request it at your local bookstore or library!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Give us your name, address, and one fun fact and we&amp;rsquo;ll send you one for free. Email higeniuses@gmail.com, DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We&amp;rsquo;re on Instagram&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.instagram.com/parttimegenius/"&gt;@parttimegenius&lt;/a&gt; and Bluesky &lt;a href="https://bsky.app/profile/parttimegenius.bsky.social"&gt;@parttimegenius.bsky.social&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Learn more about your ad choices at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com"&gt;https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Part-Time Genius

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Taking Risks and Traveling the World, with Tom Freston!

NOV 25, 202540 MIN
Part-Time Genius

Taking Risks and Traveling the World, with Tom Freston!

NOV 25, 202540 MIN

Description

Tom Freston’s resume is real, but reads like fiction: he served cocktails in the Caribbean, created a fashion brand in India, co-founded MTV, became CEO of Viacom… and after he was unceremoniously fired, he helped launch a TV network in Afghanistan and became an advocate for global health initiatives. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s written an extraordinary memoir, Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu. So today Tom sits down with Mango to talk about some of those adventures, including the time he ended up in a sauna with David Bowie and Paul McCartney, how The Real World came to be, and why he believes TV can change the world.

Buy Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu, or request it at your local bookstore or library!

Get your official Part-Time Genius membership card! Give us your name, address, and one fun fact and we’ll send you one for free. Email [email protected], DM us on our socials, or leave a message at (302) 405-5925.

We’re on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social.

Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.