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Keep Your Eyes Open

Operator - From Wondery and Topic Studios

Keep Your Eyes Open

Floyd, Simon, Kamar and Chico

Tv & Film, Arts, Film Reviews, Comedy

3.01.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2021

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

During the 1-900 number craze of the Nineties, one company provided the vast majority of phone sex. American Telnet was an empire founded by the man who called himself “The Telephone Pimp.” He ran the company “like General Motors” and got filthy rich doing it. But for the (mostly) women who answered the calls and delivered fantasies 24-7, it was a different story. The powerful stigma against sex work was always lurking just beneath the surface, until it threatened to tear apart the whole company. Hosted by Tina Horn (Why Are People Into That?), OPERATOR is an eight-part series about big ambitions, Shakespearean-level corporate backstabbing, men and women at the cutting edge of a technological revolution...and on the front lines of a sexual one. Listen to Operator now! http://wondery.fm/OP_The_JREE

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey gang, Matt here.

0:02.2

I just wanted to let you all know that I just started a new mini-series from OneDri and

0:05.8

Topic Studios called Operator, the untold story of the phone sex line company that took

0:10.8

over the world.

0:12.5

In the 90s ads for phone sex lines could be seen everywhere, flickering on late night

0:16.3

cable channels and printed on the back of magazines while phone sex operators worked around

0:20.5

the clock to fulfill fantasies.

0:22.6

It all started with an idea from Mike Pardes, CEO and founder of American Telnet, who proudly

0:28.6

coined himself the telephone pimp.

0:31.5

He was joined by tech genius and partner Michael Sealth, who was known as the Bill Gates

0:35.7

of Phone Sex, but it was the women behind the phones who created the close knit yet dysfunctional

0:41.6

family that turned American Telnet into a multi-billion dollar company that revolutionized

0:46.8

the sex industry.

0:48.6

As fortunes grew, the founders were sailing lavish yachts, fueling wild drug parties and

0:53.4

burning through cash by the minute, and the FCC was watching their every move.

0:59.0

OneDri and Topic Studios new podcast operator is the untold story of a company which dominated

1:03.8

the phone sex industry until the money blinded them and it all came crashing down.

1:09.0

Now, I'm going to play a brief preview of operator and introduce you to the heart

1:13.3

Victoria.

1:14.3

But while you're listening, make sure to follow operator on Apple Podcasts, Amazon

1:18.2

music, and you can listen early and add free by subscribing to OneDri Plus in Apple Podcasts

1:23.6

or the OneDri app.

...

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