Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu, with Tom Freston
Ridiculous History
iHeartPodcasts
4.2 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 1 January 2026
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Happy New Year! It's no secret that MTV fundamentally changed the nature of media and entertainment. But how did it actually get started? What made the world so obsessed with the concept of "Music Television"? In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max get to learn the true origin story of MTV from none other than the legendary co-founder, Tom Freston. As an author, a businessman, a philanthropist and a world traveller, Tom shares not only his origin story ... but, get this: he also gives the guys some insider tips on how to pursue a life worth living (and pitches a wild idea to get them promoted).
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show fellow ridiculous historians. |
| 0:29.7 | Thank you, as always so much for tuning it. |
| 0:32.6 | We want to give a big end of the year. |
| 0:34.5 | Shout out to our super producer, Mr. Max Williams. |
| 0:37.9 | That was a crowd. Yeah. We've got Ben Bullen. We've got Noel Brown. We also have a special guest today, Noel. We can't believe this is happening. This is a true story. |
| 0:55.1 | We are speaking with the author, the world traveler, |
| 1:00.6 | the man who started MTV, |
| 1:04.0 | none other than Tom Freston, |
| 1:06.8 | creator of the newest hit book Unplugged. |
| 1:12.7 | Thanks for being here, Tom. How are you? |
| 1:14.7 | I'm good. I'm very good. |
| 1:17.2 | He's a busy man. |
| 1:18.9 | Getting some calls. |
| 1:24.1 | I'm fine. |
| 1:26.5 | I'm just trying to disconnect my phone here. |
| 1:29.4 | You're trying to unplug, huh? |
| 1:30.8 | I need to be unplugged. |
| 1:32.3 | Yeah, it's tough. |
| 1:33.1 | It's a very difficult thing to do in this day and age. |
| 1:38.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 1:40.8 | Guaranteed human. |
| 1:47.0 | Ben, I think he did a fine job of, given the short version of an incredibly storied career and CV. |
... |
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