Tom Freston was photographed Nov. 3 at PMC Studios in New York. Photographed by Rick Wenner Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Despite his 26 years in a traditional media job, ultimately rising to CEO of what was then Viacom, Tom Freston had no interest in writing a traditional business book. Instead, Unplugged: Adventures From MTV to Timbuktu, published by Gallery Books, is a story of one former mogul's adventures around the world. "Most people who are executives or have been executives write a 'how to do business better' type book," he explains. "I wanted to write one about how to have a better, more interesting life." It's a fitting approach for a man who's lived as much of his life off the grid as he has on it. The 79-year-old logged years in such far-flung locales as India and Afghanistan, where, at one point, he had a multimillion-dollar clothing export business. He tended bar in the Virgin Islands, built an orphanage in Burma and, later, centered his focus on Africa as board chair of The ONE campaign, an anti-poverty advocacy organization co-founded by Bono, one of Freston's famous pals. Related Stories Excerpt Richard Armitage, Bel Powley, Henry Rowley Narrate Audiobook for Alice Feeney's 'My Husband's Wife' (Exclusive First Listen) TV Jon Stewart on Entertainment-Conglomerate Management: "I Don't Know That You Feel the Other Humans in the Room Anymore" In between, Freston returned to the U.S., and landed a gig at a new, scrappy startup, the Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment Co., which had just launched two cable networks, Nickelodeon and The Movie Channel. Determined to have cable do for TV what FM radio had done for AM, the company would launch a music channel next, and Freston, a music fanatic, joined its founding team as marketing chief, soon rising to president. From there, he swiftly climbed the corporate ladder, adding other brands like VH1 and Comedy Central to his purview. By late 2005, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, who had acquired the company years before, was so impressed by Freston's consistent results, he elevated him to CEO. Of course, he fired him eight months later, furious that he hadn't scooped up Myspace as Redstone rival Rupert Murdoch had, paying $580 million for the social networking service at the time. (When the latter famously collapsed in 2011, Murdoch offloaded it for $35 million; not doing that deal had saved Viacom more than $500 million. As Freston writes, "I'm still waiting for a thank-you note.") In early November, Freston, a father of two whose globe-trotting continues, hopped on a Zoom to recount a few of his wildest tales, including an infamous sex tour with Redstone, and sound off on David Ellison, David Zaslav and the fate of MTV. Freston with pal-turned-partner Bono in Ghana in 2010. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, and somehow, in your book, you're recounting conversations you had in your 20s and 30s. Had you kept journals along the way? When I was living in Afghanistan and India, I did, and they were pretty precise. When I was working [at Viacom], I had a diary and some notes, but when I left, I didn't take anything other than a few pieces of paper and a chainsaw [a gift from the heavy metal band Anthrax]. That was it. I was gone. But you can Google stuff and try to triangulate and figure out where you were, and then I'd talk to people. It's remarkable how your memories come back. I suspect there were some stories that felt like "musts." One of my favorites is how, in order to get David Bowie to do an "I Want My MTV" commercial in the early '80s, you flew to Switzerland and met him on the ski slopes in Gstaad. You then proceeded to ski with him, ultimately ending the day in a sauna with him and Paul McCartney. I've been dining out on that story for years. It's a good one. I'll admit I'm still processing another story you share about taking Sumner Redstone and his mistress to sex clubs in Asia. At his request, you'd watch people fornicate onstage. I'm guessing you didn't need a journal entry to recall that trip? No, no, it's still clear in my mind. (Laughs.) I figured that had to go in there. It showed a side of him. On one hand, he's a brilliant businessman, bold and unstoppable. I mean, who wants to start a conglomerate when they're, like, 65 or whatever he was? But then there was this side of him that was emerging that I saw. And then, in the end, after I leave [the company], he's spending, like, $150 million on hookers. I thought, maybe that thing in Bangkok kind of set him off on a new trail. It's your fault. Yeah. (Laughs.) But taking him through there and just looking at the look on his face - I had to get out of there, and he had to move up [to get a closer look]. I hadn't seen that side of him before becaus