The insane true story behind MTV
5/29/20261 hr 3 min
Sam & Shaan's hard-won CEO lessons in one guide: https://clickhubspot.com/eokb Episode 829: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) sits down with Tom Freston to talk about the insane story of starting MTV and shaping America in the 80s and 90s. — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro (4:04) Millionaire by 26, broke by 33 (8:49) The first days of MTV (no frontal nudity) (14:14) Music Videos (19:03) How to spot culture-changing talent (27:12) Making your employees party together (31:56) Nickelodeon, SpongeBob, and Building Legacy IP (35:21) Programming for a Specific Audience (37:33) The Facebook Acquisition That Almost Happened (41:25) Founders Who Refuse to Sell (43:29) Rupert Murdoch vs. Sumner Redstone (45:23) MySpace, Big Bets, and Getting Fired (47:55) Inside the writers room (51:33) Oprah Calling (54:00) The End of Monoculture and the Creator Economy — Links: Unplugged - https://a.co/d/0ef6YVu2 — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC • I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out: beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsShaan Puri· Host0:00
My MTV Hit List.
Sam Parr· Host0:01
MTV.
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:02
MTV.
Speaker 40:03
MTV.
Tom Freston· Guest0:03
MTV MTV Grew the company from zero to billions in revenue. Yeah, we were a high-margin money machine. It was sort of the height of the cable TV revolution, which began to deteriorate in the early 2000s with the digital revolution.
Sam Parr· Host0:16
You helped create South Park, Chappelle's Show, Stephen Colbert.
Tom Freston· Guest0:19
We had Jimmy Kimmel on. He got his start there. Bill Maher got his TV start on Comedy Central.
Sam Parr· Host0:24
You're recruited by Steve Jobs, same with Geffen, who was one of the most successful media business guys there ever is. You, uh, I think, made an offer to buy Facebook. Is that right?
Tom Freston· Guest0:32
Yeah, we were the first people. We went back and forth, and we put a bid on the table, and they turned us down.
Sam Parr· Host0:39
How big? What was it?
Tom Freston· Guest0:40
It was, like, one point seven million. Billion, excuse me.
Sam Parr· Host0:43
When you were, like, trying to spot winning people or creatives, was there, like, a common theme?
Tom Freston· Guest0:48
Yeah. Well...
Speaker 3· Soundbite0:50
[singing] I feel like I could rule the world. I know I could be what I want to. Uh. I put my all in it like no days off. On the road less traveled, never looking back.
Sam Parr· Host0:59
I was trying to think of the way that I could introduce you. Tom helped found MTV, which was one of the most important networks when I was raised. Like, going home and watching TRL at, like- Yeah ... three, three thirty was, like, the greatest thing ever. But then you also owned VH1, Comedy Central, which meant you helped create South Park, Chappelle's Show, Jon Stewart's, uh- Mm-hmm, Daily Show. The Daily Show.
Tom Freston· Guest1:20
Stephen Colbert.
Sam Parr· Host1:21
Stephen Colbert.
Tom Freston· Guest1:22
We had Jimmy Kimmel on. I mean, he got his start there. Bill Maher got his TV start on Comedy Central.
Sam Parr· Host1:27
Yeah, it goes on and on and on. And then also,