Unplugged: Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu

In this entertaining and freewheeling memoir, media mogul Tom Freston takes us behind the scenes of his adventurous, globe-trotting life—from hitchhiking around the world, to running a clothing export company out of India and Afghanistan, to cofounding MTV and taking it around the world, eventually becoming CEO of Viacom.

Tom Freston’s path to the C-suite was decidedly non-traditional. After getting his MBA, he bartended his way across the United States and the Caribbean, which sparked a lifelong passion for travel. After a brief stint in advertising, he dropped out to cross the Sahara Desert, ending up in Afghanistan and India, where he stayed for eight years. There he launched Hindu Kush, a fashion company that designed and manufactured collections of contemporary clothing for export. Freston crafted a life around his two passions: music and travel. He joined the small team that launched MTV and successfully climbed the ladder at Viacom, eventually overseeing not just MTV but also Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1, CMT and much more, placing him among some of the greatest cultural influencers of the twentieth century in the heyday of cable television. In this thoroughly unique memoir of risk-taking, cultural exchange, and rule-defying, Freston takes us along on his inspirational and colorful journey of a life lived on his own terms.

© 2025 Simon & Schuster Audio (Audiobook): 9781668129708

Release date

Audiobook: November 18, 2025