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Tom Freston was one of MTV's founding executives and until recently served as CEO of Viacom. Freston is responsible for the generation-defining ad campaign "I Want My MTV." In 1987[…]

This is a transitional age, Freston says.

Question: How will this age be remembered?

Tom Freston: I think we’re in some kind of transition period, you know? We’re between centuries. We’re at the beginning of a century. It’s almost sort of apt, and nice and neat that as a transition period we’ve entered this new, interconnected, digital age where globalism is really an important characteristic of life. But everyone isn’t sure how to deal with it yet. There’s a lot of . . . There’s a lot of change that really still needs to be digested, and it’s . . . You’re gonna probably stand back and say, you know . . . You would say about the ’50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, ‘80s, that was sort of the post-war . . . post World War II era. I don’t know if there’s any label that anyone has come up with yet for the time we’re exactly living in. And I think that’s because it is a transition time. And it’s gonna be easier to label it as that once we embark more clearly on something that’s a bit more definable.

Recorded On: 7/6/07


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