After Resuscitating VH1, Chris McCarthy Is Ready to Breathe New Life Into MTV

The network chief is betting big on live and unscripted shows

When he first started working at Viacom in 2004, Chris McCarthy harbored what he considered a shameful secret: his educational background. Then a freelance director of marketing for mtvU, MTV’s online network for college students, he kept quiet about the fact that he had received his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school, after studying commerce and engineering at Drexel University.

“I was maybe the fifth MBA to get a job here, and I purposely did not talk about it, because at the time, it was so not a cool thing to do,” says McCarthy.

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This story first appeared in the April 17, 2017, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.