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As I was saying

Today, Seniority begins a new feature, As I Was Saying, which showcases what newsmakers have to say about themselves and about life.

By Times Staff
Published May 30, 2006

Kai Ryssdal: Sumner Redstone, you are 82 years old, showing no signs . . .

Redstone: I don't know that that's true - that's a scurrilous rumor. I'm a lot younger than that.

Ryssdal: Showing no signs, though, of slowing down. What keeps you going?

Redstone: Well, first, I love what I'm doing. And I don't want to stop. And then, you know, my life has been about winning. I always said it's not about money, it's about winning. And trying to be No. 1. And I'm not saying I always have been No. 1, but I have been obsessively driven to be No. 1.

That's true in the media business, it's true when I would practice law, it's true when I was working on breaking Japanese codes (during World War II). . . . That's the driving force behind me.

Ryssdal: You can't always win, though. You can't always be No. 1.

Redstone: I didn't say that you could, but you can always try. You can always strive . . .

Ryssdal: You've been doing this for a long time. And I'm curious, as you start to reach the end of your career. . . .

Redstone: Pardon me. I haven't reached the end of my career. I work harder today than I have at any time in my life. I go to China; I just got back from Kuwait and Dubai; I travel the world on behalf of Viacom. . . . I don't stop. I'm not at the end of my career. I'd like to think that I'm at the beginning of my career. . . .

I suppose that I am mortal, but I feel great. I exercise every day. I eat the right foods. I do everything I can to extend my life.

Ryssdal: How have you been able to stay on top for so long? . . . What have you done right?

Redstone: . . . The first thing I did right was to acquire Viacom. At that time, people were saying that MTV was a fad and Nickelodeon would never make it as a kids channel, but I saw then - and I like to think I have some vision - that MTV was not just a music channel, it was a cultural channel. It could travel around the world, and today MTV is in 400-million households around the world. . . .

I think I do demand excellence, hard work, competence, but on the other hand, I'm forgiving. Everybody makes a mistake. They make a mistake, I don't discard them, I support them. . . . I don't work as an employer with an employee. These people are my collaborators. . . .

Ryssdal: Even a guy who spent his whole life trying to be No. 1, trying to win, has to unwind somehow. How do you unwind?

Redstone: I go out to dinner . . . play tennis with my wife usually. I have a sports room where I work on a bicycle. I swim. I find exercise is a relief of stress. And I have a nice social life with a lot of friends. Friends and family help you get through the difficult times. . . .

Ryssdal: What do you think (of MTV)?

Redstone: Maybe a little too sexy for me. I'm only kidding. No, I like, I like it. I think it's cutting-edge. It's irreverent. . . . You know, people think that because you're older than the demographic, you cannot appreciate the demographic. That's not true. I'm fairly, slightly older than the MTV demographic and certainly than the Nickelodeon demographic, and still I appreciate the advantages, the beauty of both of those networks.

Ryssdal: Do you think it's ironic that there's an old white guy running this big media conglomerate?

Redstone: "An old white guy"? I'm not quite sure what you're talking about. First, I don't consider myself old. You know, chronological age is not the true age of any people. I know people who are 20 to 30 years chronologically younger than I am, who are far older than I am. So let's get rid of the old. . . .

I don't know where you get this old and white, but wherever you get it, throw it back to where you got it from.

- Excerpts from Marketplace interview with Sumner Redstone used by permission of American Public Media. You can find the entire interview on the Web at marketplace. publicradio.org. Marketplace can be heard at 6 p.m. weekdays on WUSF-FM 89.7 and more than 300 other public radio stations across the country.

Doug Flutie finished his 21-year pro career in Boston serving as Tom Brady's backup for the Patriots. He played in five games last season. The highlight for him and Coach Bill Belichick this season was (Flutie's) first drop-kick for a point after touchdown, the first made in the National Football League since the 1941 title game.

He played for four NFL teams and before that was the six-time winner of the most outstanding player award in the Canadian Football League. Pro football coaches and excecutives often said he was too short to play quarterback, but nonetheless he prospered in the NFL. Flutie will be a college football analyst this fall for ABC Sports and ESPN.

Flutie: I would like to look at (retirement) as moving on in my life and looking forward as to what is coming, and I wanted to approach it all along as I'm planning on taking a job with the networks. . . .

I've had more fun and enjoyment out of this game than anything else. I just love playing football. I love competing . . . basketball, what not. I enjoy playing. And it's still a game to me.

The game has changed over the years. The last three or four years, it really hasn't been a lot of fun. Bill putting that drop-kick in for me to do kind of threw the fun back into the game.

To me, that's what the game is all about: It's about competing, going out on the field and finding a way to win and having fun doing it. And that's been my approach throughout my life. And the way I've approached this game - I'm just a big kid.

- Excerpts reprinted with the permission of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.

[Last modified May 30, 2006, 07:36:05]