Michael Self betrays Mike Pardes and stages an elaborate company takeover, in a last ditch attempt to save First Call, his off-ramp from the phone sex business. What Self doesn’t realize is that the bad blood between the ATN partners has long been brewing, and he’s about to be double-crossed himself.

Support us by supporting our sponsors!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michael Self betrays Mike Pardes and stages an elaborate company takeover, in a last ditch attempt to save First Call, his off-ramp from the phone sex business. What Self doesn’t realize is that the bad blood between the ATN partners has long been brewing, and he’s about to be double-crossed himself. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Coup | 7

During the 1-900 number craze of the Nineties, one company provided the vast majority of phone sex. American Telnet was an empire founded by the man who called himself “The Telephone Pimp.” He ran the company “like General Motors” and got filthy rich doing it. But for the (mostly) women who answered the calls and delivered fantasies 24-7, it was a different story. The powerful stigma against sex work was always lurking just beneath the surface, until it threatened to tear apart the whole company. Hosted by Tina Horn (Why Are People Into That?), OPERATOR is an eight-part series about big ambitions, Shakespearean-level corporate backstabbing, men and women at the cutting edge of a technological revolution...and on the front lines of a sexual one.Binge all episodes of Operator exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting <a href="https://wondery.com/links/operator/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wondery.com/links/operator/</a> now.

Society & Culture

During the 1-900 number craze of the Nineties, one company provided the vast majority of phone sex. American Telnet was an empire founded by the man who called himself “The Telephone Pimp.” He ran the company “like General Motors” and got filthy rich doing it. But for the (mostly) women who answered the calls and delivered fantasies 24-7, it was a different story. The powerful stigma against sex work was always lurking just beneath the surface, until it threatened to tear apart the whole company. Hosted by Tina Horn (Why Are People Into That?), OPERATOR is an eight-part series about big ambitions, Shakespearean-level corporate backstabbing, men and women at the cutting edge of a technological revolution...and on the front lines of a sexual one. Binge all episodes of Operator exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/operator/ now.

During the 1-900 number craze of the Nineties, one company provided the vast majority of phone sex. American Telnet was an empire founded by the man who called himself “The Telephone Pimp.” He ran the company “like General Motors” and got filthy rich doing it. But for the (mostly) women who answered the calls and delivered fantasies 24-7, it was a different story. The powerful stigma against sex work was always lurking just beneath the surface, until it threatened to tear apart the whole company. Hosted by Tina Horn (Why Are People Into That?), OPERATOR is an eight-part series about big ambitions, Shakespearean-level corporate backstabbing, men and women at the cutting edge of a technological revolution...and on the front lines of a sexual one.Binge all episodes of Operator exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting <a href="https://wondery.com/links/operator/" rel="noopener noreferrer">wondery.com/links/operator/</a> now.

Share The Coup | 7

Sign up to save your podcasts

The Coup | 7

The Coup | 7

More shows like Operator

This Is Actually Happening

Respectful Parenting: Janet Lansbury Unruffled

I Hate My Boss

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Business Wars

Felonious Florida

Hollywood & Crime

Legal Wars

The Shrink Next Door

The Mysterious Mr. Epstein

Bad Batch

Guru: Don't Cross Kat

The Binge Cases: Fatal Beauty

The Apology Line

Secret Sauce

British Scandal

Uncommon Ground with Van Jones

Twin Flames

Scamfluencers

Fed Up

Con Juan

Infamous

Frozen Head

Diss and Tell

Oh What A Time...

The Killing Month August 1978

Men in Blazers: Early Kick Off

Exposed: Cover-Up at Columbia University

Severed Affair: The Gruesome Murder of Shad Thyrion

Over the Top with Beadle and Rosenberg

Lemme Say This

Black Swan Murder

Scam Factory

Blood Vines