Telephone Sex Podcast Series ‘Operator’ Set At Wondery

Peter White
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Wondery, the podcast company behind series such as Dr. Death and The Shrink Next Door, has found its next strange audio tale.

The Amazon-owned company is launching Operator, which tells the story of the people behind American TelNet, the company that singlehandedly brought live phone sex into the mainstream.

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The series is hosted by Tina Horn, host of sex, kink and gender podcast Why Are People Into That? and creator of sci-fi sex rebel comic book series SFSX.

In the early 1990s, American TelNet brought together an army of phone sex operators that focused on fostering a human connection – an empathetic ear to the lonely and repressed – and in the process, grossed over $2B. Despite the staggering revenue and groundbreaking innovations in aural connection, the podcast series uncovers the truth behind how the operators themselves were left to struggle alone with the shame and stigma of providing these live sexual services, and how that led to the company’s downfall.

It will tell the story of a man who called himself the ‘Telephone Pimp’, who ran the company like General Motors and got rich doing so. The eight-part series will tell of the Shakespearean-level corporate backstabbing, men and women at the cutting edge of a technological revolution and on the front lines of a sexual one.

Operator was created by Daryl Freimark and Michael Connors and written by Connors and Horn. Exec producers are Daryl Freimark, Michael Connors, Michael Gottwald, and Chloe Prasinos. Maria Zuckerman, Christy Gressman, Lisa Leingang, and Leital Molad exec produce for Topic Studios, while Erin O’Flaherty, Marshall Lewy, and Jen Sargent exec produce for Wondery.

It will premiere on all podcast platforms on November 8 with an exclusive window beginning on the company’s own streaming app Wondery+ from October 25.

Given the company’s success adapting its series into television series, including an adaptation of WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork as part of its deal with Apple, expect Operator to receive a similar treatment soon.

Listen to the trailer below:

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