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Continued from previous page
Cenk Uygur,
W'92, Couldn't
Stand Finance,
Couldn't Get
Enough of
Controversy
Cenk Uygur likes to joke that he
earned "a nice business degree" from
Wharton and "a nice law degree"
from Columbia University, then took
those diplomas and crumpled them up.
It's not quite true. Much to his
surprise—he never actually wanted
to be a businessman or a lawyer—his
Wharton entrepreneurial management
and political science studies
play a big part in his job as a radio
talk show host. But he uses them in
a most unusual way.
Uygur co-hosts "The Young Turks"
on Sirius Satellite Radio, a show that
covers current events from politics
to pop culture under the motto, "We
don't make the news, we make the
news sexy." Think of a cross between
Comedy Central's "The Daily Show"
and a left-leaning Rush Limbaugh.
(If the Comedy Central reference
escapes you, you're probably too
grown up to be part of Uygur's
target audience. The network's show
featuring Jon Stewart is something
like the irreverent take on the news
seen on "Saturday Night Live" news
anchor skits.)
Uygur's family left their native
Turkey when he was 8 years old and
settled in northern New Jersey. A "D"
in high school calculus almost kept
him out of Wharton. A Penn
recruiter went so far as to tell him
he should look elsewhere. But
Uygur's heart was set, not so much
because he had formulated his own
dream of Wharton, but because his
father wanted him to attend.
Uygur formulated a circuitous
plan: concentrate on getting into
Penn, then transfer into Wharton.
It worked.
Once he was in, however, Uygur's
drive fell short of that most hyper-motivated
Wharton students exude.
He wrote columns for The Daily
Pennsylvanian and harbored a vague
idea that he might someday jump
from business into politics. Then
came the job interviews.
"When we had to start interviewing,
I was like ‘Wow, so I'm supposed
to take one of these jobs. But I'm not
sure I want one of these jobs,'" he
recalls. He made it through multiple
interviews with a New Jersey bank,
only to lose out when a vice president
asked if he loved finance. He recalls
his answer as something like "ah,
well, um, sure, yea."
"I don't think I did particularly
well," he now says. "I think they
could see it all over me that I didn't
really want those jobs."
At that point, Uygur's dad stepped
in again, this time suggesting law
school. Again, Uygur went along. It
was during his third year, deeply in
debt, that panic set in. He didn't
want to be a lawyer either, but accepted
a job with Drinker, Biddle &
Reath in Washington, DC, to pay the
bills, then left work early the first day
to spin by the public access television
station. By Halloween 1995, he was
on air discussing politics and philosophy
with a panel of his best friends.
"I didn't care if no one watched. I
thought it was great to have my own
TV show," he says.
He soon began hosting a weekend
talk show on WRC. He made
appearances on CNN's "Burden of
Proof," and America's Voice
"Youngbloods," a political talk show
aimed at the younger set. Then it was
on to WAMI-TV in Miami, Barry
Diller's flagship station for USA
Broadcasting. There, among other
jobs, Uygur worked as the supervising
producer, head writer and commentator
for a show called "The Times."
In each case Uygur brought a
spicy, hip, well-informed voice to the
often staid world of broadcast news.
It seemed almost natural that when
Univision bought USA, Los Angeles
beckoned. What better place to inject
entertainment into current events
than from the world capital of entertainment?
A friend suggested Uygur pitch
something to Sirius Satellite Radio,
which was still in its fledgling days.
Sure enough, the company agreed to
put Uygur on air with Ben
Mankiewicz, an anchor he had
worked with on "The Times."
Today the duo is on air on two
Sirius stations, once during mid-day,
the other during afternoon drive.
They've also signed up affiliates in
Wichita, Pittsburgh and Portland.
Still struggling to pay the bills,
Uygur is hoping to again someday
earn as much as he did his first year
out of law school. "The Young Turks"
has already moved from taping in his
living room to a series of ever larger,
better-equipped studios. With recent
guests including former New York
Governor Mario Cuomo and NBC's
Stone Phillips, it looks as though the
show's mix of the irreverence and seriousness
might be just the ticket. At
33 years old, Uygur says he has no
intention of staying poor, and no
plans to return to law.
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