Known as "the father of MTV," at the age of just 27, Robert Pittman revolutionized the record industry by creating a channel dedicated to music videos. 

Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own at this time, in 1981, when MTV based their format around the medium. Due in large part to Pittman's business skills the channel became the first cable network to become profitable.

Pittman began his remarkable career as a teenage disc jockey at a local radio station in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. He has since grown to become one of the most prominent figures in media.

Now the former MTV CEO, AOL top exec and Web investor is taking a stab at the liquor market with his new high-end tequila "Casa Dragones."

Send in your questions about MTV and the media world in general to Bob Pittman!

The title of the latest album from Tori Amos – "Midwinter Graces" may sound festive, but it is not a Christmas record. 

Released to coincide with the winter solstice, this collection of songs celebrates the pagan festival.  

Much of the album finds Amos reworking and expanding on the traditional Christmas carol, for example “What Child, Nowell” and “A Silent Night With You”

Daughter of a Methodist minister, religion is a common theme in Amos’ work. Her 1994 record “God” was Amos' response to patriarchy and the repression of women through religion.

Noted for the emotionally intensity she puts into her performances, Amos has spent a lifetime exploring god, sexuality and feminism in her lyrics.

She was at the forefront of a number of female singer songwriters in the early 1990s, achieving recognition for songs like “Cornflake Girl” and “A Sorta Fairytale”.

Herself a victim of sexual assault Amos co-founded the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) – a toll-free help line in the U.S. connecting callers with their local rape crisis center in1994. By 2006, RAINN had received its one millionth caller and is now the largest anti-sexual assault organization in the United States.

A social commentator and activist, Amos is the perfect antidote to the anodyne offerings which currently clog up the charts.

Send your questions to Tori Amos and we’ll put the best of them to her on Wednesday’s show.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is best known as the 7-foot-2 center who led the UCLA Bruins to three NCAA championships in the 1960s, then went on to win one NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 and five more with the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring in 1989.

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is spreading his educational message about cancer.

He also has dabbled in acting, notably as an airline pilot in the 1980 comedy "Airplane!"

One of the greatest college and professional basketball players of all time, Abdul-Jabbar went public with his blood cancer diagnosis last month.

The 62-year-old former center for the Los Angeles Lakers has chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) – he discovered the diagnosis last December.

CML doesn’t significantly affect his quality of life, but Abdul-Jabbar has to have his blood levels checked on a regular basis.

After a year of keeping this private, Abdul-Jabbar made the recent announcement in order to raise awareness about the disease.

In the process of researching CML, Abdul-Jabbar says he was shocked to learn that some cancer patients do not regularly take their cancer medication. This led him to approach the pharmaceutical company Novartis about launching an educational campaign.

Spreading the message that medication, seeking advice from doctors and personal vigilance is vital if we are to keep cancer at bay, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is our Connector of the Day on Tuesday.

Send your questions for the basketball legend here.

Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.

Famous for her hit record ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, (a collaboration with Wyclef Jean) –it was the most-played pop song in a single week in American radio history, with 9,637 broadcasts.

Shakira's famous dance moves help raise awareness for children's charities

Growing up in Barranquilla, on the Colombian Caribbean coast, when she was eight years old, Shakira's father declared bankruptcy. Losing most of their possessions, the young Shakira thought the world had ended, until her father took her to a local park where she witnessed the sight of orphans living there, taking drugs and sniffing glue.

At that moment Shakira made a vow to herself that one day she would become a famous artist and help these kids.

Like her hips, she didn’t lie: she became a stratospheric hit worldwide – acording to Forbes Magazine, the 4th highest-earning woman in music for 2008 – and she did not forget her promise to the children.

At just 18 years old, she founded The Pies Descalzos Foundation – named after her 3rd album – which helps deprived children get access to good education. Their work is based close to Shakira’s birthplace. Otherwise known as the the Barefoot Foundation – the charity is named after her distinctive belly dancing stance.

Not stopping there, as UNICEF Goodwill ambassador, Shakira has taken her humanitarian work worldwide.

A belly-dancing Latin bombshell, and philanthropist raising millions for children’s charities – Shakira is our connector of the day.

Send your questions for Shakira and we’ll put the best of them to her on Monday’s show.

Cashing in on the global expansion of poker is millionaire British journalist Victoria Coren.

Million dollar poker queen Victoria Coren.

In her new book "For Richer For Poorer" Coren describes her life-long love affair with the game...

Which finally paid off in 2006 when she won a million dollars – tax free – on the London leg of the European Poker Tour, a four-day long gambling marathon.

Victoria is the daughter of celebrated humorist Alan Coren, who died in 2007, and sister of Giles Coren, food critic and tv presenter.

Blessed with the family writing gene, she started penning columns aged 14 for a London newspaper, and had her first book published when she was 16.

But poker always held a fascination for her.
From her teenage years when she yearned to join her older brother’s gang of mates around the kitchen table dealing cards.
Till now when she writes about poker, commentates poker tournaments, and spends every spare minute in her favourite casino or gambling online.

Female players are still in the minority, and the book describes how there is little room at the poker table for husband and children. For now, anyway.

Sophisticated, talented and skilful, or lucky and loaded?
Million-dollar poker player, Victoria Coren is our Connector of the Day – send your questions for her here, and we’ll put the best of them to her on Friday’s show.

Singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder is the newest U.N. Messenger for Peace.

Throughout his blockbusting hit career, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits, including songs like ‘Superstition’, ‘Higher Ground’ and ‘You Are The Sunshine Of My Life’.

Stevie Wonder: living legend and White House favourite.

He has won twenty-two Grammy Awards - the most ever won by a male solo artist.

Blind from birth, Wonder’s music has always reflected his concern with humanitarian issues. He has written, produced and performed songs to endorse charities for disabilities, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hunger and homelessness and domestic abuse.

A much-loved favourite at the White House, Wonder's tune, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours," was often played at President Obama's campaign stops.

The president has been known to cite Wonder's music as the soundtrack to his youth and marriage. Wonder's love song, "You and I," had been the couple's wedding song.

This week he is joining the prestigious list of United Nations Messengers of Peace to advocate for the Organisation’s work.
“Our newest Messenger of Peace is someone who is admired by millions of people and has given back to millions of people,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, ahead of Wonder’s official designation.

Stevie Wonder will be our Connector of the Day – send your questions and we’ll put the best of them to him on the show.

Detained by the Iranian government for 118 days, journalist Maziar Bahari was taken in to custody on June 21st and held in Tehran’s Evin prison. 

Iran accused Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari of being a spy.

Now freed, he will be on Wednesday’s show to talk about his horrific experience.

A correspondent for U.S. magazine Newsweek, Bahari was reporting on Iran’s highly controversial Presidential elections, in June 2009.

The elections saw incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announce a victory with 62% of the votes cast, but many analysts voiced doubts about the authenticity of the results. During a series of protests staged in Tehran, authorities clamped down and made arrests of demonstrators, dissenting voices, and journalists.

Among them, Maziar Bahari, dual citizen of Canada and Iran, whose wife Paola Gourley was pregnant at the time.

He was accused of being a spy and forced to make a false confession acknowledging that western journalists conduct espionage.

At times during his imprisonment he was so fearful for his situation that he considered committing suicide.

Send your questions here for Maziar Bahari and we’ll put the best of them to him on Wednesday’s show.

After her parents died of AIDS when she was only ten years old, Sanyu Nakyeyune was left to look after her two younger siblings in a rural Ugandan village without electricity or running water. Trying to attend school on top of all her tasks at home was proving impossible. 

LEAD Uganda helped AIDS orphan Sanyu Nakyeyune into education.

But with the help of LEAD Uganda – an educational leadership initiative helping AIDS orphans, former child soldiers and child laborers into schools – Sanyu is now attending one of the best boarding schools in the country and regularly achieving A+ grades. She wants to be a doctor when she is older.

LEAD Uganda is helping Sanyu and other African children learn the skills which will allow them to help solve their own problems.

Now aged 14, Sanyu is focused on serving her country and helping Africa. To mark World AIDS Day, Sanyu Nakyeyune is Tuesday's Connector of the Day. Send her your questions.

Gravel-voiced Canadian rocker Bryan Adams has been entertaining crowds for nearly 30 years. 

In recent years Bryan Adams has been snapping as much as rocking.

The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter has sold more than 65 million albums worldwide, has 21 top ten hits to his name, and has achieved a number one record in 40 countries .“(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” – the theme to the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – stayed at the top of the charts for a phenomenal 16 consecutive weeks in the UK singles charts.

When Adams recently got wind of Disney's intention to use his hit “Summer of 69” in their new comedy “Old Dogs” he called them up to thank them, and in doing so, ended up agreeing to write an original song “You’ve been a Friend to Me” for the movie’s soundtrack.

Adams is also a highly skilled and prolific photographer – having been art director on many fashion shoots and has taken photos of everyone from Mick Jagger to Queen Elizabeth II.

Adams uses the money he raises through photography to fund charitable projects. "The Bryan Adams Foundation" works to provide education opportunities for children worldwide.

Post your questions to the rock legend, photographer and philanthropist here and we’ll put a selection to him on Monday’s show.

What’s it like being the man who decides who makes the rich list? Steve Forbes, and his business magazine empire, reports on who's the biggest billionaire, and who's made the biggest losses.

The media mogul is CEO and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, America's leading voice on the world’s economy, finance, and corporate leadership, with a current circulation of more than 900,000.

Steve Forbes – business media mogul and famous list-maker.

The Forbes "rich lists" garner much worldwide attention for the magazine. When Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera was listed in Forbes “self-made” billionaires report this month, as well as “World’s Most Powerful People” list, many readers recoiled in horror.

Similar shockwaves rumbled when underworld don and India's most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim was listed as 50th most powerful person in the world, in Forbes’ first-ever such list.

His influence stretches beyond business journalism. In 1996 and 2000, Forbes campaigned to become the Republican nominee for president of the United States. From 1999 – 2006, Forbes was the tenth most important contributor of political funds in America, with 15 donations totaling over $7 million.

Comment on Steve Forbes, his lists, his magazines, and his new book 'Power Ambition Glory' below.