(FORTUNE Magazine) – IS RAY SMITH hip? He'd better be. When his Bell Atlantic merges with cable monster TCI, he's going to be cruising in the info-highway fast lane, rubbing fenders with the folks who shape the tastes of the masses. To test his grasp of the pop-culture zeitgeist, FORTUNE's Alan Farnham faxed the CEO a list of cutting-edge questions. For a guy who's six years older than Mick Jagger, 50, Smith didn't do badly -- though he might ask Quincy Jones where he buys his clothes. Smith's faxed replies (and for those of you who don't have teenagers at home, the correct answers):

1. Name two (of seven) characters on the latest version of MTV's Real World. The first one was about a bunch of kids in a loft. Does that count for half credit? 2. Describe the main character in Blind Melon's No Rain video. The real Patsy Cline. 3. Who is Beavis's counterpart? Butt-head, Butt-head. 4. What is Digital Pictures' upcoming interactive release? Superbell? 5. What is grunge? A decidedly untidy style of clothing that was in and is now out. Now it's Seattle faux grunge! 6. What's replacing The Chevy Chase Show? Alan Farnham: Man or Legend? 7. What's Cypress Hill? Anita's brother? 8. Kurt Cobain is to Nirvana as WHO is to Pearl Jam? Vedder is better. 9. What does Baywatch have in common with Knight Rider? Hasselhoffian Hunkness. 10. Who is Opera Man? Miss Winfrey's latest? (Saturday Night Live dude, somebody Sandler.) 11. What's Oliver Stone's next movie? The Wonderful Secret of Lyle Lovett. 12. What cartoon-within-a-cartoon did Ren & Stimpy inspire? The Itchy & Scratchy Show! 13. Who are The Kids in the Hall? Kanadian Komic Kids.

Answers: 1. Who can tell these airheads apart? Half credit. 2. Wrong. A female bumblebee. 3. Right, heh-heh, heh-heh.4. Wrong. It's Ground Zero Texas. 5. Right on the clothes, but the music is still in. 6. Wrong, though Fox is desperate. 7. Wrong. It's a hip-hop group. Also a Los Angeles 'hood. 8. Right, but then grungester Eddie Vedder did make the cover of Time. 9. Right, David Hasselhoff's pecs can be seen on both TV shows. 10. Wicked smart, this Smith; it's Adam Sandler. 11. Wrong. It's Heaven and Earth, a Vietnam flick due in December. 12. Right, as any Simpsons fan knows. 13. Right. Their Toronto-based TV show is in syndication, eh? Smith's score: 7 1/2 out of 13. Phat!