LOS ANGELES—It seems like only yesterday that Vivid Radio first went on the air on Sirius XM 102, but in fact, it's been broadcasting since Monday, featuring a lineup of hosts and hostesses that include most of the company's current (and some former) contract players, as well as adult personalities who've made names for themselves like Mary Carey, Kimberly Kane, Aiden Starr, Brandy Aniston, Phil Varone and many more—but you can read all about that here.
AVN was invited to spend a day (well, four hours of it, anyway) at the broadcasting center, which is located in Vivid's building on North Cahuenga Avenue in the San Fernando Valley, and while we can't compare it to more established radio studios, it seems to have all the essentials: A control room with mixing boards, audio carts, a phone bank and other necessities, all overseen by station manager Farrell and engineers Debi Diamond(!) and Yvonne, and a studio with soundproofing on the walls, a computer monitor, microphones and headsets enough for six... and when we arrived, Wednesday's first hostess, veteran performer Julia Ann together with her rescue dog Tarna.
Julia Ann began her show promptly at 3 p.m. PST, introducing herself to an audience that may not be familiar with her background by noting that she's been performing since 1992, first appearing in Andrew Blake's Hidden Obsessions, and that she later became a Vivid Girl before broadening her horizons to work for all of the major production companies in XXX.
Julia Ann was about halfway through her introduction when Tarna barked at someone passing on the street below—and Julia decided to turn the audible intrusion into a contest: Name that sound. (One caller later guessed that it was Julia queefing, and guest Vicky Vette suggested possible a fart, but no one got it right.)
Julia Ann didn't seem to have a written agenda for the show, but speaking as someone who's been offered a lot of MILF roles lately, she announced that one of her upcoming projects will be "The Cougar Diaries," a continuing tale of MILFs/cougars in modern life which she'll write based on plot and character suggestions from her listening audience, whom she asked to text and tweet story ideas to her.
But that topic allowed her to segue into a related area, the joys of MILF-hood which, for her, seemed to include no more menstruation and no more having to take birth control pills, although she does still take them because, as she put it, "I don't want a 'set baby' from the last guy I worked with." A couple of female callers did happen to mention that they enjoy having sex while menstruating because it makes them hornier.
As noted earlier, Julia Ann's guest for her initial program was veteran actress Vicky Vette, speaking by phone from her home in Florida. Vette described her VNALive.com website, which hosts 15 actresses' websites and delivers cam shows from 51 women—whom she sometimes joins on camera, describing herself as "very hands-on." Vette also mentioned that one of her most frequent requests is from people wanting to see a guy cum in her eyes, to which Julia Ann responded that those who like to see that should experience it themselves.
The discussion of cam shows led Julia Ann to state that she objects to people making hurtful comments during her own cam shows "when you're the most vulnerable." Vette noted that she tries to weed out such bad-mouthers, whom she said often change screen names in attempts to get around being banned.
As Julia Ann's hour was drawing to a close, she mentioned her work with pet rescue and pet adoption, noting that one of her fans drove 3000 miles to adopt a dog.
The 4 p.m. show, InsideAdult.com, brought a veritable crowd into the studio: Former AVN owner Paul Fishbein, together with co-hosts Chanel Preston (who also co-hosts X3Sixty's television show, Adult Insider, which can be found on its internet site, InsideAdult.com), Veruca James and Dani ("That's with one 'n'; if you use two, you get a tranny") Daniels, though Fishbein noted that in succeeding shows, only one of those ladies will co-host on any given show.
Things got lively right off the bad when Daniels noted that she had rushed to the studio from a set where she "got to corrupt Chloe Foster" in a scene for a new teen-oriented website.
Fishbein mentioned that James will be the co-host of the Sex Awards cable TV feature, and the two discussed some of what viewers can expect to see when it airs in a couple of months. James also mentioned that her fans have actually gotten her work in adult movies by tweeting and emailing producers about their affection for the raven-haired actress.
James also revealed that she had no intention of making porn her profession, saying that she "just wanted to be slutty on film."
"I'm a social media whore," announced Daniels, who apparently sent several tweets during the show. "Any media where I can show my asshole, I'm in."
Fishbein then brought his two guests into the studio, Joanna Angel and Jessie Lee. Angel's big news is that she's in a band which has just come out with a new single, "Gimme Some Pants," which is also featured in her company Burning Angel's new movie, Band Sluts. There seemed to be some difficulty in the control room getting the song to play, but Angel managed to belt out a credible a cappella version of the song live as Daniels solved the problem by downloading the song from iTunes and playing it through her phone into the mic.
The discussion quickly turned to the question of whether "alt porn" is still around, with Angel claiming that it was basically a "category for tattooed girls," and crediting the website Fleshbot.com for having coined the term.
Angel also plugged one of her company's newest movies, Blondes Do It Better, noting that it's her first all-blonde production, "'cause we're more known for brunettes."
Fishbein also plugged the AVN Fan Awards, and it turned out that Jessie Lee had been nominated for "Best Boobs"—which she promptly flashed for all in the room to see, and Angel quickly followed suit. Lee also noted that she had recently completed a course in cosmetology, and was about to return to school for hairdressing courses.
As the program was winding down, Fishbein brought in two other guests: Vivid director and self-described "washed-up rock star" Phil Varone, who arrived with actress Siri at his side. Varone has his own Vivid Radio program, "The Swing," which airs Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. PST on Vivid Radio. The pair discussed some of their exploits in the swinging community, with Siri noting that her husband had organized a gangbang for her 23rd birthday, featuring six BBCs—"big black cocks."
The next show starred former Vivid Girl Raylene, who brought along her roommate and sometime-lover Sovereign Syre to co-host. Her theme of the day was "celebrity sex," and she discussed, among other things, Jenna Jameson's return to XXX as a camgirl, Justin Bieber's having been recently caught on camera sneaking out of a Brazilian brothel, and teen Courtney Stodden's recent divorce from her middle-aged husband.
Regarding that last bit of news, Raylene encouraged Stodden to begin working in porn in order to "reclaim your fame," and suggested that she could make big bucks in the field—but that personally, she'd like to see a Monica Bellucci sex tape.
Most of the show consisted of the co-hosts chatting about their lives in the business, with Raylene noting that she has not yet been recognized as a porn star at PTA meetings, and Syre relating some weird reactions when she's told people she lives with Raylene. Both, however, agreed that one of their favorite girl/girl performers to work with is Sinn Sage.
Speaking personally, Raylene stated that she's always dreamed of being an actress, and had had roles in some mainstream productions and on stage—and that she went to a lot of failed auditions before getting into porn. Syre said that she simply "wanted to have an interesting life," and that she'd started out as a ballet dancer, and that writing is one of her hobbies.
The show's final segment was "Aphrodisiac of the Week," which this week was the essential oil jasmine, which Raylene said could be used in candles or diluted as a massage oil—and that it smells terrific.
"The olfactory organ is directly related to sexual arousal," assured Syre.
The final segment that we stayed for was supposed to be hosted by Penny Pax, but for some reason, she didn't show up, so Debi Diamond filled in—and announced immediately that her topic was going to be "anal sex."
But before she regaled her audience with stories about her sexual experiences, all of which involved getting fucked in the ass, she asked listeners to suggest what other adult stars or other personalities should have a show on Vivid Radio—and one of her first callers was none other than Joanna Angel, who told Diamond that she loved being a guest earlier that day, and wanted to apply for the hosting job. Diamond promptly texted Vivid co-owner Steven Hirsch about Angel coming on board, and Hirsch replied that if ten thousand people texted, tweeted, emailed or stated on the station's Facebook page that they wanted to hear a Joanna Angel show, she'd have the job. (FYI, that's @VividRadioSXM in case anyone wants to pump up Angel's numbers.) Other callers suggested Jesse Jane, P.J. Sparxx and Melissa Monet as possible hostesses.
Diamond was easily the most upbeat and conversational host of the day thus far. She had plenty of stories to tell of her own sexual exploits, which are too elaborate to repeat here. Suffice to say, her energy was infectious, and she generated more calls during her segment than the other three programs put together. Fortunately, as Vivid Radio's main engineer, she's pretty much always around the studio during showtimes and can easily fill in when someone doesn't show up.
There was one more show that day, hosted by crossover personality Sam Phillips, called "The Single Life," but the hour was getting late so we bid our farewells and left.
All in all, it looks as though the Vivid Radio operation is well on its way to establishing a firm market niche in the satellite radio world, and those who can manage to hear any of its broadcasts are likely to want much more—so kudos to this new start-up!
Pictured: Julia Ann at the mic.
