CHATSWORTH, Calif. - Internet-based radio and TV station KSEX closed its doors Monday, possibly for good.
According to owner Jon Belinkie, the station struggled financially over the past 22 months.
"I believe KSEX had been hurting monetarily since the death of its founder, Mike Rick, which was long before my involvement," Belinkie told AVN Online. "The constant battles with staff, on-air personalities and slow- to non-paying sponsors and advertisers hemorrhaged enough money to cripple the station, and I'm done."
A deal for Vavoom Media Group to acquire KSEX fell apart on the eve of finalization, and the station's partnership with Rude.com proved volatile after Rude's $20,000 giveaway on KSEX in December 2007 collapsed into chaos.
"There have been a number of strategic partnerships discussed over recent months with a variety or players - both individual and corporate - to keep KSEX alive, but timing is of the essence," Belinkie said.
Belinkie said offers to buy KSEX are being entertained, but the sum of the station's parts may be worth more than the whole.
"I continue to believe KSEX is a tremendous business opportunity due to its unique industry niche position," he said, "but the reality exists that KSEX might be carved up and sold off."
Dan Leal, aka Porno Dan, formerly KSEX's sales director and a show host, agreed.
"Unfortunately, between the potential sale of the domain names, say with Moniker, and the distribution of content, et cetera, KSEX is probably worth a lot more being split up and sold off in sections," Leal told AVN Online. "It's a shame, and we will all have to wait to see what happens."
Belinkie said he takes "full responsibility for some of the choices that I could have made differently."
"I regret also the fact that KSEX was unable to achieve its full potential during these last two years," he said. "The time lost was hard to recover. Nevertheless, I still believe it can be a great company and has a unique place in the industry."
Belinkie said his first eight months at KSEX consisted of being part of a company that went out of business.
"It took time to get control of KSEX and get in the driver's seat," he said. "The next five months were consumed by differences of opinion between Wayne C. Lewis, aka Wankus, and myself, as to how the business should be run."
Lewis was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
Following Lewis' exit from KSEX in May 2007, Joe Brandi was brought on as vice president, with the aid of Program Director Lorrainiac, Brandi's longtime friend. After seven months, Brandi resigned in an on-air phone call during Lorrainiac's show.
"People sometimes have different ideas about the paths a company should take, and I finally arrived at a decision that it just wasn't a good fit," Brandi told AVN Online. "KSEX owner Jon Belinkie and I just had too many issues that we did not agree with, in respects to people and business operations."
Belinkie said he hopes KSEX's doors won't be closed for good.
"It would be a tremendous shame if [that] were to happen," he said. "KSEX is on the edge of a cliff. If it's going to live, someone needs to step up fast."
