Devinn Lane has appeared on radio shows for over five years without incident, but last week her attempt to help two Atlanta deejays play a conceptual joke on the Federal Communications Commission attracted national headlines after the joke went awry.
Lane was scheduled to appear on “The Regular Guys”, a morning show on Clear Channel’s WKLS-FM in Atlanta, to promote an in-store. When Lane came into the studio she was asked to take part in the “Backward Smut” segment with Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler, the hosts of the show.
In light of the recent FCC crackdown of indecency, the hosts decided it would be funny to record Lane talking explicitly about sex, and then play it backwards on air. The idea was that indecent and even obscene words would be said, but no one could get in trouble because no one would be able to understand what was being said.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.
“During the commercial break we started recording and I don’t know if there was a wiring issue or what happened,” Lane told AVN.com “But the engineer screwed up somehow and what we were recoding was going out live over the air, over a Honda commercial.”
The explicit interview was broadcast over the air for one minute and seven seconds. Lane was only audible for about half of that time, but managed to say “fuckhole,” “cock,” and “ass” during that time.
“Somebody came in and said, ‘It’s going out on the air,’ and everybody was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ Obviously we cut it at the point and the recoding stopped,” Lane remembered. “The engineer said that it didn’t happen, he was listening as it went out, but everyone’s heart just sank at that point.”
The station didn’t even bother to let the Honda commercial finish playing, switching directly back to the hosts who explained that there had been a “technical error.” The hosts and Lane still didn’t know if their interview had really gone out over the airwaves.
“It took a couple of minutes to figure it out, but during that time the phones were flooded with people,” Lane said. “One of the deejays, I forget which, said, ‘Of course it happened, look at those phone lines they’re never that busy.’ I was sitting there thinking, ‘This is horrible. This is so horrible. These guys are going to lose their jobs over this.” How are you supposed to feel about that?
“The executive producer came back and rattled of a list of cities that heard it. Three or that he named off the top of his head. Keep in mind that all of this is happening literally within minutes. I’m just thinking, ‘this is bad. This is bad, this is bad.’”
The two deejays were suspended pending the resolution of an investigation of the incident. Clear Channel has already stated that they think it was an accident.
The FCC has not looked into the incident, and it seems that no one has filed any complaints with the FCC to date.
The message boards on the Website of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution were filled with the opinions of people who believed that the incident was an accident and with opinion of people who felt that the incident was intentional and indicative of the downfall of society.
Lane posted her own opinion on the site, saying “What I think is sad and a big sign of what helps create the true downfall of society is that people have come to a point where they have nothing better to do than point the finger and blame instead of focusing on the real issues like our lack of national healthcare, the $$$ crisis in Iraq with our people getting killed….”
Lane expressed her sympathy for the deejays, whom she hopes return to their jobs in the near future.
“I’d never intentionally do anything that would hurt someone’s livelihood. I’ve done tons of radio over the last five years, and I’ve never had any problems,” Lane said.
The accident did turn her in-store into a huge success, with a larger than normal turnout according to Lane. “They’d look at me and give me that knowing nod and then come out and talk to me for a couple of minutes about it. Radio always helps, but I think that this one especially helped.”
Atlanta wasn’t the only city that with adult retailers that will gain from Lane’s newfound notoriety. “ I have two store signings that I had already committed to before this ever happened and those stores owners have already called me and told me how excited they are to have me coming out, especially in Dallas,” Lane said.
Lane will be promoting her Dallas in-store with a radio appearance as well.
So far there hasn’t been any real fallout for Lane, but she’s aware that the FCC could decide to target her later. A few weeks ago, the FCC issued a fine against Infinity for broadcasting an explicit interview with a Ron Jeremy fan that was exactly one year old, then fined Stern for a show that was broadcast three-years ago.
“I think that you will see a decrease in adult performers on the radio very soon and I think that this thing with me might have something to do with it,” Lane said. “Who knows, it may be the straw the breaks the camels back for the FCC. Maybe adult performers will no longer be allowed on the air, who knows?
“Maybe they’ll even try fine to me. I’d love that, because I’ll fight that so hard. There are a lot of potential penalties that could come from this. This wasn’t my fault, but who knows if they’ll try to penalize me for it - I wouldn’t be surprised. They’re trying to make an example out of Martha Stewart, why not make an example out of me,” Lane said.
“It was a funny idea, it’s just too bad that it ended the way it did,” Lane said, referring to the “Backward Smut” segment.
Ironically, “The Regular Guys,” had just replaced “Bubba the Love Sponge” in a few markets. Bubba the Love Sponge Clem, previously known as Todd Clem before changing his name to reflect his show, was a shock jock who was fired in February after Clear Channel was fined $755,000 for his violations of FCC indecency standards.
Here’s a transcript of Lane’s accidental indecency violation during a commercial break on the “Regular Guys.”
Listener’s can vaguely hear Lane and a man talking behind a commercial for the Guitar Center, but during the commercial for Honda Trucks that followed Lane’s voice becomes quite distinct.
LANE: Squeeze it harder. *Yeah, Squeeze it harder. Um, yeah squeeze it harder . Yeah it is(laughter).
HOST: Yeah.
LANE: Oh god, your making my nipples so hard!
HOST: (inaudible) ….tits…(inaudible) ….my face and my tongue.
LANE: Yeah. Do you want to put your huge load inside my tight little fuckhole?
HOST: Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do. Yeah.
LANE: Yeah and then put your cock in me, slip it in and out of my ass. Then make me cut it off for a second, Daddy…”
Then the station realized that Lane and her hosts were talking on live mics at that exact moment, and the next line of the commercial comes across very clearly: “…CR-V EX can take on adventure and then some.”
HOST: Ms. Devinn Lane I’m sorry to say that our bold experiment won’t go any further. There’s been a little problem.
LANE: Technical difficulties.
HOST: Technical difficulties is exactly what it is.
*Honda Commerrical begins: How would you make a decision between three impressive Hondas? I’m talking trucks here, Honda trucks.
