It’s one thing that adult-oriented Internet TV station RudeTV has taken a good deal of the staff of the former KSEXRadio, but it must seem a little on the nose that the new station has moved into KSEX’ old studio.
KSEXRadio was a beloved old garage band of a business that was characteristic of the porn industry; often disorganized, brutal on its enemies, forgiving of its friends, and a wealth of information about the porn industry from people getting paid about 20 bucks an hour to run their shows.
Nestled for years on the top floor of a nondescript Burbank office building, KSEX was purchased in 2006 and revamped, somewhat, with big plans to move the company closer to the heart of Porn Valley. This eventually happened in May when the company moved its offices to Canoga Park.
Not everyone made the move, however. KSEX program director Wankus, who had been feuding with the ownership, was publicly fired earlier that month. This news was broken when one of the owners called in to a KSEX show and declared Wankus’ termination over the air. Bad blood ensued.
But KSEX took six more months to die. Though some “Porn Jockeys” resigned in protest of the manner of Wankus’ dismissal, others began to see the writing on the wall. The company was being managed from New Jersey and things were falling apart. KSEX struggled to keep talent and original programming, advertisers began dropping out, and eventually the remaining staff was asked to go without pay and do the job for the “exposure.”
KSEX finally died in late January of this year.
Meanwhile, Rude.com, an Internet entertainment site launched by the founders of webcam pioneer Camz.com, heard that there was some studio space available, and called Wankus to be its program director and main host, as he had been at KSEX.
“They flew me to Bangkok for the job interview,” Wankus said.
Rude.com wanted to expand its market to adult television, and threw tens of thousands of dollars into outfitting the space KSEX had occupied as a TV studio. RudeTV boasts two studios with greenscreens separated by a control booth (in which Powder and Socks, both late of KSEXRadio, dwell), a reception area, a ready room for talent, and a large room outfitted with a stripper pole.
But can an adult Internet broadcast site be self-sustaining? KSEX never was, and its short-lived competitor PrimeTime Uncensored also failed. But Rude has a little money behind it, and it is being run by people familiar with the adult industry.
Rude.com co-owner Brett LaMar told me he will be 32 in a week. He and his wife, Sammy (of Samm4u.com) live in Thailand, as does Rude.com’s other co-founder, Robb. Active swingers, LaMar and his wife also started housecamz.com.
“We knew that the KSEX space was going to be available,” LaMar said, “and Rude.com was getting ready to make its move to Internet TV.”
Rude.com has come under attack by adult industry webmasters for hosting stolen content and employing traffic hijacker/adware giant zango (see sample thread). The adult industry will forgive most things, but stealing content is never one of them. I am assured everything is now copacetic and attributable.
But after the unpleasantness with KSEX, Wankus is hopeful about his new bosses.
“They’re putting a lot of time and money into this place to do it the way it should be done,” he said.
Last night’s opening party was well-attended and, despite the fact that the station went live at 6 p.m. with a show called “Guitarded,” in which two pornstars play strip-“Guitar Hero,” the mood was laid back. There was also a Make Your Own Drinks open bar, which also helped.
Powder told me that there had been a couple of test runs of the new studios and shows, and that he was expecting the evening to be tough but successful. As it happened, the night went off without a hitch, though sometimes callers weren’t loud enough and the various greenscreen motifs were a little busy.
Mika Tan who, after a family-related hiatus (“No, I wasn’t in Afghanistan with the Army or in Iraq with the CIA,” she said. I hadn’t heard the story about the CIA), has returned to performing, last night hosted “Whispers,” an occasional Mika hour in which she uses dildos for callers’ enjoyment.
RudeTV schedules 20 hours of original programming, broadcasting from 6-10 weekday nights. Currently free, it will soon switch to a subscription model with various free incentives, and will begin archiving its shows for On-Demand access.
Among its shows are “Guitarded,” “Smell My Finger” (also hosted by Wankus with a different co-host every night, such as Sunny Lane, Kylee King, and Cleopatra of the Nile), “Penis or Plastic?” hosted by Alanna Thomas remotely from Gilbert, AZ, BDSM-themed “Baadmaster’s Dungeon,” and “Road Whore,” Lexi Lamour’s stories of stripping and strippers.
Guests at last night’s opening party included photographer Ken Marcus, Kylee King, Alanna Thomas (pictured), Trinity Saij (pictured), Cleopatra (pictured), Carrie Moon, Dakoda Brookes, Sammy LaMar, Mika Tan (pictured), and Sunny Lane.
Previously: Energy drink-drinking nudes; Wankus out at KSEX, fired by phone
See also: Rude TV
somebody tell me why Rudetv has been on hiatus for over a year? whats up with that? the shows sucked and were boring Gary Garver was smart to bail on that crap shoot early. The show were the big tit porn star did arobics was and the bed time story both of those were mildly amusing. seriously if its folded someone needs to take down the site. this was a poor imitation of playboy night calls so sad there was alot of talent wasted