Page 53 - AVN November 2015

really seasoned, who can support you. If that goes
well, we leave one slot open on Fridays that we call
‘Vivid Virgins.’ We give them a one-hour on-the-air
live audition. You have to sit down with one of our
producers and map out what the show’s going to be.
Once you’ve done that one-hour show, if I think it’s
good, I send it to Steven Hirsch, who owns Vivid, and
he makes a determination if the person represents his
brand. Then we send it to SiriusXM for their approval.
Vivid looks out for content, and Sirius is looking out
for radio professionalism: Formatics, do you hit your
spots, do you know how to throw to a break? Can
you be a professional radio host? It’s not a process I
invented, but it’s the right process. You don’t just open
the mics and let people talk. You’d get chaos.
”The way to screw up a radio show is don’t prepare.
The day before your show, you email or text to your
producer what you’re going to do. They’ll look through
it and the producer will do research and give the talent
a packet they can read before the show. Also, you need
a backup topic: There’s a guy in the news right now
who has a 19-inch dick. Sounds like a great topic. But
our audience is all guys. They may not want to talk
about a 19-inch dick. You have to have a plan B and a
plan C, and it’s got to be more than one sentence. You
have to be prepared to change.
”We cross-plug all sorts of things. Last week I was
up in San Francisco with Aiden Starr, and we produced
shows live from Kink at the Armory. They had a
brand-new movie and we were live at their opening
night party. It’s not just Vivid, but we cross-promote
a lot of Vivid stuff. Vivid has a new Vivid Raw toy line
with CalExotics. We do a lot with that. We promote
the Vivid Clubs in several different cities. Every hour,
we run an ad about what’s on Vivid TV tonight. We
bring in professional comedians to voice those ads. We
have fun with it. But we want people to watch that TV
station and know they’re going to have the best time of
their lives.
“We take ads. We have people buying 30-second
spots. If you want to advertise, let me know. We
have strategic alliances coming down the line. We’re
building one with Naked News. They’re providing our
daily news reports at the top of the hour. We’d love
to have a pop-up station during the AVN Awards. I
think it’d be great. We have what we have ‘stationality.’
Pages of stuff you have to read: The new Vivid release,
or the Free Speech Coalition has a fundraiser, or
whatever it is. There’s also the Vivid Radio Question of
the Day, which is a goofball question I come up with.
Every host asks it and the person who responds best
on Twitter gets one of the Vivid Raw toys. It’s stuff that
ties the station together, that you can’t do when you’re
podcasting alone.
“When we started, we were trying a lot of different
things nobody had done before. One of the things
Sirius said they didn’t like was long-form three- and
four-hour radio shows. They asked us to do an entire
station full of 15-minute shows. I said “No way I can
get girls to show up for 15 minutes every day.” We
compromised on one hour. I was kind of against it at
first, because I didn’t think it was the best way to do
radio—until somebody pointed out it’s the best way
to do sex. What guys want in their sex is variety. A
different girl every hour. If you don’t like this girl,
just hang on, we have another girl warming up in
the other room.
“The other thing we try to do is go to a lot of
different genres and niches. April Flores has her
own show. She appeals to that BBW crowd. She
may never mention it, but that’s her audience.
Aiden Starr does Diary of a Dominatrix. That’s her
show. Because you only do an hour a week here,
you can delve into genre.
”One thing we’ve found that does not work
at all: Male hosts. Not even an hour a week. The
audience hates it. We could get 500 pieces of hate
mail for putting a guy on the air. Ron Jeremy is an
exception to the rule. But the best people in the
business, people we love—the audience rebels if it’s a
guy. The phones dry up, the Twitter feed gets maniacal.
We’ll make an exception for Steven St. Croix, T.T. Boy,
Lexington Steele ... I think that’s the whole list.
”If any other station gets a chance to put a
mainstream celebrity on the air, they’ll jump at it, be
thrilled by it. We turn them down. That’s not what we
are. People like Vivid because we’re Vivid. People on
current sitcoms, people with hit songs, what would they
do here? They’re going to be embarrassed. We can only
cause trouble for them. They can come visit, but we
can’t put them on the air. Is [a mainstream performer]
really going to jerk off a caller? It’s not going to happen.
It’s not good for her. We would try to protect her.”
JAMES BARTHOLET has
hosted Inside the Industry on
Internet radio for about a
decade, with co-hosts including
Mika Tan, Michelle Maylene,
Charmaine Star, Emy Reyes,
Kianna Lei, Priya Rai, Misty
Stone, Daisy Marie and Allison
Moore.
“Inside the Industry is an
entertainment news program
about the adult and the
mainstream industry, but
mostly about the adult
industry. Our listeners get a
chance to call in and talk to the
stars. I’ve been interviewing
people for decades, so I know
how to make them feel relaxed.
They say stuff to me that
they wouldn’t say to other
interviewers or reporters.
We’re getting scoops, fun
facts about the industry that
people didn’t know about. I did
talk radio in a lot of different
places. I’ve talked about
entertainment news, I’ve talked
about news and weather.
When I talk about porn, people
go fuckin’ nuts. It’s a home-
run subject. Porn stars are
rock stars. Get them on, you’re
going to have a sure-fire hit.
”Internet radio is cool
because the reach is global.
The audiences you can get with
JAMESL
BARTHOLET
Insider Job
Internet radio is incredible. You’re
only limited by your own imagination.
We get calls from all over the world. I
get emails from people who listen for
two, three hours of old shows. When
I go to Exxxotica, when I go to AVN,
when I go to NightMoves or the other
fan things, the fans say they listen to
the show. That never happened when
I was on terrestrial radio. I’ve noticed
over the last couple of years that there
are more female fans. And they’re
diehard fans. They want to talk about
sex. They listen all the time and repost
things we say.
“I merchandise this show. If I know
I have a fan that’s overseas, I go,
‘Would you mind telling your friends
about my show?’ I’ve got people in
Saudi Arabia and Sydney, I’ve got
people in London and Lisbon, I’ve got
people in Sao Paulo, I’ve got
people in Vancouver. And I’ve
got them all over the United
States. At first advertisers
were hesitant because they
were wondering who’s going
to listen to Internet radio.
But people are going to our
sponsors and they’re buying
product. My advertisers tell
me that. Advertisers are the
only way to do it. I have to pay
me, I have to pay the co-hosts,
and there are a lot of costs. I
have to advertise and promote
every week. And then I have to
take the time and come to the
studio and do it. It’s a full-time
job. You can’t do it half-assed.
When the fans come and say, ‘I
really enjoyed your show’ or ‘I
have to talk to you about that
topic you were talking about’
or ‘Do you think you could talk
about this in the next week
or two?’ I know we’re really
having an impact.
“I’ve seen Internet radio
grow so much. We can reach
people: Tell them about our
movies. Tell them ‘Don’t
download illegally. Buy and
rent your porn legally.’ Here’s
a new movie I’ve got coming
out. Here’s a new trend. Here’s
something to avoid. Here’s
something you should do.”
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