BEING A PORN STAR ON THE RADIO

   
                                             Click "steamy" image to enlarge

     Perhaps to some that is all I was, but if so being a radio porn star was more than just an easy way to earn a living; daring to play with adult broadcasting toys in a place where thousands of people could witness my nightly live performances sometimes offered unexpected opportunities that I rarely speak of, but they were experiences that I believe made me a better man for having lived them.

    Those nights when I would sit on a stool in a dimly lit studio wearing nothing more beneath my headset than a shirt, blue jeans and a pair of sneakers were a little unsettling for a 19 year-old kid when I first started, but in time I grew more and more comfortable in my surroundings by imagining the audience listening in their underwear or sometimes while they were naked!

    Announcing to the family my desire to push the envelope of decency and take up something like that just to earn money wasn't as bold as some might think it was because mine usually kept an open mind anytime they discovered something about me they might not have understood. I'll never forget the expression on my mother's sweet face when I told her I got that first radio job! At first she pretended to be surprised but then she smiled and simply said "That's nice." My dad's reaction wasn't quite as subtle; he, like many other father's wondered if I might be biting off more than I could chew.

    I remember something of a father-son talk when he reminded me that I would be surrounded by people from all walks of life, many of them strangers and all of them expecting something different coming from their radio speakers, and maybe some that might try to take advantage of me after misinterpreting my intentions. "Some, he said, may offer to walk you home or take you to places you shouldn't go."  Then he asked, "Are you really up for what you're getting yourself into?"

   After assuring him that I could get myself up for anything if there was money to be made he hugged me and then cautioned me that it might be best to keep some of my experiences to myself and not share all of them with my mother. It wasn't long after I took that first job before I learned exactly what he meant!

   Going into radio and performing as I was expected to was easy for me because I believed I had the right tools and the energy it took to get done what needed to be done. At the risk of sounding full of myself I think I had a face for radio and to the listeners that might have wondered what I would look like naked I thought I had a voice that could leave the worst of them with any image they wanted to conjure up! I discovered that I was right anytime I answered the request line and some devious sounding voice on the other end would ask what I was wearing.  I could tell by their tone that they wanted me to paint a picture that was already being seen in their own mind. So when they asked what I had on I would catch my breath, hold it for a moment and then blurt... "Headphones!"  and then I would hang up knowing they got from me what they hoped they would.

   Now, I never professed to be the Monk of the Month or someone like that by claiming to have morals above anyone else, but there were times when even I could be deeply offended by some of the language us radio porn stars had to contend with, and it did happen more frequently than anyone might think. Sometimes it would be a disgruntled advertiser that wasn't exactly pleased with how I read his commercial or how I pronounced the name of his business, but more often it would be a very upset program director or station manager using language I will refrain from sharing here; shouting words so vile and despicable at me for doing or saying things I thought were innocent or no big deal; such as playing the wrong record or talking too much over the intro of a song or not reading the cue-cards that were carefully laid before me.

    This was a lifestyle that was not always conducive for personal relationships and on at least two occasions it brought some of the reasons I ended up in divorce court. It can be a load on a man's mind when his significant other looks at how much he is paid and then describes him as something of a radio prostitute. But I never denied it; I took the money, at least twice a month, even when at times times it seemed like it wasn't enough for the things I was willing to do for it.

   "Every night you leave me to go downtown to talk to strange women and even MEN for crying out loud, and you don't even care who knows it! I know you do because I hear it on the radio!  You must like it better than you like talking to me!"

    I never denied it or tried to defend what I was doing and when I was younger and more in demand I would take just $3.00 an hour to do whatever any other disc jockey was doing in a radio station. They would tell me what they expected from me and what pleased them and I would do the best I could, and usually they were satisfied even if all I got from it was a few bucks. In other words, everyone got what they wanted and I got paid!

   Eventually that money became $5.00 and then $11.00 an hour and because I was able to hone my skills and techniques and get better and better at it I began meeting more and more important men and women in the community; people that were interested in what other skills I possessed and how I might be able to give them what they wanted or needed also.

   Better jobs that I would find away from radio were the result of working night after night as an unabashed DJ; one that tossed aside inhibitions that others might not be willing to, many that may have otherwise prevented me from saying the things I did or even playing songs I didn't personally care for, all for the enjoyment of people I never knew and many I probably wouldn't have wanted to know.

    Of course it was a form of porn, but I prefer to remember it all as soft porn; something that even prudes might have found easy to not only embrace but even like enough to share it with their families! I know that many must have because my ratings reflected that! Some might find it a little unsettling to know that my customers could have been living next door to them; perhaps their doctor or their children's teachers...maybe even their Pastor!

    But I enjoyed my work and I would do it again and I would take money for it again if someone offered it! These days I do it for free hoping that it brings a new audience a few pleasures they cannot find anywhere else. I perform on a Internet station called "Heartlites" where once again I strip down to nothing but my shoes, a skimpy cheap little headset, a pair of pants and a shirt, and every now and then I will say something risque between the songs.

    If only there was a larger market for old radio porn stars besides the few that still long for the days when we were everywhere and easier to connect with.