The reason it has taken off so quickly is no mystery: It's all about the hosts, former adult entertainment stars Ginger Lynn and Christy Canyon. These ladies have wowed listeners with their energy and their humor as they field listeners' calls, interview in-studio guests and play some of the most offbeat games imaginable. Few of today's adult entertainment performers will come close to matching the number of movies these two ladies have made. Both started in the business at around the same time during the early 1980s, when porn was leaving the Pussycat Theater for the comfort of your own home, thanks to VCR.
Lynn was born in Rockford, Ill., and survived a very difficult childhood before striking out for Los Angeles in 1982. She answered a World Modeling Agency ad the following year and was immediately hired, which led to a spread for Penthouse magazine. Within a few months, she performed in her first adult film, "Surrender in Paradise," with Ron Jeremy.
Lynn went on to become one of the biggest stars in the history of erotica, making 69 adult films, including her own line of videos through Vivid Entertainment. She left the business in 1985 and, after struggling through a difficult period, made a solid transition into mainstream Hollywood, starring in three Vice Academy comedies and appearing in other films like "Young Guns." To date, she's appeared in a total of 155 movies and has graced the covers of 15 different magazines.
Canyon always has been a California girl, born and raised in Pasadena. She made her first adult film in 1984 and continued that career — with a few hiatuses — until 1997, with nearly 200 films to her credit. Although she no longer makes adult movies, she has remained active in the business, maintaining her own website, ChristyCanyon.com, and is a frequent feature at industry gatherings. In 2003, she published her autobiography, "Lights, Camera, Sex."
XBIZ caught up with Lynn and Canyon on their way to work at "Night Calls."
XBIZ: How did "Night Calls" happen for you?
Lynn: I was lucky enough to be a stand-in guest host when "Night Calls" was on the other radio channel. I did that off and on for a couple of years for them. When we went to Sirius Satellite, the producers liked what I could bring to the show with my adult film career and being a very uninhibited, explorative kind of girl. Now I'm having a blast. I kind of feel guilty getting paid for this, because it's too much fun.
Canyon: I was doing a lot of substituting on the show, too, and when one of the hosts left to get married, our boss asked me if I would be interested. I just got lucky. That was June of last year. Then we stopped for a few months while Playboy worked things out with Sirius, and now we're back even better than before.
XBIZ: I know you deal with a lot of callers. What's the most bizarre call you've received so far?
Canyon: It's hard to shock me after being in adult films for so many years and being on the road for 10 years, but I was shocked when this guy called and said how he liked his girlfriend to put him in diapers.
Lynn: Didn't quite know how to handle that one. We also had an author who wrote a book called "A Year of Saying Yes," and she basically dated anyone and everyone who asked her out for an entire year, including bums on the street, lesbians and construction workers. She actually met someone and married him! I never thought of saying yes to everyone who asked me out, and that alone is a book.
XBIZ: How about the in-studio guests? Any oddballs?
Lynn: The most interesting and disgusting one for me was a pimp that we had on with his ho. Mister Johnson. I found him incredibly disgusting. I wanted to jump on him and beat him, but at the same time, he was so smooth that there was a sick part of me that went, "This man is sexy." And I hate to use the term ho, but that's what she called herself. This woman was incredibly sophisticated, sexy and completely enamored with her pimp. She'd been with him for six years, and she had just bought him a Mercedes. I thought, "Maybe I should become a pimp." She said he puts her in a closet with a pillow case over her head when she doesn't do what he tells her to do. But she was beyond talking sense to. She looked at him the way my dog looks at me when I have a cookie in my hand.
XBIZ: Who's been your favorite guest so far?
Lynn: We had Kato Kaelin in last week, promoting his new TV show called "Eye for an Eye." Of course, we had to play "Pie for a Pie." We asked him a series of questions, and when he gave a correct answer, he got to eat our pies. Mine was banana cream and Christy's was chocolate cream. And we didn't give him a spoon.
Canyon: I have to say, I had a little crush on Kato. I think he was just adorable. He's really like this goofball who was in the wrong place at the wrong time 10 years ago, and he's parlayed it into this offbeat career.
XBIZ: So whose pie did he pick?
Canyon: He picked mine, the chocolate cream. He had to lick it off my boob.
XBIZ: What other games do you play?
Lynn: I am known best for my work in adult films, and because of a personal choice, I have not had sex in 19 months. So we play, "Who's gonna pop Ginger's cherry?" We do not have a winner yet.
XBIZ: Christy, what do you think about Ginger's abstinence?
Canyon: It's shocking, because Ginger Lynn was always the Wild Child. It makes sense, though. She's explained why, and I totally understand it. I couldn't do it, but I understand her reason.
XBIZ: When you both quit adult films, was it a difficult transition?
Lynn: I got into the industry in December 1983, and I left in February of 1986. When I first got into the adult industry, I did it because it was fun, it was rebellious, and I thought it would just be a blast. But as I watched myself on film, I realized what a horrible actress I was, so I studied for about seven years at one of the major acting studios in Los Angeles and discovered I loved acting. So I pursued a mainstream career. I struggled for a bit, but I got a break when I auditioned for a film called "Wild Man," which was directed by Freddy Lincoln, who I worked with in the adult film business. He cast me as the female lead, and that led directly to three Vice Academy movies. Since then, I've been blessed to work in two or three projects per year — film and TV. Last year, I had three films released. But it was difficult in the beginning, because people didn't take me seriously.
Canyon: I finally — for the third and final time — retired from adult videos in 1997. I really feel like I played out my time in adult films. I began to get into dancing — stripping — on the road, and I was only making one film per month, which was just four days of work per month, so it wasn't like it was a huge part of my life and I'd miss it. The first time I quit was in 1985. Back then, there were like eight girls, and we were working every single day. I woke up one day and said, "I am exhausted." So I quit and worked for my father for four years as a secretary. Then one day I just left my dad's office and went to Vivid Video. I worked for them for four years, and then I started seeing a guy and it was getting serious. Believe it or not, the Christy onscreen is different from the Christy in personal life, so I quit because I wanted to be monogamous. A year later we broke up, and I went back to Vivid. It was always like a comfort zone for me, to have Vivid in my corner. It wasn't for the money, just for the validation that I'm still wanted. I still have my website with Vivid Video, and I drop off photos for that twice a month, so I haven't quit cold turkey.
XBIZ: How about you, Ginger? Are you still involved in adult films?
Lynn: I'm not actively involved. I don't perform anymore. I still do personal appearances and I still run my website, GingerLynn.com, and I still meet my fans at book signings. But there's a time when a girl has to hang up her "come-do-me" shoes.
XBIZ: Christy, did you ever consider trying your hand at acting in mainstream movies?
Canyon: Never! I am the worst actress. It's the funniest thing when people write to me and say, "I saw you in 'Pretty in Peach' and you're such a great actress," and I'm thinking, "What are they comparing me to? Bart Simpson?" I'm the worst actress. I could never remember my lines. A lot of the time, they had to tape my lines on my co-star's forehead. So I had no desire to try mainstream movies — none at all.
XBIZ: Ginger is out of circulation for now, but how about you, Christy? Think you'll get married again?
Canyon: I've been married three times, and I just don't think that marriage thing is cut out for me. I love the excitement of getting the dress and the honeymoon, but then a couple of months into it I'm thinking, "Aw, shit, what did I get myself into?" One of my marriages was only for five weeks! And two of those weeks, I was stripping. We had like three good days together, and I don't even know how good they were.
XBIZ: Is it a natural fit for you two, working together?
Lynn: Christy Canyon and I have a long history together. We've known each other for 20 years, and we both came from the same era of the adult film industry. We have a niche. We have experience from then, and now, and we're able to tell our listeners what it's like to be really sensual and playful as well as naughty, nasty and nice.
Canyon: Ginger and I are such a good fit. Ginger is so creative with games. She made up "Pie for a Pie."
XBIZ: Ginger, what's the one accomplishment you have that you're most proud of?
Lynn: My boy. Tomorrow he turns 10 years old. He's the best thing I've ever done.
