NYC Channel 35

Factual Questions
1

Okay, I did a search on this topic and went back 2 years, so I don’t think it’s been answered before…

In NYC, I can tune in to Channel 35, a public access station. This channel shows full frontal nudity in ads for sex chat lines and escort services. I have several questions…

  1. Assuming that almost anyone in NYC with a TV set can tune into this channel, how do they get away with showing people screwing? Kids can tune into this stuff at almost any time.

  2. I see all sorts of “escort services” advertised on this channel. The advertisements feature nekkid women. The implication is that if you call one of these services, some chick will show up at your door and screw your brains out. Some friends of mine tell me that you can call one of these numbers, they send a girl by, and if she’s reasonably assured that you’re not a cop, she’ll screw you for money. I say this has got to be bull. NYC cops would do a sting operation if that were the case and the news would be all over town. Anyone know what the Straight Dope is?

  3. Has anyone on this board actually called one of the escort services to see what the deal was? Is there actually a legit escort service advertised on Channel 35? Can you call one and take a model to a dinner date or a wedding or something?

2

I’m afraid I know nothing of it. But it sounds charming.

3

I’d just like to say that New York hotels typically block this channel, mores the pity.

As for the escort services, I’m sure most of them are exactly what they advertise themselves to be – hooker delivery services. The reason cops don’t sting them is because they’re typically too busy fighting real crime. (Or sodomizing immigrants with broomsticks, take your pick.) To the extent that there are resources allocated to busting prostitution, it would typically be focused on street hooking, which is much more likely to be related to violence, drugs, underage hooking and forcing girls to hook against their will.

–Cliffy

4

Here’s some help w/ #1.

First, Ch. 35 is in fact a public access station. Second, it is a cable station, not a broadcast one. As such it has wide first ammendment protection.

Furthermore it’s populated by an agressive cadre of pornmongers (zero insult intended with that term – I just like the word “pornmonger” and wanted to use it somewhere in this post) lead by Al Goldstein who make sure that the cable companies don’t censor them any more than the law allows.

I do believe that in the 90’s the cable companies were able to disallow images of unprotected penetration in the name of protecting public health (AIDS and all), but for the most part there’s little more that’s legally prohibited.

5

Not quite… it’s only on cable.

Free speech and public access and all that crap. Oh, I’m sorry, “art”.

Dope on this one is… the woman who actually shows up at your door is not only hideous but either a) currently whacked on heroin, b) a recovering heroin addict, or c) looking to score some heroin. She’s also much more afraid of her pimp than she is of the police.

Um… in this town almost anything can operate if the right people are paid off. Does that answer your question? If not, re-read and try to understand. Lots of “illegal” things operate in this town… “escort services” being among them.

Yes. Listen and learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before you. It is a mistake. LISTEN TO ME!

Sure, they’re all legitimate hooker-delivery services.

Oh, THAT’S what you meant… heh, heh, heh…uh, no… first of all that ain’t no “model” and this ain’t no “date” and if you want to take her to a wedding, well… please do write back and let us all know how it worked out.

6

Jimbrowski, that was freaking hysterical.

Actually, I was seriously thinking about calling up one of these escort services. Not because I feel like plunking down dough so some chick and I can do the nasty, but because I think it would make a funny joke. Allow me to explain…

The last few weddings I was invited to, the bride and/or groom REFUSED to let me RSVP as a single. They insisted that I take a date. I thought it might be funny to show up with some totally hot prostitute.

Come to think of it, it might be funnier if I show up with some crazed crack whore, too. Hmmm…

<Wheels turning>

7

Forget the escort ads, you haven’t experienced Channel 35 until you’ve seen the Robin Byrd show. Current and former Manhattanites will know to what I refer. :smiley:

The escort services are apparently real. I’ve never used them, but I can relate this story:

I’m a corporate lawyer. One of the things corporate lawyers do is assist in issuing securities, which includes long nights at the financial printer finalizing the prospectuses that must be filed with the SEC. This is particularly true for junior lawyers like me, who basically end up doing all-night proofreading.

Anyway, I was working on a particularly nasty filing. Myself and another associate were there at something like 3 am, with no hope of going home before 6 or 7. All the partners and clients had left, to return fresh the next morning. The only reason we were there was to wait for the next draft to come from the typesetter, proof the changes, and either (a) go home if they were 100% correct (yeah, right) or (b) make corrections and run them through again.

There’s a lot of downtime while you wait for the draft to come back (during the day, the partners for each of the parties would be arguing over language, etc., but since this was the last draft of the day, they’d all gone and none of that was going on). The conference room had a TV with cable, and Channel 35.

We were both a little bit goofy from lack of sleep, and the other fella decided to start calling the services, just for kicks. We were both curious as to how direct they would be as to their services. He asked (1) what they cost, and (2) what his money would buy.

Most of them beat around the bush on Question #2 (“oh, whatever you want, a massage, whatever”), but at least one came right out and said sex. The rate was, IIRC, around $200, or $400 for an “elite model.”

Although we didn’t actually order any escorts (Ms. Undhow obviously wouldn’t take kindly to that), we were somewhat disturbed by the “elite model” upgrade – good lord, how homely were the $200 women? So, thereafter, any upgrade that was de facto mandatory due to the nastiness of the alternative became an “elite model” upgrade. “No, dude, you don’t want the nachos here, they’re nasty. Get the buffalo wings, it’s an elite model upgrade.”