Roger T. Pipe - Biography - Career

Career

Pipe began watching pornography consistently starting in 1985. It wasn’t until 1995, while doing a search on the internet for a rare porn title, that he stumbled across a website where individuals were discussing and reviewing pornographic titles. After several days, Pipe decided that he would try his own luck by reviewing movies from his private collection, writing “from the heart of a porn fan.” The response was seemingly overnight, and soon, Pipe’s reviews were being included on distributor websites to establish a more personal connection with those buying the videos.

Eventually, Pipe launched Rog Reviews in 1998, intending only to showcase his reviews, a decision made partially in retaliation against the Adult Video News Awards, for which he had briefly worked for. The experience left Pipe jaded against the more mainstream avenues, but has since worked out to be “very beneficial.” Pipe has said in interviews that the same individual who dismissed him (Mark Kulkis) has ensured Pipe’s accessibility to every major adult film premiere for the companies he represents, suggesting that while the way in which they parted was not ideal, there still held an attraction to his ability to write.

During the early years of the site’s launch, Pipe also had a day job as a warehouse and office manager for a local software company. At this time, Pipe also worked on several amateur scripts, the most hugely popular being “Guilty Pleasures,” which Pipe failed to receive credit for in the final cut. By 2002, Pipe began including sex toy and website reviews, enticing outside free-lance reviewers to contribute, the most prolific of which is midwestern college co-ed Savana Switzer.

In 2005, Pipe joined The Daily Noise, an uncensored entertainment radio talk show broadcast out of Las Vegas, hosted by spin jocks Kaan Soler and Jimmy Diggs, as a weekly guest commentator. The Daily Noise folded in late August 2007, signaling the end of a successful three-year run. Prior to the Daily Noise, Pipe also had a number of appearances on the radio show “Lovebytes,” hosted by Dr. Bob Berkowitz on Eyada.com, and had been in the process of negotiating a deal for his own news show when Eyada went off the air.

Earlier this year, Pipe introduced interviews with industry members through podcasts, a decision which has increased his site’s exposure considerably. In addition to the podcasts, his site also offers textual transcripts of the interviews, galleries of industry giants and amateur fans, and a wide selection of reviews of websites and sex toys.