THREE HOURS AFTER ELLIS finishes the interview with Greg Hetson, which ends up focusing a good bit on paraplegic sex, Pendarvis and I watch Tony Hawk step off the skate ramp at his offices in Vista, California, flop down into a chair in his private studio, and start his weekly broadcast with "What up? What up, everybody? Welcome to Demolition Radio. We're live, we're back, it's loud! I'm here with Jesse Fritsch and hopefully Jason Ellis in L.A."

"I shaved my balls this morning," says Ellis, who has called in from the Faction studio.

"That would be Jason Ellis," says Hawk.

Ellis started off as one of Hawk's on-air sidekicks, along with pro skater Jesse Fritsch, before spinning off with his own four-hour weekday-afternoon/evening show in May 2005, but he frequently phones in. Today's guests, also calling in from Ellis's studio, are Justin Warfield and Adam Bravin, of the darkwave duo She Wants Revenge.

"Has anybody seen that Life of Ryan show?" asks Warfield.

"I've seen one," says Hawk.

"Ryan Sheckler?" asks Ellis, making sure Warfield is talking about the 18-year-old skater and MTV reality star. "Somebody keeps telling me that he cries all the time. Why is he crying?"

Warfield says, "Danny Way must be like ‘Dude, try not to cry in every episode. Board sales are dropping.'"

"I'll tell you what," says Hawk, emphatically. "Board sales are not dropping because of that."

As an extension of the Tony Hawk mega­brand, Demolition Radio has functioned more or less as Faction's flagship. Hawk headlined the initial marketing push for the channel and continues to be Pendarvis's most low-maintenance host. Known for meticulously managing his image, Hawk tends to leave the shock-jockery to Ellis and others.

Jonny Moseley has a similar, if lower-profile, act. The hourlong Moseley Method is typically broadcast on Wednesday afternoons from the Olympian's home in San Francisco and occasionally from California slopes. He features a bit more music than Hawk and Ellis, who usually play about five songs an hour. (Faction is primarily a hard-rock station when there isn't a big-name host on.) In between sets, Moseley, in his back-of-the-throat dude voice, talks about his weekends, the Winter X Games, and such topics as global warming and the dubious value of energy drinks. "Jonny is pretty self-sustaining," says Pendarvis. "He doesn't pack the show with guests, but if he wants to bring someone in, he might call me up and be like ‘Hey, do you know the Hives?'"

To keep Faction running, Pendarvis does everything from wooing guests to helping select music to fixing equipment in hosts' homes, road trailers, and private studios. He also hosts his own Faction show for several hours every weekend, playing music from up-and-coming bands.?But wrangling his stars can feel like a full-time job in itself. "Bam is probably the hardest," says Pendarvis. "Once he was supposed to do his show and I couldn't find him. He was in Dubai."