Jim Trenton

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"The Poorman" on Loveline

James "The Poorman" Trenton (born August 19, 1953) is an American radio broadcaster. He was a disc jockey on KROQ in Los Angeles from 1982-1993. He is best known for hosting the Loveline radio show, which he hosted for many years with co-host Dr. Drew Pinsky. The Poorman got his start as the local 'stoned' surf reporter who was the butt of jokes from the morning D.J.s on KROQ, but from there he went on to become one of the stations most popular figures, something of an anti-hero.

His moniker could be said to have started when he published a slim paperback restaurant review called, "The Poorman’s Guide To Gourmet Dining For Under Six Dollars." He claimed that food reviewing was a cheap way for him to get fed while he was an unemployed actor.

He is/was a member of SAG/AFTRA and studied law, but did not pass the Bar in California.

1 Loveline
2 Other work
3 See also
4 External links
5 Sources

[edit] Loveline

KROQ had to provide some public service broadcasting to meet its FCC obligations, and so the show Loveline was developed initially by Scott Mason. Trenton took over the show and served as the nasty, hilarious comic-relief side of the call-in radio program Loveline, while "Dr. Drew" Pinsky dispensed the more sober and serious advice for the mostly teenage callers.

By August 1993, Trenton's relationship with KROQ had grown tense. He had walked off the show and had been suspended for a month previously, and some say the station lost its patience when Trenton responded to a prank performed on him on his 40th birthday by fellow KROQ DJ "Bean" by sending a large crowd over to Bean's house, and Bean complained to the station's management. That month, he was replaced by former MTV VJ Riki Rachtman.

In 1994, Trenton sued KROQ, and demanded a piece of the revenues from Loveline. The court failed to find in his favor, and he appealed the decision.

On December 8, 1998, Trenton filed a $40 million dollar copyright infringement lawsuit against MTV in the Los Angeles District Court, claiming the network stole his idea for their hit television program Loveline.

[edit] Other work

While working at KROQ, local Orange County TV station KDOC had a program called "Adventures with the Poorman" hosted by Jim.

After working for KROQ, Jim Trenton was working for some time as the "morning drive" host on GrooveRadio 103.1 FM.

He has also appeared in four films, including 1989 hit Heathers (as the 'Hot Probs' D.J.) and the 1990 film Men at Work (as the narrator).

He also hosted a nightly television show on KDOC called The Love Channel. Trenton owned the show and bought the airtime from KDOC, giving him full control of its content and advertising revenue. However, the show was failing to support itself financially, as its ad revenue could not break even with KDOC's high airtime fees. Knowing the end was coming, Trenton did a taping of the show in the nude. KDOC pulled it from the air the next day. One interesting love match was indeed struck from the show before its demise. David Zucker, producer of the Airplane! movies, saw the show and was smitten by co-host "Dr. Danielle". The two eventually met, married in 1997, and are still together to this day.

In 1999, Trenton again returned to the television landscape, producing a program called Poorman's Bikini Beach. Like The Love Channel, Poorman owned and controled the show, renting airtime from various television stations. However, unlike The Love Channel, the show was not live, and was much cheaper to produce and air. It ran on-and-off over the subsequent years, eventually becoming a part of the pre-recorded Poorman's Saturday Night Party on KJLA.

In 2003, Trenton was one of 28 "write-in" candidates for the 2003 California "recall" gubernatorial election, running as a Republican. The election was eventually won by fellow entertainer Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"The Poorman", notorious for upsetting his employers with his speech on-air, may be one of the most "fired" broadcasters, having had his employment terminated by KIIS-FM (102.7), KYSR-FM (98.7), KPWR-FM (105.9), KTTV's Good Day LA and UPN News 13. At KYSR, Poorman was only employed for one night. Without station management's permission, he ran a contest that awarded a new car to the listener who destroys the most valuable object on the air. Many outrageous acts of destruction were subsequently perpetrated, including one caller who purposely drove his own car into a wall. KYSR management immediately terminated Trenton upon learning of this contest.

Trenton eventually returned to radio by buying his own airtime, in a model similar to that of The Love Channel. He hosted a music program in 1999 called Anti-Radio, speciailizing in independent bands. It ran on various small stations with weak signals, and never established a large listenership. When requesting call-ins from listeners, Trenton would often get no calls at all, prompting him to go on long rants about how the show was a failure. The radio station had no screeners or 7-second delay for phone calls, so the show was also the victim of prank callers who purposely called solely just to utter profanity on the air. Trenton eventually decided he was not pleased with the show's performance, and he stopped airing it after about 6 months.

His final return to radio was a Loveline-clone known as Love Calls, which aired on sports station on KMPC 1540. Like Anti-Radio, Trenton also owned this show, but KMPC required him to utilize one of their employees to screen calls and monitor for inappropriate content. Within a short time, KMPC decided it was unhappy with the raunchy nature of Love Calls, and abruptly yanked it from the air. Trenton threatened to sue the station for lost revenues, stating that their agreement stated that the KMPC-employed board operator was responsible for monitoring and dumping inappropriate content. Therefore, Trenton argued, he was not to blame for anything foul that reached the airwaves. The station realized they were indeed vulnerable to such a lawsuit, and reluctantly let the show continue. After running for about five months, Trenton discovered that the show could not bring in enough money to support KMPC's studio and airtime fees, and he would have to close it down. He reached a mutually beneficial agreement with KMPC, where they bought out the remainder of the show's contract, and the show terminated.