Jim Trenton

James "The Poorman" Trenton (born August 19, 1953) is an American radio broadcaster. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0872199/bio] 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 DJs on KROQ. From there, he became one of the station's most popular figures.

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.

Trenton is a member of SAG/AFTRA. He also studied law, but did not pass the bar exam in California.

Loveline

To meet its FCC obligations, KROQ had to provide public service broadcasting. Loveline was initially developed by Scott Mason. Trenton took over the show and served as the 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 Gene "Bean" Baxter 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 ruled against Trenton, 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".

Other work

While working at KROQ, local Orange County TV station KDOC had a program called "Adventures with the Poorman" hosted by Trenton. After working for KROQ, Jim Trenton was working for some time as the "morning drive" host on "GrooveRadio" 103.1 FM.

Trenton 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).

Trenton 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 the live show in the nude. KDOC pulled it from the air the next day.

In 1999, Trenton again returned to the television landscape, producing a program called "Poorman's Bikini Beach". [http://www.axn-india.com/shows/0110,24,41,14000.html] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365986/] Like "The Love Channel", Poorman owned and controlled 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 off-and-on over subsequent years, eventually becoming a part of the pre-recorded "Poorman's Saturday Night Party" on KJLA and airing occasional new episodes on KRCA. [http://www.flipdog.com/job/general-sales-manager-account-executives-needed/72634852/]

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, with Trenton receiving 3 votes.

"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.Fact|date=May 2008 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.Fact|date=May 2008 Many outrageous acts of destruction were subsequently perpetrated, including one caller who purposely drove his own car into a wall.Fact|date=May 2008 KYSR management immediately terminated Trenton upon learning of this contest.Fact|date=May 2008

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.

ee also

*Loveline

External links

*imdb name|id=0872199|name=Jim Trenton

ources

* [http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/1008/kroqfaq.html#What%20happened%20to%20poorman The Unofficial ALT.FAN.KROQ FAQ]
* [http://www.eonline.com/News/Court/9902.loveline.html James "Poorman" Trenton v. MTV, March 1, 2006]
*"Poorman saved", Los Angeles Business Journal, April 18, 2005
* [http://www.dolland.net/loveline/cache/house/index.html The Loveline Companion]
* [http://lovelinecentral.com/ lovelinecentral.com]