Back for more: Jim ‘Poorman’ Trenton set for 29-hour New Year’s broadcast
What was thought to be a once-in-a-lifetime broadcast is now expected to be upstaged.
The wildly unpredictable Jim “Poorman” Trenton graced the airwaves for 28 consecutive hours for a marathon New Year’s show last year, and he will attempt to one-up himself with a 29-hour show to ring in 2022.
“To be honest with you, I thought maybe it could be an annual New Year’s event that, in my myopic mind of minds — we’re streaming it and everything — I can see it down the road, if I was able to survive a number of these, that you could be doing hours with people all over the world as New Year’s comes in, in a very safe manner, just welcoming New Year’s with one of these broadcasts.”
The show begins New Year’s Eve at 6 a.m., the normal start time for “Poorman’s Morning Rush.” The show airs on KOCI 101.5 for weekday morning listeners from 6 to 11 a.m.
Trenton returns with a long list of guest hosts for what is becoming a New Year’s tradition. He said he never felt that he was in danger of not making it through the New Year’s show a year ago.
In their revelry, some of the guests of the first New Year’s broadcast ended up being quite entertaining for listeners that stuck around for the late hours.
“There were a couple of super-drunk people that were hosting hours that were so belligerent that it was very difficult to reel in,” Trenton recalled. “… I had to hit the dump button a number of times, and somehow, we got through that. A few people heard those hours and were very amused. They thought that was the best part of the whole thing.”
As Trenton sees it, the tools of the trade in the radio business are to be the ultimate assist man and to stay calm. He surely had to rely on both skills to get through those chaotic time slots.
Scheduled guests include an attorney the radio personality confesses once got him out of a ticket for texting in the city of Costa Mesa, a man who made his fortune from buying and holding onto Apple stock, and a Newport Beach resident he has christened with the DJ name, “The Real Liz Pierson.”
The initial interaction between Liz Pierson and Trenton came via song requests the former would make.
“I’ve been in the Newport-Costa Mesa area for probably 16 or 17 years now, I can’t believe it,” said Pierson, who will host the 9 a.m. hour New Year’s Day. “I was flipping through stations, and 101.5 was not our preset, and I heard Poorman, and this was probably a couple months ago, and I just started listening ever since then and I’ve made some song requests for the musical theme of the day.
“Then they had a toy drive, and I showed up at the toy drive. I met Poorman and some of his devoted listeners that showed up, and I just love the inclusion that Poorman promotes on his show… I think he’s awesome, and I became a listener.
“He actually said that he’s taking requests from anyone that wanted to host an hour on his 29-hour New Year’s Eve broadcast. I didn’t call him and tell him that I was interested until the very next day, and I thought, ‘Oh, he’s not going to have any spots open,’ but when he did, I jumped on it, and I thought it would be great. We met for coffee, and that was it.”
Daniel Strang will host the 5 p.m. hour on New Year’s Eve for a segment that will be known as “Tall Can Dan’s Back to the Dumb Future.”
“Back to the Dumb Future pretty much came from us making fun of how history repeats itself, and especially the dumb aspects,” Strang said. “At the same time, a lot of the fun things, like things that are awesome and sound true all the time, always resurface.
“People always remember, even if they get lost, what’s really cool. Certain songs, certain bands, certain sounds, they just always bring it home.”
Strang’s hour will feature a playlist with music ranging from new bands to artists from the 1960s. He will also have an interview with Keith “Monkey” Warren from the Adicts, a 1970s British punk band.
Leaving the music choices up to the listeners has become a staple of Poorman’s show.
“You get hundreds of listeners who call in, or text, or [request on] social media songs they want to hear, and it blows away having a singular program director who thinks he’s God’s gift to music,” Trenton said. “I’m not putting down the program directors of radio. It just makes sense. How can one person know all the music in the world?”
Throughout the broadcast, Trenton and the guest hosts will be giving public service announcements to a new charity every hour.
Trenton provided a personal update, too: He and his fiancée, Aime, are looking forward to getting married on Aug. 6 in a public wedding on the sand in Newport Beach.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
