Jim ‘Poorman’ Trenton to ride KOCI 101.5 Radio’s morning show wave into New Year

If you wanted to go somewhere you had never gone before, 2020 might not have been the year to do so.

The coronavirus pandemic is unlike anything most of us have seen in our lives, and one local radio personality is set to embark on what might be a once-in-a-lifetime broadcast.

Jim “Poorman” Trenton of KOCI 101.5 FM Radio has plans to put on a 28-hour show to ring in the new year. The local station is based in Newport Beach.

The show will begin at 7 a.m. on New Year’s Eve and conclude at 11 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

Trenton said he has had a fascination with being on the air for an extended period of time, and with traditions like watching the ball drop in front of a sea of revelers in Times Square scrapped, this is a year to be different.

“I just thought, ‘OK, if I do something like this during the pandemic year and get some charities in there and stuff, I thought this could be really kind of cool to do and it would be kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Trenton said. “I honestly don’t even think I’m going to want to ever do this again.”

Jim Trenton talks to a listener during his morning show, “Poorman’s Morning Rush,” on KOCI Radio on Wednesday.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

Some of the charities Trenton is expected to highlight with public service announcements to his listeners include Working Wardrobes, the Illumination Foundation, Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, Friends of Newport Beach Animal Shelter and Newport Beach Arts Foundation.

Listeners are also invited to call in and share their favorite charity on the air, and of course, make song requests.

Often, Trenton enjoys walking into the studio with a word of the day or a theme in mind. Listeners then call in with a request that contains the word in the title or lyrics of the song or in the name of the artist.

It can also be a nexus, so if the word is “rain,” one might call in the stormy AC/DC single “Thunderstruck.”

“There’s no music playlist when I walk in,” Trenton said. “I just give them the theme, and people every day are like mini music directors. They call in or they text me or social media, all these different songs that relate to the theme, and it works because everything is related to the theme, even though the music is different and diverse.”

The audience will hear from Newport Beach City Councilman Will O’Neill twice during the 28-hour show, as the city’s former mayor is a regular on the morning show. His segment debuted as “The Mayor’s Minute” in April.

Jim Trenton is a KOCI Radio personality whose show, “Poorman’s Morning Rush,” plays daily Monday through Friday. Trenton will be doing a 28-hour show from 7 a.m. New Year’s Eve to 11 a.m. New Year’s Day.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

“It usually lasts about 10 minutes, but the general idea here is to provide information to his listeners about what is going on in both the state and county and local levels — rarely at the national level — but it’s an opportunity to provide more transparency to issues that people care about,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill is a fan of country music, but he said he makes such a song request once per week to accommodate a wider audience. Asked what song he might select to have played during the special New Year’s broadcast, O’Neill said he would go with “New Slang” by Brave Squirrels.

Trenton said he does not get political on the air, but he once ran in California’s gubernatorial race following the Gray Davis recall in 2003.

“I got [three] votes,” Trenton chuckled. “I know my parents were two of them. I didn’t finish in last place.”

Only in his second year with the classic rock station, which can be heard in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, Trenton ended up at KOCI when he contacted Brent Kahlen, the station’s director and CEO, with whom he had only spoken a couple times on the phone.

“We both went to different high schools together,” Kahlen said of Trenton. “What I mean by that is that I worked at KROQ, and then I left, and he came into KROQ after I was gone, so we knew of each other but had never met.

“He calls me up and says, ‘I would like to do a surf report,’ and so he comes in, we have a meeting, he comes in wanting to do a surf report and then ends up leaving with a morning show. That’s what transpired in our meeting.”

Jim Trenton talks to a listener during his morning show, “Poorman’s Morning Rush,” on KOCI Radio on Wednesday.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

The broadcast can be heard on the radio station itself or at kociradio.com. It can also be streamed live on Trenton’s Facebook page, on Alexa or via the Smart Radio app.

Can Trenton make it through all 28 hours? That is just the next question about a man who has made a habit of keeping his listeners on the edge of their seat.

“What we’ve found out,” Kahlen said, “is that when people start listening to the Poorman, they can’t stop because they listen thinking, ‘What’s he going to do next?’”

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