L.A. DeeJay Fights for His Loveline
L.A. DEEJAY FIGHTS FOR HIS LOVELINE, E! Online News, 23 Jan 1999
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"It makes me down on America. People can just steal my property and get away with it." So says disc jockey Jim Trenton, better known to '80s Southern California radio listeners as the Poorman.
Trenton is talking about the syndicated radio and MTV show Loveline. The show he's filed a $40 million copyright infringement suit over.
During the '80s, Trenton was a popular deejay for the Los Angeles modern-rock radio station KROQ, helping it rise from a small, static-y indie to an influential, corporate-owned musical force. ("Radio stations across the country use KROQ as a guideline to set their own playlist," explains David Adelson, executive editor of Hits magazine.)
In 1984, with the help of fellow KROQ deejay Swedish Eagle, Trenton created Loveline for the station. "If you have a love problem, call up, and we'll give you advice from people who are unqualified," says Trenton, describing the show's original incarnation.
Early on, feeling the program needed a medical authority, medical student/straight-man Drew Pinsky was added, and Loveline slowly took off. ("I discovered that piece of s---," Trenton says of his estranged doctor friend. "I introduced him to his wife. My brain created his entire life.")
Today, Loveline is syndicated in more than 20 radio markets and produces a loyal late-night television audience for MTV. And Trenton, save for the litigation, is all but forgotten.
He's not been involved with Loveline since an ill-advised onair "payback" prank got him dumped from KROQ in August '93. Now with comedian Adam Corolla partnered with Dr. Drew, Loveline has gone on to national success--the kind of success Trenton long pursued for the program.
It was this pursuit that hurt Trenton's relationship with KROQ. Feeling unfairly compensated and that the station wasn't doing enough to get Loveline syndicated, the frustrated deejay feuded openly with station management in the early '90s.
He was suspended several times for onair misdeeds--once for walking out on Loveline midway through a broadcast. Another time, Trenton says, for merely mentioning Howard Stern's name.
On a lengthy suspension from the station in '94 (which lasted until his contract ran out), Trenton sued KROQ and its owner, Infinity Broadcasting, for the rights to Loveline. The court sided with the defendants, ruling the show was a "work for hire." (KROQ officials weren't available for comment on the matter. The case is being appealed.)
Then last month, Trenton and his lawyer went after MTV, claiming that before MTV even began broadcasting Loveline in '96, the deejay had already presented his own Loveline pilot to network executives several times.
He adds that several MTV execs were employed at KROQ when he still hosted the program. "Those people have complete knowledge of the history of the show," Trenton says. MTV officials, citing company policy on litigation, won't comment, either.
In the meantime, Trenton is struggling to make a career, buying his own air time on the SoCal AM radio nether-reaches (KMNY-AM) and playing undiscovered, independent bands (email him tapes at pooorman@aol.com). "I have to do it because no one will hire me anymore because of the litigation," he explains.
He has good days and bad ones: "I go through times when I'm really depressed. I can't flip by MTV without flipping out."
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