Jim ‘Poorman’ Trenton, fans return for 28-hour New Year’s radio show on KOCI 101.5

While Orange County denizens make plans to count down the final seconds of 2023, one local disc jockey and his band of followers will take over the airwaves in a 28-hour marathon fast becoming its own New Year’s Eve tradition.

Jim “Poorman” Trenton — whose daily radio show “Poorman’s Morning Rush” encourages listeners to call in to Newport Beach-based KOCI (101.5 FM) with song requests from practically any era or musical genre — will go live at 9 a.m. Sunday and broadcast straight through to 1:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day.

The Newport Beach resident developed the concept in 2020, when COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns precluded most holiday plans and parties. The effort quickly amassed interest as sponsors and listeners signed up to guest host one-hour time slots.

Newport Beach resident and radio host Jim “Poorman” Trenton hosts a morning show on KOCI that will feature a 28-hour marathon with local guest hosts and sponsors to ring in the new year.

(Courtesy of Jim Trenton)

“Back in the old days, you’d hear stories of a deejay locking himself inside a control room and taking over the station because no one could get to the controls to take him off the air,” Trenton said of the concept.

“I thought it would be great to do a marathon shift, sort of an Iron Man Ultimate New Year’s party. Every year [since] it’s been about 28 hours, and every year I wonder if I’m able to do it again.”

Now in its fourth year, the marathon broadcast will not only air on the radio but will also be livestreamed on Trenton’s Facebook page, at facebook.com/jim.p.trenton, for those who would like to see all the “guests, theorizing and catastrophes” live.

Thursday afternoon found the deejay resting his vocal chords at the recommendation of a “voice doctor” he visited after emceeing a loud KOCI Christmas party the week before. He and wife Aime McCrory Trenton were pinning down the details of the final rundown, which, it turns out, is no small task.

“He works on this so hard, it’s mind blowing,” McCrory Trenton said of the marathon. “But it’s absolutely worth it, because it makes a great show. My only concern is his health and the voice issues.”

Newport Beach resident and local deejay Jim “Poorman” Trenton with wife Aime McCrory Trenton.

(Courtesy of Jim Trenton)

While most of Poorman’s New Year’s Eve cohorts have taken up the mike for previous marathons — including interviews and songs from local nonprofit Tilly’s Life Center (Sunday, from 10 to 11 a.m.) and on-the-spot legal advice from traffic ticket attorney Alan Bayliss (7 to 8 p.m.) — others are new to radio, so may require a little assistance.

“Every hour, someone comes in who’s never done a radio show before, so I have to stay focused the entire time,” Trenton said, adding that the threat of steep Federal Communications Commission fines can be a bracing wind when eyelids start to droop.

“You have to stay laser focused.”

Poorman’s day-into-night-into-morning watch may be further complicated by the celebrating some may do during segments such as “Liz and Reb’s Wined Down Hours Show” and “Lushline,” a show hosted by Costa Mesa’s Hi-Time Wine Cellars (11 p.m.) that welcomes calls from “the drunkest partiers in America” and takes its name from the call-in show “Loveline” Trenton co-founded in the ’80s while at Los Angeles-based KROQ-FM.

Local radio listener Zorawar “Captain Z” Clark, 6, center, with host Jim “Poorman” Trenton, left, and dad Jack Clark.

(Courtesy of Jim Trenton)

By and large, however, most hosts stick to their scripts, helping the marathon run like clockwork, from Captain NASCAR and Racer Tate’s racing-related “Anti-Drive Hour” at 2 a.m. to Big Al Who Does Not Live in His Car at 5 a.m.

On Sunday, two back-to-back shows will take listeners from one of Poorman’s youngest fans— 6-year-old Zorawar “Captain Z” Clark, who takes over at 1 p.m. — to Huntington Beach resident Geroge “Woody” Woodruff who, at 92, is planning a multigenerational lineup of songs to play with son-in-law Ken Sanford, 75, and grandson McAnn Sanford, 32.

Bumper stickers promote “Poorman’s Morning Rush,” a daily radio show on the locally broadcast KOCI 101.5 FM.

(Courtesy of Jim Trenton)

“Ken, of course, is a big fan. He got me started and I can’t stop,” Woodruff said Thursday. “Basically, I’m blind. Why watch TV? So, I listen to the radio.”

Maybe it’s the esoteric mix of young and old, serious and silly that makes the New Year’s show so popular. Whatever it is, it’s radio gold.

“It’s going to be a fascinating listen,” Trenton assured. “You’re going to hear radio like you’ve never heard before.”

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.