Poorman finds a home

Greg Risling

NEWPORT BEACH -- It may be airing in the wee hours of the morning and may

cost him money out of his own pocket, but Jim “Poorman” Trenton has

finally found a home for his home-grown, bikini-oriented television show.

Trenton, a Newport Beach resident best known for his days as a disc

jockey at KROQ-FM (106.7), has been peddling the show he started with his

own money last summer. When his contract expired with a cable access

station late last year, Trenton wanted to test a larger market and has

apparently made a breakthrough.

Known as “Poorman’s Bikini Beach,” the 30-minute program will air between

2:30 and 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The station that decided to air

the show is KCAL-9, which will begin running the segments on Feb. 25.

Despite the late-night scheduling, Trenton said he thinks it will make a

big splash considering his competition will be primarily infomercials.

“I feel fairly confident we will be the No. 1 show in Southern California

for that time slot,” Trenton said jokingly. “It’s probably the only show

of its kind on a broadcast station across the United States.”

The show features young women that were recruited off the beaches near

Trenton’s West Newport home. In past segments, the participants -- who

wear some skimpy swimwear -- have played basketball and argued over

current events.

Trenton shopped the show to nearly every Los Angeles television station

and only KCAL was willing to take the risk. No one at the television

station was available for comment Thursday.

Trenton will have to pay the station out of his pocket for the 26-week

run. He and his staff have been working to land some advertisers.

“The response has been pretty good,” said show sales manager Luke

Billings. “There is a strong interest with companies trying to target the

male demographic.”

While Trenton admits his audience is mostly made up of men, he realizes

editing will have to be a big part of the creative process from this day

forward.

“There are some standards we must abide by, but honestly, right now we

don’t know what they are,” Trenton added. “If we get too racy, the

station can yank us off.”

Trenton compiled 70 shows last summer, some of which will be edited and

re-aired during the new time slot. The show had almost a cult-like

following, which prompted Trenton to launch a Web site that still

averages about 3,000 hits a day, even though the show has been off the

air since last fall.