Buying Time for the Unsigned

After a three-month silence, “Anti-Radio” returns to the airwaves today,with host/originator Jim “Poorman” Trenton shelling out even more now than he did last summer to promote music by acts that are unsigned or record for independent labels.

Trenton said he made a profit buying air time and selling his own ads for the show’s 12-week run on KPLS-AM (830) last summer. He said that ended when the Orange County station was sold to a religious broadcaster.

Now he’s back with a show to be simulcast weekdays from 4 to 8 p.m. on two Pasadena stations, KYPA-AM (1230) and KMMY-AM (1600). Together, Trenton said, the stations cover all of Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Inland Empire, with KMMY the better bet for O.C. listeners.

Trenton will pay for that coverage: buying the air time will cost $48,000 a month, he said, six times what he paid over the summer.

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“I don’t have investors, but I have a good friend called my dad, who loaned me the money to get going,” said the veteran radio personality, who lives in Newport Beach and is best known for his years as a disc jockey and call-in show host on KROQ.

“He calls me every day and asks, ‘Do you have any sponsors?’ Thus far, I’m making it,” he said. “I’ve got some really good sponsors, and I think it’s going to be OK.”

Trenton is banking on the novelty and freshness of music programming that abandons typical formats and offers artists who aren’t part of the record industry’s hit-making machinery.

“You could drive a freight truck through the opening in radio. Nobody’s doing anything with [truly alternative] music.”

Trenton said he is willing to play tracks in any style; a listener vote determines which songs--dubbed the “Anti-13”--get repeat airplay from week to week.

As a tie-in with the radio show, Trenton will host a concert series every Wednesday and Thursday at Hogue Barmichael’s, 3950 Campus Drive, Newport Beach.

He plans to tape the performances and air segments the next day on his radio show. 4 Bolt Men, Wayside, Stone, Spigot, Afrodisiac and the Verdicts play Wednesday, and the Angoras, Dynamo Hum, All Day Wire, D-Frost and Loogie play Thursday. $5. 9:30 p.m. (949) 261-6270.