Cool kids in the greater Los Angeles Area—and weirdo losers with good taste in music—recognized “Hot Probs,” the radio call-in show from Heathers. They may not have recognized the face of actor Jim Trenton, but they knew the voice. In the credits, he’s listed as James “Poorman” Trenton, and those who didn’t place his voice knew that name. For ten years, he was the man giving those same kids relationship advice late at night on 106.7, KROQ-FM. (He was actually fired a couple of times in that stretch, but for most of the time. He was The Poorman. One of his friends was, in 1984, a fourth-year med student at USC by the name of Drew Pinsky.
Those are the humble origins of Loveline, which would go on to have a strange pop culture footprint. Not just Heathers, though, you know, Heathers. Before Loveline, Dr. Drew was just a med student that no one had heard of. It also seemed unlikely that KROQ would bring you to pop culture stardom, come to that. Their slogan was “The World-Famous KROQ” long before they learned that British bands, among others, had actually heard of them. When your morning team is locked in a struggle for thirteenth in the ratings with an easy listening channel, you don’t exactly expect stardom from appearing on a show that airs on Sunday nights from ten to midnight.
Poorman’s eventual replacement, Riki Rachtman, was already established before joining the show. His close personal friend Axl Rose (who knew Axl Rose had friends?) had gotten him a job hosting Headbanger’s Ball. Rachtman’s replacement was a former member of the Groundlings who’d appeared on Kevin and Bean, the morning show, to train “Jimmy the Sports Guy” in boxing. I genuinely do not remember this, or Jimmy the Sports Guy. However, Jimmy and his trainer became friends, and they both eventually left KROQ for Comedy Central, where they’d host The Man Show together. Jimmy’s had a bit more of a career, though I believe he’s currently taking a break to recover from COVID again.
Frankly, it was surprising to all of us when KROQ was able to syndicate the show. And it was on MTV. That was weird. Sure, the show had long been able to get better guests than you’d expect, but that didn’t mean it would have come to the attention of anyone actually important. Apparently it did, though, and the show was on MTV for four years and syndicated for literally decades. It’s even been revived, presumably with someone less toxic than Dr. Drew.
Arguably, even beyond all that, Loveline contributed to a lot of the current pop culture landscape inasmuch as it did, after all, give us Dr. Drew. On the other hand, how much of what Dr. Drew is like comes from having been on Loveline since he was actually in med school? He’s been exposed to the weirdest problems in LA, and those are some pretty weird problems. He also seems to have developed a bit of an oversimplified view of, I don’t know, everything? That’s hardly surprising but also has really not helped in recent years.
It would really help solve my problems if you’d contribute to my Patreon or Ko-fi!