Trever Trent of 987FM (Punk/Rock)

Trever Trent of 987FM
Posted May 24, 2010.


How is everything going Trever?
Things are good. Love the website.

You seem to be very involved in music, before you got into the radio scene how were you involved in music or the music industry?
I wasn’t in the industry at all. Just loved music, mostly punk rock, and couldn’t afford to take the time to learn an instrument, I had to work at my parents jukebox company in "The Valley". Child labor laws didn’t protect me. But, because of the jukebox company I grew up with hundreds of thousands of 45-rpm/L.P.’s all around and it taught me music history 101.

Please tell us about your addiction to R.C. Cola, how it helps you perform and how it effects your life and lifestyle.
My addiction to R.C. Cola really started as a joke in 1997, when I bought this old R.C. clock at a thrift shop in San Diego. I started talking about R.C. all the time in my personal life and on the radio at 91X. After awhile R.C. and I just seemed to go together. It was really my way of saying I didn’t want to be like the rest (in life and in soda). Screw "Coke or Pepsi". Different is good.

Do you think if we say R.C. Cola a few more times we might get some free cases of Cola or a sponsorship?
That’s funny you say/write that because I’m trying to work that angle at 987FM now. But, I might try to talk about Dodge or drugs or something a little bigger than soda. I really need a new car and drugs are expensive.

Where did you get your start being a Radio personality?
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley but knew I didn’t want to start my radio career in LA because if you screw up here, there’s nowhere to go but down. So, I sold everything I had (which got my three hundreds dollars) and drove to Barstow, stalked a little radio station there until they gave me an air shift. After three months "on-air" I borrowed money from my parents, bought a crappy motor home, moved to Santa Barbara and found a paid radio job to "un-announce" at. I lived on the streets on Isla Vista for a year and that’s where I met Chris Flippin of Lagwagon, whose girlfriend, Tori, once called me a "un-announcer" and it stuck. I don’t really think of myself as a "personality". After 9 months the S.B. station went "Spanish" and I was out of work. It was 1995, way before everybody used the internet, so jobs were way harder to find. So, I partied with the Goleta punks for three months looking. Found a radio gig in San Luis Obispo where I work for about a year, still living in the motor home. In S.L.O., I met someone from San Diego and had just scored a job at 91X and said I should apply. I did and it worked. Fools.

Working for such a major radio station is a huge accomplishment in my eyes, how long have you been at Star 98.7fm?
Well, first off they dropped the STAR crap back in January 2008. I wouldn’t be working here if they hadn’t, I couldn’t stand all the sap they played before. I started part-time weekends at 987FM in March of 2009 and began doing 10a-2p weekdays in September ‘09. I never imagined working at an LA station; I thought I had peaked after 11 years at 91X, San Diego. Just goes to show you to never give up the dream.

I just checked out your myspace ( www.myspace.com/trevertrent ) and say you also work for KGB-FM as well as Star 98.7FM and after a full day of working, listening to songs and people calling in all day, when you're on your way home from work what do you listen to?
I have to admit I have a really old Plymouth and it only has a cassette player in it and I have been listening to three cassettes for months now, D.R.I.’s Crossover, Lagwagon’s Hoss and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. These are tapes I recorded myself from vinyl back in the day, so they sound like BARNICLE after all the years of playing 'em. It’s awesome because the Pink Floyd album skipped when I recorded it.

I've met a lot of bands in my time and other than trying to get on a major label the next big thing to try and do is get their music heard off a radio station. If you could count how many times you've been handed a demo or CD from a band what do you think that number would be?
182. At one a month for 15 years, give or take.

This question is always being asked. Is it effective for a band to send you their info, to try to get played on the radio through your personal myspace or twitter?
I would send my stuff to anyone and everyone. If you don’t get it out there, how they heck is anyone going to know about it. The internet has made a whole new world for bands to tap into too. On the bad side is it’s the same world for all the other bands trying too. But, you never know when the "right" person is going to hear your stuff and like it.

Do you ever get to choose what songs you play from your personal music collection or do you only play whats in the stations play list? Example, what if I wanted to hear Cheap Trick, I Want You To Want Me not the live version, could you play it?
Yes. But, I didn’t get into radio to play the music I wanted to hear. I got into radio to entertain between the songs. To try and present the same music that everyone’s playing with a different style or to throw in a curve-ball or two. I don’t like the live version of "I Want You To Want Me" either. I’d rather hear "Surrender".

What are some of the other people you look up to in the radio industry?
My radio idol was a brilliant man named Jack Armstrong. He did his show with a gorilla and you really couldn’t tell it was him doing the voice. It was the "BARNICLE". Check him out at LA’s KKHR 93.1( ). After many years at 91X, I started doing a Saturday night show in his honor with a ferret on the "trev & pepe show".

What's 5 of your favorite bands?
Lagwagon, NOFX, Pink Floyd, None More Black and Descendents.

Alright this will be a little tougher, Can you name 5 of your favorite bands that have never been heard on star 98.7?
Stop calling it STAR. Ryan Seapest is gone. Well, I don’t think any of my 5 favorites have been played on 987FM, short of "Complete Control", two hours of punk rock music Saturday nights 10p-mid with host Joe Sib.

Trever, Thanks for doing an interview with Big Smile Magazine. Is their anything you would like to say to your fans reading this?
I have fans?

websites, any shout outs, or any last words?
I blog a lot on punk rock bands and other crap on the 987FM website ( www.987fm.com/pages/trevertrent ). You can always call me at 987FM (10a-2p), 800-7827-987, if you want to talk about punk rock or playing pinball. I love pinball and I’m always looking for new places in LA to play. www.facebook.com/trevertrent ), Twitter (http://twitter.com/TreverTrent ) and Youtube ( www.youtube.com/user/TreverTrent ) the site. You’re looking great!

Today you have to be a media STICK, so you can also find me on Facebook.

Thanks, Big Smile Magazine, for having me on













In an unrelated subject; I can’t stand "American Idol" or most any of the "reality" shows. But, I could go off on this for paragraphs. I regress.