RADIO : LOVE DOCS PRESCRIBE AURAL SEX

“The only thing that makes me feel like I’m really pretty or have a good personality is sex,” a frail voice confesses. “Afterwards, I feel proud of myself. There’s gotta be something that can give me self-confidence besides sex.”

An anguished listener calling Ruth Westheimer?

Not quite. The listener’s only 15. And this entire show is aimed at teens with sex problems.

About 25 callers air their problems live on “Loveline” every Sunday at midnight for three hours on KROQ-FM (106.7). It’s sort of an under-age version of Dr. Ruth’s “Sexually Speaking.”

KROQ’s self-proclaimed “Love Doctors”--Dr. Drew, the Poorman and Spacin’ Scott Mason--don’t have credentials to match Dr. Ruth’s. (She has a master’s in sociology and did doctoral research in family sex education.) Of the Love Doctors, Dr. Drew is the only one with specialized training. He’s Dr. Drew Pinsky, 26, a resident in internal medicine at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. He studied psychiatry as part of his medical training at Amherst College.

About 100 people call “Loveline” each week to get advice on their love lives. Only about a fourth of them get on the air, suggesting that there’s a lot of love lives lost out there.

“‘Loveline’ is the only show that really addresses adolescents and their problems,” Pinsky said. “That includes ages 13 to 29. Everybody carries bits of their adolescent neurosis into early adulthood.”

“Poorman’s still in his adolescence,” he quipped about Jim Trenton, 31, the comic relief on the show, whose easygoing personality comforts listeners and encourages them to open up and discuss their problems.

Two minutes after midnight, the Poorman, a stocky, mustachioed man dressed in the latest surfer garb, came loping down the narrow hall leading to the cluttered studio. He helped himself to a few slices of lukewarm pizza (left over from the just-departed deejay) and was ready for business.

His cohorts, Dr. Drew and Spacin’ Scott Mason, 25, who’s also the station’s operations manager, were waiting.

“You got a love problem? A sex problem? We’d be very happy to talk about it,” Mason said. And another edition of “Loveline” was on the air.

The first 15 minutes are devoted to music, during which time the Love Doctors screen calls. The music is a catchy blend of dance-oriented rock and occasional novelty tunes. On this particular night, every song dealt with sex, which isn’t too unusual: the Eurythmics’ “Sexcrime (1984),” followed by the JoBoxers’ “(She’s Got) Sex,” then “All You Ever Think About Is Sex” by Sparks.

Then the talk segment began, with the trio trying to harmonize a one-word chorus of “Loveline!”

A 21-year-old woman from Hermosa Beach was having trouble explaining her problem. The Poorman did some coaxing. Then she revealed that her boyfriend wanted her to participate in a sexual activity (sodomy) that she described as “totally unhygienic.”

Dr. Drew offered, “It’s not the most hygienic thing you can do, but it’s not particularly dangerous either.”

Then another KROQ deejay, Raymond Banister, dropped in. Poorman asked Ramondo (his air name) if he thought this type of sexual activity was OK. Responded Banister, “Not with me, Poorman.”

After the guffaws, Dr. Drew’s finally advised the caller, “If you’re uncomfortable about this, don’t to it.”

Another caller, a 16-year-old girl from Pacoima, wanted to know if there would be a problem going on and off birth-control pills.

Dr. Drew said that there would be no problems as long as the pill was used properly. “If you’re over 35 and a smoker, I don’t recommend it, but for the younger people who are sexually active, I think it’s a good way to go. The potential for serious side-effects are very slim in that group.”

Other callers included a 16-year-old girl from La Mirada who liked a boy who used to be gay; a 16-year-old girl from Glendora who lusted after her best friend (who is also female), but was afraid to approach her, and a 19-year-old boy from Canoga Park who was fixed up with a 13-year-old girl by his parents. Both sets of parents approved, but he didn’t know if he should tell his friends that his girlfriend was only 13.

The Love Doctors advised the girl from La Mirada to pursue a relationship with the boy if she could accept his past; if she couldn’t, she shouldn’t condemn him for it. The girl from Glendora was advised to not force her friend into a sexual relationship. The Love Doctors recommended the teen-ager from Reseda allow his 13-year-old girlfriend “the space she needs to grow” and not to worry about what his friends think about the relationship.

Often the Love Doctors will switch from gagging to serious advice without missing a beat. In fact, KROQ Program Director Rick Carroll wants the Poorman-Dr. Drew duo to be a comedy team in the Abbott and Costello vein, Pinsky said. He offers mostly serious advice, while the Poorman often punctuates his advice with off-the-wall jokes. Mason plays the middle man, offering more serious advice from personal experience.

Drew Pinsky said there is definite need for such a show aimed at adolescents, because that’s “where the dramatic needs” for advice are. (A 1979 study by Johns Hopkins University listed 16.2 as the average age that a female becomes sexually active versus 15.7 for males. According to a study by the National Center for Health and the Guttmacher Institute in New York, in 1981 there were 1.1 million pregnancies reported in the 15-19 age group. In that same year, there were 527,400 babies born to girls age 15-19, and 433,300 legal abortions performed in that same age group.)

Mason said that entertainment is the show’s No. 1 priority: “Even though we’re dealing with people’s love problems and we’re trying to be sincere to them, you got to remember, we are also trying to entertain people.”

Often, another KROQ deejay, Katy Manor, 26, who also has no specialized training, or a woman Guest Love Doctor will join the trio. According to Mason, there isn’t a regular woman Love Doctor because the station management feels that the current trio is the best team possible. But Manor joins “Loveline” as a volunteer on a “fairly regular basis,” he said. German singer Nina Hagen, actress Pia Zadora and members of such rock groups as the Bangles and Madness have been celebrity guests.

All listeners aren’t amused by the show. Pinsky said that recently there were some anti-”Loveline” graffiti sprayed on the wall that borders the KROQ parking lot.

A 27-year-old man from Silver Lake called in to complain that the Love Doctors have given “erroneous information” to teen-agers who are confused about their sexual orientation, and have often depicted homosexuality as a temporary phase.

This accusation is rebutted by Mason: “We don’t claim to have all the knowledge in the world. The opinions that we give are ours and they might differ from yours or somebody else’s. We don’t say that they are always the correct opinion. They’re just our opinion.”

Pinsky, who first appeared on “Loveline” about seven months ago as an unpaid volunteer and only recently began negotiations regarding payment for his services, became involved through a friend of Raymond Banister’s roommate. He began as a guest Love Doctor on venereal disease: “I was overwhelmed at the ignorance and need for education, and the desperateness of the listening community out there.

“Let’s say, Lisa, a 14-year-old from Reseda, calls and and says that she was molested by her stepfather five months ago, and now she found out he has gonorrhea. She’ll want to know whether or not she should have herself checked out.”

Since that guest spot, he has become a regular and now has his own 15-minute segment, “On Call With Dr. Drew.” Each week, he addresses such medical problems as pre-menstrual syndrome, abortion and venereal disease.

“I do this because I think it’s a a lot of fun and I think it does a hell of a lot of good,” he said. “I can sympathize, I remember what it was like.”

“Loveline” is the brainchild of Jim Trenton and deejay Egil Aalvick, known on the air as the Swedish Eagle (he left the station recently). When it debuted about two years ago, it was basically two laymen and an occasional celebrity. But since the addition of Dr. Drew, the show has become more legitimate, Trenton claimed.

The Love Doctors may not be as straight as other radio call-in advisers but, says Trenton, “Loveline” offers a forum for people to discuss their problems and get “a little help.”

The phone numbers of public service organizations such as the V.D. Hotline and the Los Angeles Sex Information Helpline are frequently given out. Although spokesmen from both of these organizations weren’t aware that their numbers were being aired on “Loveline,” they approved. “I think it’s great because we’re a nonprofit organization and can’t afford to advertise,” said Linda Smith of the Helpline.

Listeners occasionally call in and offer compliments: “I’ve called up and I’ve listened to you guys on several different occasions,” said Alfred, 24, from Highland Park. “At first I thought this was ridiculous stuff, but then I heard some people calling up with some serious problems and you guys help them out. Even if there’s a hundred people that call up, you guys help at least one of them, and I think that’s great.”

Poorman shot back, “Thanks, you did a lot more for the 10 bucks than I anticipated.”