U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 4 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 [_] Check box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b). ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Zeni, Phillip T. ________________________________________________________________________________ (Last) (First) (Middle) 1330 West Auto Drive ________________________________________________________________________________ (Street) Tempe Arizona 85284 ________________________________________________________________________________ (City) (State) (Zip) ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol Circuit Research Labs, Inc. (CRLI) ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary) ________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Statement for Month/Day/Year January 9, 2003 ________________________________________________________________________________ 5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year) ================================================================================ 6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer (Check all applicable) [X] Director [ ] 10% Owner [X] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below) Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer ________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check applicable line) [X] Form filed by 1 Reporting Person [_] Form filed by more than 1 Reporting Person ________________________________________________________________________________ ================================================================================ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned ================================================================================

6. 4. 5. Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Amount of ship 3. Disposed of (D) Securities Form: 7. Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Beneficially Direct Nature of 2. Code ------------------------------- Owned at End (D) or Indirect 1. Transaction (Instr. 8) (A) of Month Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date ------------ Amount or Price (Instr. 3 (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) Code V (D) and 4) (Instr.4) (Instr. 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock $.10 par value 121/099/0203 A 54,~~508~~935 A $0.~~9165~~6819(1) 6065,~~524~~459(2) D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================================================================================

Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. * If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction 4(b)(v) Page 1 FORM 4 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================

Explanation of Responses: (1) Per the Reporting Person's employment agreement with the Issuer, effective October 1, 2002, the Reporting Person's compensation consists of cash and restricted stock. Under the employment agreement, the restricted stock is granted on a monthly basis at an issue price equal to the average of the daily closing price of the Issuer's common stock during the month preceding the grant. (2) Includes 50,000 shares of common stock subject to exercisable options and previously reported on a Form 4 filed by the Reporting Person on February 11, 2002. /s/ Phillip T. Zeni 1/9/03 --------------------------------------------- ----------------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure. Page 2

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