(March 9, 2010) Reminiscent of the recent Oscar race where the lowest grossing nominated film, The Hurt Locker, beat the highest grossing film, Avatar, for the Best Picture of 2009. Or biblically you could conjure up the story of David versus Goliath. Art Astor has AM properties in the Inland Empire and North San Diego County that need a big rock to knock out the giant clusters or at least stun them in the revenue race.

Enter Michael Horn, ceo and founder of Cable Radio Networks (CRN), who is helping Astor mount some formidable talkers to get KSPA (1510AM) and KFSD (1450AM) some attention against the big boys. “Southern California Talk” will debut next Monday with a return of some familiar names and the introduction of some new faces.

“Individually the AM stations have been very difficult to sell,” said Horn, who is acting as program director and sales consultant. “We plan to package Art’s two AM stations together along with the line-ups also being offered on one of our CRN Satellite channels. The three outlets should provide a strong sales story for local and national advertisers.”

KSPA kicks off at 3 a.m. next Monday morning with Mancow, who used to work morning drive on KLAC. At 6 a.m. Laura Ingraham will be heard live, giving Inland Empire listeners an opportunity to call in. From 9 a.m. – 11 a.m., ‘What’s Cooking Today,’ a lifestyle program hosted by Horn, Paul Stern, Jack Roberts and Erik Hines. Rotating guest hosts include Geoff Edwards and Gary Owens.

‘Talk Back’ will air from 11 a.m. to noon with Chuck Wilder, former co-host with George Putnam. Dr. Laura Schlessinger will air from noon to 3 p.m. followed by controversial Michael Savage in afternoon drive. Rusty Humphries, listed at #38 on the recent ‘Heavy Hundred” Talk Show round-up at TALKERS magazine takes on 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Following Rusty from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. will be the PM Show with Horn and actor Robert Conrad. At 10 p.m., Doug McIntyre’s Red-Eye Radio will be heard live for four hours, followed by Barry Farber from 2 a.m. – 3 a.m.

“On the weekends we plan to feature some of Jeff Gehringer’s original programming,” said Horn. “The long-time operations director will be offering his most popular programs, many of which are currently on KSPA.”

Astor’s KFSD is scheduled to kick off the new talk format on March 15, but could be delayed a week or so due to some engineering issues. KFSD would simulcast the KSPA schedule but some shows are in conflict with talk shows already heard in San Diego.

The plan at KFSD is to kick off with the live broadcast of Doug Stephan from 3 a.m. – 7 a.m. followed by Dennis Miller live from 7 a.m. – 10 a.m. The “What’s Cookin Today’ Show will run from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. with ‘Talk Back’ from 11 a.m. – noon. At noon, Lou Dobbs, ranked 9^th on the TALKERS ‘Heavy Hundred’ list, returns to the Southland from noon – 3 p.m. Laura Ingraham will air in afternoon drive. From 6 p.m. to 3 a.m., KFSD will simulcast KSPA.

Both stations will feature CNN newscasts.

(March 8, 2010) As a listener, we hear the primary talent make reference to the producer all morning long. Many times these producers have goofy names like Baba-Booey for Howard Stern. His real name is actually Gary Del’Abate.

At KOST, we hear Mark Wallengren and Kristin Cruz (and before her, Kim Amidon) ask questions or make comments to Rodrigo (pictured with Roger Ebert). He is one of those unsung behind-the-scenes heroes who books talent, comes up with segment ideas, scours the Internet before daybreak for interesting topics, runs the control board, verifies that all commercials run at the assigned times, and basically keeps the mechanics of a morning show going. The talent certainly is the hood ornament of AM drive, but a strong producer can make the task run smoothly. They’ve got to maintain the quality of the show.

Rodrigo Hernandez takes pride in the quality of guests that he has booked in recent months – Meryl Streep, Bill Clinton and many of the Academy Award nominees. Rodrigo gives a lot of credit to Clear Channel talent booker, Amy Sugarman. “I don’t think the show gets the recognition that it should but as long as our listeners are there, that’s all that matters. One of our sales sheets has a woman doing yoga on the beach with a big, bold caption: SILENTLY DOMINATE. I thought that was pretty cool in the way it describes our show. Our target in the morning is Women 25-54 and we’ve constantly been in the Top 5 in that demographic.”

Rodrigo has been with the morning show in various capacities since 1994, starting out as a board op. His fascination with radio started, as with so many Los Angeles Radio People, in the bedroom. “I wasn’t really a school kind of guy,” said Rodrigo. “I found school tedious and boring and I was probably ADD. One day I’m listening to the radio flipping between Rick Dees (KIIS) and Jay Thomas (KPWR) and they sounded like they were having a blast. I guess that stuck unconsciously in the back of my head.”

After high school, Rodrigo started Rio Hondo College but he had very little interest in the curriculum. One day he turned on Howard Stern and there was an ad for the Academy of Radio Broadcasting. “I made the haul to Huntington Beach to see the facility, liked what I saw and noticed they had a job placement program after graduation. I enrolled and at the time of graduation, Jhani Kaye [then-KOST pd] had called the institute looking for a weekend board operator for KOST. I sent my resume, met Jhani, and got the job.”

One assignment led to another and the morning show needed someone to run the board when Mark & Kim were broadcasting on remotes. “And then an opportunity to become the assistant producer to the morning show came about. I went for it but I didn’t get it. Some gal named Stella Prado got the job.” (Stella is currently the program director for KOST.)

A few months later, the morning show producer, Julie Azeveda, left and Stella moved up and Rodrigo moved into the assistant role. “I learned so much in the early months and almost got fired because Mark & Kim didn’t like me because of my strange sense of humor, but eventually they used me on the radio to go out on stunts and it all seemed to work out.”

Rodrigo has a unique perspective on working with the original morning co-host Kim Amidon and current co-host Kristin Cruz. In one of the industry’s worst-kept secrets, Kim’s contract was not picked up in late 2007. After more than two decades with the morning show, suddenly she was gone and Mark Wallengren was going solo. The timing was ironic because just a few months before, Mark and Kim had received a “together” Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Then they were no longer “together.” Station management received an unprecedented flurry of emails and letters about losing Kim in the mornings.

“Mark was left as the bad guy,” said Rodrigo. “He had a hard time, too, with listeners saying he should have gone. People were really upset and Mark got the brunt of it. It was very hard for everyone to deal with this. And then when Kristin came it started all over again. She was like the other woman. Now people are more accepting of her.”

KOST waited a year before replacing the vacant spot with Kristin Cruz, who had been working in San Diego radio. “Kristin came in wide-eyed,” remembered Rodrigo. “I kind of felt sorry for her. She didn’t come in to fill Kim’s shoes because you can’t ever fill Kim’s shoes. Kristin is in her own shoes.”

Kim Amidon had already spent a number of years in morning drive by the time Rodrigo arrived. “Mark & Kim had already established a rhythm. They knew what each other was going to say. Kristin is very, very talented and a work in progress. She’s very funny but we’re still kind of finding ourselves. She’s caught on very fast; in fact, it is amazing how quickly she has caught on since coming on board. She’s off to a great start.”

At age 36, what’s next for the bachelor, Rodrigo? “I think we’re all program directors in one way or another. I have to admit that I have the desire to do programming in my system - maybe a little music directing first or even maybe talent. My job is to plan the show, but my own personal life is a mess. Professionally, a lot of people in radio are scared of the Internet, but I have friends in New York who listen every morning. I tend to look at the glass being half full so I’m anxious to see what comes my way.”

(March 5, 2010) One of the most closely watched programming challenges in Los Angeles radio is happening over at 94.7, KTWV (“The WAVE”). Smooth Jazz stations have been disappearing all over the country but KTWV has been hanging in there and CBS Radio/LA marketing manager Ed Krampf has been very vocal about the fact that there would be no format change at KTWV.

But that doesn’t mean that KTWV won’t be tweaked. Enter Jhani Kaye, program director at K-EARTH. “There have been a number of conversations about whether I would take on other projects at some point. I would always tell Ed Krampf that when I make K-EARTH #1 12+ I’ll do the WAVE for you,” said Jhani. “Then in November when the numbers rolled out and K-EARTH was number one, I had committed myself.”

Was the potential to help a third Los Angeles station achieve #1 status any part of Jhani’s decision? “It would be delightful if we could but it is certainly not an expectation that has been placed on me. We’re just going to do the best we can to improve the numbers.”

Jhani (r) has been on the job for less than 100 days, so KTWV is in the early stages of evolving. What was the first thing he did as program director? “We tightened things up in terms of the production values of the radio station. We didn’t want songs to play all the way out to zero any longer. We started to tighten up the segues and we also injected a bit of energy into the air talent. They had been trained to pretty much announce in a laid-back style and I removed that restriction from them so that they can be bright, bouncy and upbeat.”

Musically, Jhani reduced the number of instrumentals by a couple per hour, “But we didn’t eliminate them so it is still a Smooth AC and we’ll continue to evolve it.”

“I’m a big believer that air talent should be live so we’re actually going the opposite way,” Jhani responded when asked about the current airstaff. “Keri Tombazian at night is now live. She’s no longer tracking for her entire shift. We’re moving in that direction with the other talent.”

The most recent PPM Weekly reflects the beginning of the evolution. Jhani sent a sample of numbers from the last Weekly along with a comment in parens:

6+
KTWV up 3.4 to 3.7 and ranks # 4 (Right behind sister KRTH)

12+
KTWV full week - 3.6 to 3.9 # 4 music!  (# 5 overall)
KTWV midday - 4.3 to 4.5 # 3
KTWV afternoon drive - 3.4 to 4.2  # 4

18+
KTWV   3.7 to 4.0  (# 4 music!  # 5 overall)

Men 18+
KTWV   2.8 to 3.3

Women 18+
KTWV  (Tied for # 4)

25-54
KTWV full week - 2.7 to 3.2
KTWV midday - 3.5 to 4.2 (Tied # 3 English)
KTWV afternoon drive - 2.5 to 3.2!
KTWV weekends - 2.2 to 3.0  (Excellent growth!)

35-64
KTWV full week - 4.3 to 5.0  # 3    (And The Wave’s trend here over the past several weeks is straight up:  2.8 – 3.3 – 3.8 – 4.3 – 5.0!)
KTWV morning drive - 3.5 to 3.7 (Tied with KIIS for # 4 English)
KTWV midday - 5.7 to 6.2 (# 1 in the city!)
KTWV afternoon drive - 4.3 to 5.5!  (Don Burns is tied for # 1 with KFI in this demo!)
KTWV nights - 3.5 to 4.0  # 2 music!

“It's nice to see the audience reacting so fast to our fine-tuning.  There's a lot more to come,” concluded Jhani.

(March 4, 2010) KUSC’s Jim Svejda (works evenings at the Classical station) is profiled in a full-page feature story in the current Westways Magazine.

Westways: Where did you first break into radio?
Svejda: In the early ‘70s, in Syracuse, the smallest town in America served by a full-time Classical station. I called the general manager, Henry Fogel, who later became head of the American Symphony Orchestra League, and said, ‘I don’t know anything about radio, but I do know a lot about music. Do you need any part-time announcers?’ He gave me a pronunciation test – two names, Aldo Ceccato and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski – and he hired me on the spot.

Westways: You went from Syracuse to Boston to San Francisco, then to Los Angeles in 1978. What was your image of Southern California before you came here?
Svejda: Shallow, superficial, people wouldn’t know a lot – and I was dead wrong. This is the most sophisticated audience anywhere. In the ‘30s and ‘40s, the European émigrés made L.A. the center of the Classical music world. Two of the greatest composers lived here: Arnold Schoenberg in Brentwood and Igor Stravinsky in Hollywood. Fleix Slatkin, the concertmaster of the Fox Studio Orchestra, and his wife, Eleanor, the principal cellist with the Warner Studio Orchestra, started the Hollywood String Quartet. It’s the greatest string quartet that’s ever made recordings, far and away. It’s like whoever is in second place may as well be in a different category. The greatest musicians on earth are playing in the Hollywood studios. It’s the most lucrative gig in Classical music. What you hear in movies is incredibly complex music, and these people sight-read it.

Westways: What do you listen to while you drive?
Svejda: That’s when I catch up on all the new music and music by composers I’m going to have on the show. That’s the nice thing about living in L.A. You get a lot of time in your car.

Westways Magazine is found at: aaa.com.

(March 2, 2010) It was supposed to be a trip to Chile to attend the country’s biggest party during their warm weather season. But for Andrew Siciliano, to state that his vacation plans were altered last week is beyond understatement. He provided his first-hand experience with last Saturday’s devastating 8.8 earthquake to his KSPN midday audience, before sharing his story with other media including LARadio.com.

Siciliano, co-host of 710 / ESPN Radio’s “L.A. Sports Live” midday program with Mychal Thompson and host of DirecTV's NFL Red Zone, was traveling through South America and was staying last weekend in Valparaiso, a coastal city located about 90 miles west of Santiago toward the ocean.  “I was vacationing with a buddy of mine in Argentina before I journeyed to Valparaiso … imagine San Francisco meets Malibu, everything is up on a hill, everything revolves around the local ports,” said Siciliano.

“I was in my hotel room sleeping at 3:30 in the morning in a room with ceiling-to-floor windows, on a cliff in essence looking over the ocean. The fact that the building didn’t go down into the ocean is a minor miracle.”

Siciliano described what it was like during the shaking. “Imagine the train coming toward you but instead of rumbling by, it kept shaking for a minute-and-a-half … instead of a five-car train going by when it gets to its worst point, it’s a 500-car train that just kept going and going.”  He contrasted it with his experience with earthquakes in California. “Here, we’re used to getting to the worst point – bam it’s over – but there, the worst point was just the beginning, because then it’s got another 45 seconds of its greatest impact that was still going. You’re standing there thinking ‘When is it going to stop?’ but it doesn’t.”

“Fortunately nothing fell on me, a bunch of artwork fell off the walls. I was almost sleepwalking when it hit, at first I thought it was a torrential downpour, not an earthquake, so I headed toward the window – which we all know is the wrong place to be – then I felt the plaster coming down on me like dust and I wondered how the rain had gotten into my room, then I realized that was not rain, it was the ceiling.”

Once the initial shaking had stopped, Siciliano headed outdoors with other hotel guests.  “There were over 80 aftershocks, with four quakes over a (magnitude of) 6.0, with one at a 6.9, none of which was under a four. My hotel amazingly held up well…the owner lived nearby so he came over with his kids, we were sitting around, cracking open some beers while the aftershocks were coming every five minutes.” Siciliano went back to bed around 6 a.m.  “To show you how immune we became, if there was an aftershock, I’d open my eyes and then closed them again because at that point, two hours later, you weren’t even rattled by a 4.0 aftershock.”

Siciliano recapped for LARadio.com what happened once he made it to a bus terminal.  There was no phone service, but he had wi-fi access. The aftershocks – again magnitude 4 and greater – continued. “When I got back to Santiago, I was able to get on-line at an internet café.  The area around the bus station appeared physically unscathed, yet I knew there was major damage elsewhere,” Siciliano said. His brother helped him get alternate flights to return to the U.S. “Valparaiso certainly suffered damage, when the sun came up I could see significant damage but not total (building) collapses. I know Viña del Mar (the local beach resort) had significant damage.”

To get to Buenos Aires, Siciliano took an overnight bus (“begging my way”) through the Andes to Mendoza, west of Argentina, where he then took a flight to Buenos Aires.  “Getting out of Chile, getting out of Valparaiso was hard. Once I got to Buenos Aires, I felt like it was over.” Once he boarded the plane to Houston, Siciliano slept before boarding another plane returning him to L.A.  “Arriving in Houston, it was the first time I could turn on my phone and talk to family.” He watched DirecTV aboard his Continental flight to catch up on the sporting events that had taken place over the weekend.  “I must admit, I’m upset that I missed Vin Scully interviewing Sandy Koufax at the Nokia Theater on Saturday,” said Siciliano.

“The Chilean people are pretty resilient.  They started picking themselves up quickly,” yet Sicliano still is overwhelmed by the images emulating from Chile via television.  “It hits you when you sit back down and you watch tvat home.”

Sicliano concluded: “In the grand scheme of things, this whole experience is minor … in the grand scheme to things, my journey is a small part of what’s going on. It’s good to be home.” (Story written by Alan Oda, senior correspondent for LARadio.com)