KFWB-AM faces an uncertain future

After only six months at its new radio home, KFWB-AM (980), “The Dr. Laura Program” has recaptured its target audience of young and middle-aged women. But the future is still hazy, as federal regulations are forcing the station’s parent company to put it up for sale.

Instead, the station that for four decades broadcast the latest headlines -- boasting “give us 22 minutes and we’ll give you the world” -- and before that, as Channel 98 Color Radio, was one of the most popular Top 40 stations in Los Angeles, could end up as a niche outlet for a religious or foreign-language broadcaster.

According to February ratings figures, released last week, the namesake program of relationship and family advice guru Laura Schlessinger is No. 1 in its time slot among women 25-54 in the Los Angeles- Orange County market. The show, which airs live weekdays from noon to 3 p.m., was tops among talk stations with a 3.1% share of that demographic. Rival KFI-AM (640) -- Schlessinger’s former home -- was second at 1.3%.

“I think initially we were giving it about a year. When people change radio stations, it takes time for [listeners] to catch up,” said Corinne Baldassano, senior vice president of programming and marketing for Take on the Day, Schlessinger’s production company. “She moved to a station with a lesser signal, and the perception was that she couldn’t possibly come up, and she did.”

After 20 years at KFI, the market’s dominant talk station, Schlessinger’s contract was up, and she moved over to KFWB, which launched its new format as a talk station on Sept. 8, with her as its marquee talent.

KFWB had been all-news for 41 years, since it pioneered that format with now-corporate sibling KNX-AM (1070). But slipping ratings and a down economy -- with its consequent drop in advertising -- convinced parent CBS that having two all-news radio stations in Los Angeles was a luxury. KFWB turned to talk but -- despite Schlessinger’s success with her target audience -- higher ratings for the station overall have not followed.

KFWB scored a respectable 2.2% audience share in the ratings as recently as November 2008, when it finished 22nd. It even led KNX in summer 2008. But in its last month as an all-news station, August 2009, KFWB tied for 31st in the market, with a 1% share of the Los Angeles-Orange County audience 6 and older. In February -- the most recent numbers available -- it tied for 35th with 0.8%.

KNX, on the other hand, tied for 15th at 2.9%, while KFI was fourth at 4.2% -- the top-rated spoken-word station in the area.

Making matters worse, KFWB has had a specter hanging over it since 2002. That year, corporate parent CBS bought KCAL-TV Channel 9, which gave it seven radio and two TV stations in the market -- one over the limit allowed by the Federal Communications Commission. KFWB, with the lowest rating and weakest signal in the group, was the most likely candidate to sell, and CBS applied to transfer the station to a blind trust, which would then look for a buyer.

But the FCC was reviewing its ownership rules at that time, and the possibility that the rules might be relaxed put the KFWB transfer in limbo.

The rules did not change, though, and the FCC finally granted the transfer Feb. 1 of this year; now CBS has until the end of this month to consummate it. After that, the trustee is supposed to make a bona fide effort to sell the station and report its progress every six months, according to the FCC. But there are no specific requirements, and the station could be up for sale indefinitely -- perhaps even until ownership rules do change. The FCC is scheduled for a quadrennial review of its ownership restrictions this year.

CBS’ chosen trustee is Bill Clark, former chief executive of Shamrock Broadcasting, who previously has overseen stations for CBS and its corporate predecessor, Viacom. Once he takes over, he’s supposed to be totally independent of CBS, including matters such as advertising sales and programming.

“It’s going to be in good hands,” said Ed Krampf, senior vice president and Los Angeles market manager for CBS Radio. “Right now I run it day to day until I’m told I don’t.”

And for now, no major programming changes are planned. Krampf defended the decision to abandon the all-news format and said that fine tuning is still being done.

He said they’ve tweaked the schedule since the all-talk launch, reinstating news programming in the morning and afternoon drive and replacing conservative talk host Laura Ingraham with personal-finance expert Dave Ramsey from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays.

“It’s still in a development stage, but I think we’re making progress,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in the decisions that made the radio station what it is today.”

Baldassano said Schlessinger was aware the trust situation was hanging over KFWB when she moved from KFI, but because nothing had happened with it since 2002, “the perception was there was going to be a status quo.”

“There was no concern and no trepidation at all,” she said. “This is not them making a promise and then reneging on a promise. CBS has been absolutely fantastic toward us and continues to be.”

Perry Michael Simon, news-talk-sports editor of the online radio trade journal AllAccess.com, said the most likely suitor for KFWB would be a foreign-language or religious broadcaster. “In 2010, AM stations that don’t have a strong, full-market signal aren’t necessarily in strong demand,” he said.

Baldassano said she and Schlessinger aren’t worrying. “It’s tough to make decisions based on a lot of what-ifs. A lot of things could happen, and a lot of things may never happen. We’re going to keep going until someone tells us something else is going on.”

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