TALK SHOW HOSTS’ FEUD STILL SIMMERING

KSDO talk show host Ed Bieler says he used to have a good relationship with Dave Dawson, his top-rated conservative counterpart, but recently the two seem to have become genuine adversaries.

Initially, Bieler and Dawson had a good-natured rivalry revolving around their disagreement on virtually every issue, Bieler said.

“Dawson starts off his program by saying, ‘God bless Ronald Reagan,’ ” Bieler said. “Now, that demonstrates our differences as simply as I can put them.”

Lately, however, the rivalry has grown increasingly nasty, and for the last two weeks has not been limited to their respective talk shows.

As a promotion, KSDO recently scheduled an hourlong debate between Bieler and Dawson. But instead of sticking to the issues, Bieler said, Dawson “egged on people and attacked me personally.”

When the debate was over, a heated argument between the two almost led to fisticuffs. The following Monday, KSDO general manager Jim Price dictated that neither Bieler nor Dawson could refer to the other on the air in any context.

But ill feelings persist. Bieler said Dawson has been increasingly hostile toward him because he is fearful of being overtaken in the ratings, and that during the debate Dawson “kept taking unprofessional potshots at me.”

As a result of the meeting with Price, however, “Mr. Dawson now recognizes that I am here to stay, and he’s not running the whole station,” Bieler said.’

Dawson, though, has a different explanation for what has transpired.

“First of all, it wasn’t really a debate, even though that’s the way the station billed it,” Dawson said. “I simply had Bieler on my show as a guest because he’s not doing too well and I wanted to give him a leg up. I don’t see him as a rival at all.

“After the so-called ‘debate,’ he came up to me and threatened to beat up both me and my producer. He accused us of running some sort of anti-Ed Bieler spy ring here at the station, a conspiracy to hurt his talk show.

“He’s not doing too well, and that accounts for the paranoia I think he’s experiencing right now.”

Bieler admitted he lost his temper with Dawson but denied he accused his rival of organizing a spy ring at the station. And of Dawson’s claim that Bieler is suffering in the ratings, Bieler said, “He’s full of bleep. The ratings I’m getting in that time slot are the best we’ve ever had.”