LARRY BRUCE IS LEAVING KGB-FM FOR A JOB IN L.A.

No one rocks San Diego like KGB, and no one rocks KGB-FM (101.5) like Larry Bruce.

But it was announced Monday that program director Bruce is leaving the local album-oriented rock (AOR) station in mid-February to take over programming chores at KMET-FM (94.7) in Los Angeles.

KMET was once one of the top-rated stations in Los Angeles, but for 10 years now its ratings have steadily eroded. “And the reason they hired me is they were looking for someone to turn the situation around,” Bruce said.

Local radio observers are predicting KGB will have a tough time retaining its dominant position in the local radio market, a position it first attained shortly after Bruce’s arrival here in August, 1980.

Indeed, following music director Ted Edwards’ departure this month, KGB will soon be without its two most important programming forces.

And even KGB general manager Tom Baker admits that the Bruce/Edwards team was largely responsible for KGB’s success. When Bruce took over five years ago, KGB’s Arbitron ratings survey gave the station a 5.2 percentage share of available listeners. Since then, Baker said, the station has consistently surpassed that, with rankings as high as 9.6--enough to make KGB one of the top-rated AOR stations in the country.

“Larry is one of the premier program directors in the country, and of course it’s unfortunate to lose him,” Baker said. “We’re all going to have to work a little harder now, especially until we find someone to replace him.”

Also working a little harder in coming months will be rival rock station XTRA-FM (91X), always eager to take advantage of any momentary weaknesses in its competitors.

“Certainly, the loss of Bruce is not going to help them,” said 91X chief John T. Lynch. “They do have the many years of being the top rock station here in town, so it could be a long time before they start to suffer. But finding a replacement is a very critical move for them, and if they don’t choose the right person, they could very easily fall apart.

“And, of course, in the meantime we’re going to continue our already-high levels of spending in the way of promotions and advertising and see if they change anything.”

Still, KGB’s Tom Baker maintains he’s not too worried.

“KGB will weather the storm,” he said. “We have probably the best research department in the city, we have the best research consultant in the business, and the plans and the systems that Larry and Ted initiated are not going away.

“To find the best talent to replace Larry and Ted, we will go anywhere we have to. Not only is this a very important move for us to make, but these two positions have got to be among the primo jobs in the country.”