KMET GETS THE DINOSAUR OFF ITS BACK

The times they are a’changing (finally) at KMET-FM.

Once the Mighty Met, the dominant force in ‘70s L.A. rock radio, KMET has fallen on hard times, reaching a new low in the fall Arbitron ratings, where the station dipped to a 1.6 overall rating share, placing it No. 20 in the local market. That compares with KROQ-FM, which ranked No. 7 in local radio--and tops in album-rock stations--with a 3.9 rating and KLOS-FM, which ranked No. 15, with a 2.3 rating.

However, with KMET in the ratings cellar, new program director Frank Cody has quickly begun to dismantle the station’s dreary dinosaur-rock format and replace it with a healthy dose of new music. In recent weeks, listeners have been treated to regular doses of such new-music faves as the Screaming Gypsy Messiahs, Iggy Pop, World Party, the Smithereens, the Venetians, Timbuk 3, Crowded House, David & David, the Rainmakers and Don Dixon.

The station has also added an adventuresome Sunday night new-music show hosted by Deirdre O’Donoughue, beefed up its live-interview schedule (the best ones by savvy mid-day deejay Cynthia Fox) and brought back veteran jock Jim Ladd, who’s in his old 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. slot.

KMET’s Cody, a refreshingly candid radio veteran who came to the station late last year, is the first to admit that KMET is in dire need of a boost. “Without a doubt, this station needs a new direction,” he acknowledged. “I think KMET had kind of gotten stuck in the past. What we really want to do is get out of formula radio. The station had its greatest success when it was a trailblazing station, taking chances and setting the pace. When it started to become more conservative, it became just what it had always been against--the Establishment.”

Cody, who was a program director at KLOS nearly a decade ago before moving to NBC, where he ran the Source Network and the Entertainment Network there, also blamed the station’s ratings demise on KMET’s reliance on outside programmers. “For a while here, there were a lot of programmers coming in from other cities, who brought in their own playlists, which just didn’t work here,” he said. “They forgot that the big successes in almost any market--and you can see it here on KPWR-FM (Power 106), KIIS-FM and KROQ--have been the stations that played predominately new music.

“It’s going to be big rebuilding process. But I think album-rock radio has to be revamped significantly if it’s going to survive.”

With that in mind, Cody has his deejays “pounding” a host of young bands and recently adopted the slogan--”94.7 New Rock”--a take-off on the station’s dial position which also symbolizes the station’s emphasis on new music.

Not every new wrinkle is working yet. The station still plays a hefty amount of early ‘80s music, which it defines as new music. And Ladd’s show still leans heavily toward ‘70s rock and features far too much rambling commentary. (Last week, for example, he gave an impassioned speech about radio’s responsibility to break new ground--and then played Queen’s aging “Radio Ga-Ga.”)

But Cody insists KMET is on the road back to respectability. “We’re going to be playing lots of new bands and making lots of new discoveries,” he said. “With the kind of ratings we’ve had lately, we have nothing to lose by being assertive and aggressive.”