SUDDEN, DRASTIC CHANGES AT KMET

“It’s business as normal,” KMET-FM (94.7) music programmer Greg Davis told The Times by telephone Friday.

But it was anything but normal in the ears of listeners.

KMET apparently disposed of its entire on-air staff on Friday, just as classical music stations KFAC-AM and FM virtually cleared out its entire on-air staff a month ago. KMET, the perennial rock outlet, converted to an all-music/no personalities format without any warning to its audience or its staff. “They’re not going to be on the air today,” Davis said of Cynthia Fox, Rick Lewis, Jim Ladd and all the other deejays who have broadcast from Metromedia Square in Hollywood for several years.

“That’s all I know,” Davis continued. “Basically, I’ve given you all that I know and no matter who I transfer you to, they’re not going to know anything more than what I’ve just told you.”

KMET General Manager Howard Bloom was in New York and inaccessible, according to Davis who refused to answer further questions about the sudden and drastic changes at the station.

The only other hints came from listening for promotional spots that began airing Friday between the standard album-oriented rock fare that KMET has been serving up since it emerged as an Arbitron Ratings leader in the early ‘70s. The spots advise the KMET audience to “listen in eight days.”

KMET, which was consistently among the 10 most listened-to stations in Los Angeles, dropped to its lowest ebb in 10 years during the fall quarter, according to the Arbitron Ratings survey. The station finished 20th in the Los Angeles market.

“I don’t know, but I can speculate that it’s the ratings,” one former KMET employee said of the radical changeover. “There’s not enough room in this town for all these stations, especially with KLSX coming on board.”

During the past year, several Los Angeles stations have converted to a “classic rock” format in order to attract so-called yuppie-upscale listeners who grew up in the ‘60s. Until now, that type of rock music was generally available only on “oldies” outlet KRTH-FM (101.1), KMET and its arch-rival, KLOS-FM (95.5). With the proliferation of stations like KLSX-FM (97.1) and KNX-FM (93.1) seeking out the KMET audience, the station has dropped lower and lower in the ratings.

KFAC did a similar housecleaning the first week in January for many of the same apparent reasons: to effect a drastic format change that could attract more listeners and translate into higher Arbitron ratings.

Carl Princi, Fred Crane and several other announcers who had been on the air for years were dismissed without warning.

The last veteran of the old KFAC, “Evening Concert” host Tom Cassidy, bows out today on the station. The 8-10 p.m. program, sponsored by the Southern California Gas Co., will no longer have Cassidy as its host. He was with the station for more than 40 years.