KVSD-AM BETS ON NEWS-TALK FORMAT

Jeff Chandler, who owns radio station KVSD-AM (1000), sees himself as a David, up against a mighty Goliath.

Two months ago, tiny KVSD--which broadcasts from Vista and can be heard countywide--dropped the oldies format it had carried for nearly a year and began airing a mix of news and talk shows, many of them syndicated by the ABC Radio Network.

Chandler’s goal: To boost KVSD’s anemic ratings by breaking the news-talk monopoly that KSDO-AM (1130), one of San Diego’s most popular radio stations, has enjoyed for more than a decade.

“At the time of our switch, there were eight stations in the San Diego market playing oldies, but only one, KSDO, with a news-talk format,” Chandler said.

“So we figured we could be much more successful by competing against one station instead of seven.”

“We did some research and found a tremendous demand for news-talk radio in all parts of San Diego County,” added morning news anchor Gary McEvoy, who is also KVSD’s program director.

“In North County alone, upwards of 100,000 people a day regularly listen to some form of news-talk radio, mostly on KSDO. But neither KSDO nor KNX-AM and KABC-AM, the two Los Angeles news-talk stations with signals strong enough to be picked up down here, adequately cover North County.

“So if we can get across to these people that we can give them all the North County news they need--along with the same caliber of talk shows as KSDO--we’ll have it made.”

It’s still too early to tell whether Chandler’s strategy will work. The number of KVSD’s North County listeners rose 20% in the latest Arbitron survey, but its audience is still only 10% of KSDO’s.

Both Chandler and McEvoy are optimistic.

“Many of the ABC talk shows we’re broadcasting continually get high ratings in bigger markets like Los Angeles,” McEvoy said. “And since this is the first time these shows can be heard in San Diego, we’re very excited by the potential.”

Like KSDO, KVSD’s weekday broadcast schedule starts with local and national news, with McEvoy and Rob Branch, from 6 to 9 a.m.

Next, from 9-11 a.m., is Doug Carrick’s locally produced talk show--up against KSDO’s Roger Hedgecock, former mayor of San Diego. Recent guests on Carrick’s show included Rep. Ron Packard, black activist the Rev. George Walker Smith, and representatives from the Police Officers Assn., San Diego Gas & Electric and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

Every other Thursday, beginning May 7, San Diego Police Officer Matt Weathersby will join Carrick for “Behind the Badge,” which McEvoy described as “a forum for the San Diego Police Department to communicate with the public on a variety of topical issues.”

Each show will feature one or more special guests connected with the Police Department, McEvoy added, such as Chief Bill Kolender, who will sit in with Carrick and Weathersby on Thursday for the series’ one-hour preview, which starts at 9 a.m.

Also included in KVSD’s broadcast day is syndicated ABC talk show host Michael Jackson; ABC’s Dr. Dean Edell, answering medical questions, and “Dollars and Sense,” geared toward the financial investors who listen to Bill Holland’s “Money Talks” on KSDO.

On weekends, there’s a mix of other talk shows, most of them syndicated, that deal with such topics as finances, nutrition, child psychology, gardening, senior citizens and law.

“On top of that, every hour we have national news updates, provided by ABC, and local newscasts that we produce ourselves,” McEvoy said.

McEvoy concedes that this is not the first time a San Diego County radio station has attempted to boost its ratings by adopting a news-talk format similar to KSDO’s.

In 1983, KCNN-AM (1360) dropped its Top 40 format--and its KGB-AM call letters--and subscribed to Ted Turner’s nationally syndicated Cable News Network.

Two years later, KOGO-AM (600) gave up on adult-contemporary (A/C) and hired broadcast veteran Joe Gillespie to assemble an expansive in-house news staff.

Each attempt failed after a little more than a year, but McEvoy isn’t worried about a similar fate for KVSD.

Nor is KSDO’s program director, Jack Merker, concerned about the new competition.

“Their signal might reach down here, but not enough to make a difference,” Merker said. “And from what little I’ve listened, they’re merely trying to copy what we’re doing, which doesn’t offer listeners much in the way of an alternative.”