Watching Radio : NBC’s ‘FM’ Goes to Santa Monica Public Station for Inspiration

Emmy-winning television writer-producers Allan Burns and Dan Wilcox may be the quintessential public radio fans. Avid listeners and supporters of KCRW-FM (89.9), Santa Monica College’s eclectic public radio station, they have willingly anted up during the fund-raising drives that fuel such non-commercial operations. And this year the MTM Enterprises team dug a little deeper and came up with . . . a new comedy series loosely based on characters and situations at their favorite station.

The half-hour NBC show, “FM,” premieres Thursday at 9:30 p.m., then moves to Wednesday nights at the same time for four more weeks. If the ratings are good enough, the series probably will be renewed for a midseason return.

Veterans Burns (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”) and Wilcox (“MASH” and “Newhart”) are well aware of the irony of a commercial network sitcom about non-commercial radio. It didn’t start out that way, however.

“We wanted to do an ensemble show about a divorced guy surrounded by a lot of women: his ex-wife, boss, daughter, assistant, etc. Our first format was an American embassy in Belize, but when we pitched that idea to (NBC programming chief) Brandon Tartikoff, we could almost see his eyes glaze over with boredom,” Burns said.

“So we came up with several other premises. We especially loved the idea of a show set in Washington, and the public radio angle sort of evolved from that. The more we thought about it, the more excited we got, and when we visited KCRW we looked around and said, ‘This is absolutely what our set should look like.’ ”

Just how much of KCRW makes it to the small screen? The physical look does, at least; after much research time at KCRW studios, the pair ordered a set uncannily like the real thing, complete even to KCRW’s trademark Matisse prints on the walls. They also “borrowed” several key station staffers as rough models for their main characters, most notably music director Tom Schnabel, general manager Ruth Hirschman and “Le Show” host Harry Shearer.

Robert Hays plays “FM’s” central character, program director Ted Costas, who presides over a music program, “Long Day’s Journey Into Lunch,” that KCRW listeners may find akin to Schnabel’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic.” The Hirschman character, here a black former ‘60s socialist activist now establishment-oriented, is played by Lynne Thigpen.

And while Shearer was asked to play himself, according to Burns, “he said he didn’t want to reveal the way he does his show, so he respectfully bowed out. John Kassir will do the part--he has a certain weird, Andy Kaufman quality we thought would appeal.”

Aside from locale and characters, it remains to be seen how much of KCRW’s public radio concept “FM” will incorporate. Burns acknowledges that there are network considerations. “Brandon had reservations about whether viewers would understand what listener-supported radio was, although we think they’ll get it quickly.”

“If viewers only understand that this is an eclectic station with hard news, comedy and different kinds of music, that’s enough,” Wilcox said. “Public radio is not the purpose of our show; it’s really just the background for stories that are about relationships among the characters.”

Hirschman, who viewed half of one episode, said, “They’ve captured the KCRW look precisely, but I haven’t seen enough of it to know what else they’ve captured and I’m trying to keep a certain distance from it. That’s not me up there--that character is strictly the creation of the two guys. If it was my show, I’d do a documentary. Any ten minutes at KCRW is probably more interesting than anything you could possibly invent.

“But the show doesn’t have to have anything to do with the reality of our station. They should have their artistic vision and creative freedom just like any artist. Like everyone else in the business, I’m curious about what their vision of public radio is, but I don’t know what to expect. I think the biggest thing this show can do for us is attract a new audience, and I’m hoping it will help to do that. I look at it as a great promotional opportunity and now we want to take out ads saying, ‘Hear the real thing.’ ”

Schnabel said he had given the producers “some funny situations and anecdotes about what goes on here, but whether they use them or not is another matter.” Nor did he know what sort of music mix the Robert Hays character will use on his show, “so I don’t know how authentic it will be or how it reflects KCRW’s or any other public radio station’s format. But I wish them the best of luck.”

The unusual summer start-up for “FM” came about as a compromise deal made with Tartikoff.

“We made a good pilot and we were confused when the show didn’t get on NBC’s fall schedule,” Burns said. “Brandon said he liked it but it didn’t test well. It turned out that nothing had tested really well at NBC for fall.

“We pointed out that a number of classic hit shows like ‘Mary (Tyler Moore),’ ‘MASH’ and ‘All in the Family’ also didn’t test well. So much for testing. We said, ‘Why do you pay so much attention to testing? If you like a show, why isn’t that good enough for you?’ Then he offered us this challenge to do four more episodes for late-summer scheduling, with a promise to give us a good time slot and heavy promotion. We accepted the challenge and I’m happy we did.”

Although Hirschman and Schnabel received no financial compensation for their input and neither one is a consultant on the show, Wilcox said, “We’ve consulted Tom in a very preliminary way because we know he has this encyclopedic mind about music. You can go to the Schwann Catalogue or you can go to Tom.”

“I don’t think Hays will be that kind of personality,” Burns added. “The other day I heard Tom interviewing a musician from Zaire in French, while giving a simultaneous English translation. It boggles the mind. He’s a Sorbonne and UCLA-educated disc jockey who’s a lifeguard on the weekends--you write that into a script and no one would believe it.”

Does Schnabel see himself in Hays character? “I hope not,” he said. “I’m a bachelor but I wouldn’t want to be in the position of working with an ex-wife and a sultry, tempting assistant. It’s enough for me to try to pronounce the Swahili musicians’ names right.”