MEDIA : It’s Hard to Tell Players --Even With a Program

With “defections” becoming almost commonplace, it’s hard to tell the players in the morning radio ratings race without a program these days.

After years of relative consistency, with proven champions, now almost every major FM station has a new morning team, creating a wide-open field.

“Berger and Prescott” jumped from KGB-FM (101.5) to rock rival XTRA-FM (91X) two months ago, sparking a series of annoying “defection” advertisements. Ten days ago, perennial power KFMB-FM (B100) dumped the “B-Morning Zoo,” once the most popular morning team in the city, to hire “Jeff and Jer” from rival KKYY-FM (Y95). Almost the same day, KKLQ (Q106), after six months of program director Garry Wall’s perky show, announced that it has hired John Murphy from Portland to fill the morning slot.

KGB will officially enter the competition in the next few weeks with newly hired Dave Rickards from KRFX-FM in Denver, who will team with Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph. (Fill-in Jim McInnes will go back to afternoons.)

There have been so many changes recently “it’s a real prime time for everybody who loves morning radio to pick the show they like,” said KGB program director Ted Edwards. “It’s a real opportunistic situation.”

Although some of the names may be familiar, there is bound to be a tremendous amount of dial switching, as people match their favorite show with their favorite music.

Y95 took “Jeff and Jer” off the air last week, even though their contract runs until the end of April. The prevailing logic in these situations is simple: Why publicize the competition’s new morning team by keeping them on the air?

Y95, which has lost its morning, midday and evening disc jockeys in recent months, in addition to its program director, will probably wait until next month, when new program director Robert John takes over, before naming a new morning team.

“There are some holes in this market in the morning,” said Y95 general manager Carolyn Howe. “We won’t be looking for another ‘Jeff and Jer.’ There are some other opportunities for styles not in this market.”

That means former KCBQ morning guy John Forsythe, who is currently handling mornings for Y95, probably won’t get the permanent assignment. Forsythe may be a veteran of local radio wars, but he didn’t light up the airwaves at KCBQ and he doesn’t have the type of charisma necessary to make waves in San Diego’s competitive morning field.

The mornings are the most important time block in radio, generating the largest audiences and revenue, in addition to helping establish a personality for the station.

“It’s prime time,” said KFMB General Manager Paul Palmer. “You have an ability to do things in the morning you can’t do any other time of day.”

Of the five nominees for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award, only “Camille Claudel” has screened in San Diego.

Gary Meyer, president of Landmark Theaters, operator of the Cove, Guild, Ken and Guild theaters in San Diego, said he simply didn’t have any screens available for “Cinema Paradiso,” which has been drawing raves in Los Angeles. Its San Diego debut (other than a one-shot Cinema Society screening) at the Cove has been pushed back to April 6 to allow Landmark to capitalize on the Oscar success of “My Left Foot,” which has begun a three-week run at the Cove.

Of the other nominees, Meyer said “Jesus of Montreal” has finally found a distributor but probably won’t make its way to San Diego until summer at the earliest. The other two, “Santiago, the Story of His New Life” and “Waltzing Regitre,” don’t have distributors in the United States yet, and have only been seen at film festivals.

Breaking from tradition, KFMB-TV (Channel 8) won’t be sponsoring entries in this year’s local Emmy competition, forcing staffers to pay the $60 to $80 entry fee themselves. Last year, the station budgeted about $3,000 for entries, but the hassle of selecting entries and a general dislike of the whole process prompted the change, according to news director Jim Holtzman. Since award-hungry staffers still will be making entries, the station will probably be left out of only the “Outstanding News Station” category. The new policy can’t please the station’s promotions department, which heavily touted last year’s Emmy success. . . .

The advance Arbitron ratings for the winter period show a slight tightening of the news ratings race. According to Arbitron (which tends to differ slightly from the as-of-yet unreleased Neilsens), Channel 8 is only one rating point behind Channel 10 at 5 p.m.; two behind at 11 p.m. Channel 39 posted respectable 6 rating shares for its half-hour newscasts at 5 and 6 p.m., although each trailed the competition by miles. Channel 39 was one point behind Channel 8 at 11 p.m. . . .

Yet another glaring weakness of KNSD-TV’s (Channel 39) split half-hour newscasts is the lack of time to devote to major breaking stories, such as the death last week of former Chargers’ owner Gene Klein. While Channels 8 and 10 spent eight or nine minutes on Klein at the top of their 5 p.m. newscasts, Channel 39 was able to do only three or four minutes, outside of token coverage later in the abbreviated sports segment. During the same 5 p.m. newscast, Channel 39 teased at least three stories that would only air during the 6 p.m. newscast. . . .

“For all his wealth, Eugene V. Klein was remembered yesterday for the delight he took in filching the silverware in restaurants,” began a San Diego Union story on Thursday. Catchy, except Klein was not “filching” silverware in restaurants, he was “flipping” silverware to amuse his grandchildren, according to a correction in Friday’s sports section. A poor quality audio tape was blamed for the mistake. . . .

When disc jockey Dan Springfield joined the air staff of KJQY-FM (103.7), he wanted, for once, to use his real name, which is Gary McEarl. But management said no, and he understood, especially since he’s built up some name recognition in town as Dan Springfield, after a recent stint with Y95, among others. So they compromised. He’s now Gary Springfield. . . .

Last year the Channel 10 news department produced a one-hour special on Academy Award night featuring three interviews with local celebs. The program didn’t exactly jump off the screen. Perhaps looking for a kinder, gentler show, this year Channel 10 management assigned the project to the “Inside San Diego” staff. The guests are Roger Hedgecock, San Diego Union cartoonist and nightclub comedian Steve Kelley and former Channel 8 anchorwoman Allison Ross, who will discuss her problems with manic depression. Both Ross and Hedgecock reportedly have talked to Channel 10 about employment. The show airs next Monday night, after the Academy Awards telecast and the annual Barbara Walters chatfest . . .

The March 19 issue of Time magazine includes a profile of San Diego’s “powerful troika of female leadership”--Mayor Maureen O’Connor, publisher Helen Copley and Padres owner Joan Kroc--which reads like a press release. Except for the penultimate paragraph, which acknowledges that “not everyone is enamored” of the trio, it is a glowing tribute to three of the more high-profile figures in the city. The only sources directly quoted are San Diego Tribune editor (and Copley employee) Neil Morgan and former Ernie Hahn flack Sonny Sturn.