Classics Jazz KKGO-FM Ratings : Radio: When the station switched from bop to the three B’s, it began a healing process for classical music devotees.

Saul Levine is feeling real jazzed these days--even though jazz has nothing to do with it.

Levine, the general manager and president of KKGO-FM (105.1), appears to have turned the fortunes of his radio station around--with a little help from Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.

The fact that he angered a devoted audience in the process is of little consequence to him now.

Levine, a soft-spoken radio veteran, staged one of the most controversial radio broadcast changes of recent years in January when he scrapped KKGO’s 30-year-old jazz format for an all-classical music format.

He was denounced by jazz lovers as a traitor who snatched the only powerful local jazz station off the airwaves. But classical music fans embraced Levine as a savior who picked up the baton when KFAC-FM, the city’s commercial classical station, expired, and rock station KKBT boomed on the air in its place.

The decision seems to have paid off for Levine. The audience has increased. And the hate mail has decreased.

He said the reversal was largely due to having fewer commercials than KFAC, the recruitment of longtime KFAC personalities Tom Dixon and Rich Capparela, and the programming of full classical works, not excerpts.

At the time that KKGO dropped the be-bop, classical music fans needed more than a commercial radio station, said Capparela. They needed a healing.

“This year, the classical music audience has really gone through a lot of grief,” said Capparela, the station’s morning announcer. “Having Tom and I on the same staff is a healing element for the rift and the change.”

Capparela was skeptical about coming on board KKGO. “I wasn’t certain of the depth of Saul’s commitment,” he said. “But now I see he really believes in the format. It’s like being home, being among friends.”

Despite the wrath he incurred from jazz loyalists, Levine said he never worried about whether he was making the right move.

“I had no doubt it would work,” Levine said, sitting back comfortably in his spacious West Los Angeles office. “All we did was switch from one art form to another. We have a comfortable percentage of our former audience. I think people feel at home now with what we’re doing.”

But many listeners still are not feeling too homey with the new KKGO.

“It’s undeniable that they left a tremendous void,” said Dale Jaffe, the owner of Le Cafe, a Sherman Oaks restaurant and jazz club. “He deserted one type of music for another. I’m a business man, so I can appreciate when a business person has to make a hard decision. But I’m personally angry about it, and I’m definitely not going to listen to it.”

Ellen Cohn, vice president of sales and marketing for Chase Music Group, a jazz record label, said she didn’t believe that KKGO was more successful as a classical station than a jazz station.

“I would like to see what the ratings are after four quarters,” Cohn said. “That would give a more accurate assessment of what’s happening. I don’t think it’s changed that much.”

She added, “I’m very happy for classical music, but it’s really sad for a city that has such an impact on jazz that there is not one commercial jazz station.”

Not even Levine’s solution of programming all jazz on his AM station, KKJZ (540), has stopped the grumbling. That station, which is located in Hesperia, can barely be heard in Los Angeles without a special receiver. And most listeners have been unwilling to plunk down $150 to get the special box.

Levine has heard all the criticisms about his switches and is aware of the continuing debate. But don’t ask him if he feels guilty.

“Feeling guilt is a poor way of dealing with reality,” Levine said. “If the station could not pay its bills, it could not survive.”

Just maintaining the KKGO offices was costing $25,000 a month, Levine said.

“I love jazz. I worked hard for it,” he said. “When a listener laments and says we were the greatest jazz station in America, I hope they think of the 30 great years we had together.”

He said it was a losing battle to keep jazz going. “It was a diminishing audience, and it’s hard to comprehend why,” Levine said, speaking slowly. “It seems that the growing popularity of jazz has led to the fragmentation of the audience.”

It was too hard to satisfy listeners who wanted traditional jazz along with those who desired to hear more new-age and fusion jazz, Levine said.

“But when we heard about KFAC going under, we knew that concert music was too important an art form to be removed from the L.A. scene,” he said.

Levine is now hearing raves from classical fans.

Henry Frey, president of the Committee for Classical Music, a listener advocate group, said he couldn’t be happier with KKGO. “This station might even be better than KFAC was,” Frey said. “It’s kind of funny how one man, Saul Levine, can influence the cultural life of a whole city. It shows one man can make a difference.”

Arbitron ratings released last month showed KKGO holding steady with its 1% increase in market share last quarter. Its ranking--24th place out of 44 stations--and its 1.4% market share remained the same.

Only about 300,000 listeners a week tuned in to jazz, Levine said. But the audience has since grown to 430,000 listeners a week.

Audibly and physically, KKGO has few traces of its jazz past. In the station’s offices, posters commemorating the station’s 25th anniversary of jazz programming hang on several walls. But all that could be heard on the station’s speakers were sonatas and waltzes.

The city’s former commercial classical music mainstay, KFAC, was purchased in January, 1989, by Evergreen Media Corp. for $55 million, the most ever paid for a classical radio station. Despite being deluged with pleas and letters from KFAC listeners, rumors continued that the classical format was about to be abandoned.

The station changed to a rock format in September. When that format failed to draw a substantial audience, the station switched to an urban contemporary format, which is meeting with more success.

When KFAC was going under, Levine came almost immediately to the rescue. In September, he programmed classical music in the morning and evening hours on KKGO, and jazz fans began to sing the blues.

Before KFAC’s demise, the station had been running announcements telling listeners to tune in to KUSC-FM (91.5) for classical programming. But several listeners were disenchanted with KUSC. They said the station was ignoring traditional classical standards and was trying too hard to attract a younger audience.

“It was a horrible format,”’ said Ellen Stern Harris, vice president of the Committee for Classical Music. “They talked more about music than they played. They would put on this New Age stuff, trying to attract yuppies.”

KUSC General Manager Wallace A. Smith said he was glad that KFAC listeners who had not found his station to their liking were happy with KKGO. He described his station as an operation that was reaching out to an audience that doesn’t ordinarily listen to classical music. “We have a fresher approach,” he said. He said the situation was like an “oldies station going against a more contemporary station.”

He added that he didn’t feel the station was diminishing his audience.

“It’s good that people have an option,” he said. “And it looks to me that their success has not been at our expense. There is a large enough universe to support two classical stations. It helps both of us when both of us are successful.”

Levine said he was dedicated to presenting classical music in a way that “is acceptable to the established listener. But we want to attract the younger listener without driving away the old.”

However, he said he would not play new age, light pops or “Star Trek.” “We will have respect for serious music.”

He also hopes to soon make the jazz fans happy with him again. The Federal Communications Commission has granted a license which will enable Levine to move the KKJZ transmitter to Costa Mesa. He said the signal should be much stronger in about six months.

“We’re here to preserve the culture,” he said. “I’m just glad we didn’t go to rock.”