Something to Say? Bring It, and a Checkbook, to KCEO

For $600 an hour, you--yes, even you--can have your own radio show.

This is the age when both television and radio are opening their studios to the public. From community access television channels to “infomercials,” those annoying half-hour advertisements on cable television, the airwaves are filled with average folks and businesses using the media for their own purposes.

Instead of Big Brother dictating what the audience will see and hear, little sister, the cousin down the street and just about anybody with a product to pitch is programming television and radio. Communications experts, the ones who sit around at schools and seriously discuss the future, warned us this would happen.

The $600-an-hour deal comes from KCEO-AM (1000), a small North County radio station that sells air time like a used-car dealership. Weekdays it focuses on a business and financial news format. But from 8 a.m. to midnight on weekends, and three hours daily during the week, the programming is supplied by people willing to pay for the time.

Prices vary, but a prime weekend slot costs about $600 an hour. The producers can then turn around and sell up to 12 minutes of air time for ads to help recoup their expenses.

The result is, in some ways, like the block programming of old radio, when variety was king and stations didn’t have a single-format theme. KCEO’s program list is a hodgepodge, a potpourri of bizarre subjects and specialized shows. Programs cover diabetes, financial planning, thoroughbred racing, the occult and nutrition, among other topics.

The system has been in effect for about two years, and has been a good deal for KCEO, which is hardly a ratings powerhouse. It provides programming at no cost to the station, in addition to guaranteed income.

“We’ve stuck with it because it’s good for us and it’s good for people,” said KCEO sales manager Peter Gray, who acknowledged that, “from a financial standpoint, it can be lucrative.”

KCEO’s programs are different than infomercials because people don’t just “pitch their wares,” Gray said. In addition, independent producers have to commit to a minimum of 26 weeks of programs, he said.

Of course, the system can lead to some confusion. When Rick Moore, the communications director at San Diego State University received a call from a KCEO salesman, he thought he was being asked to appear as a guest on a show.

“It was not clear until he started asking questions that they wanted us to pay for the time,” Moore said.

Gray attributes Moore’s confusion to a simple misunderstanding.

In an attempt to eliminate as many misunderstandings as possible, the Federal Communications Commission has established specific guidelines on these types of practices.

When any person or company buys time on a radio station, the station must make the source of the programming clear to the audience, according to an FCC spokesman. The FCC recently fined a station in Pomona for failing to disclose that two financial experts had paid for the right to appear on a talk.

Gray said KCEO runs a disclaimer before or after each purchased show: “The proceeding (or following) program has been sponsored by . . . “

“The idea is to let the public know when they are being persuaded and who they are being persuaded by,” said Roger Holberg, assistant chief of the FCC’s complaint and investigations branch. “There is no distinction made if it is a commercial or programming with some other intent.”

I’ve seen Michael Tuck, and Herb Cawthorne is no Michael Tuck. But he’s trying. In terms of style, his commentaries for KGTV (Channel 10) are clones of Tuck’s “Perspectives.” He cocks his head toward the camera, uses the harsh language and strikes the same tone of righteous indignation that made Tuck the avenging angel of the airwaves.

Thus far, though, there has been more style than substance to his commentaries. Thursday night he discussed a phone scam, complete with still pictures of Cawthorne dialing the number.

Cawthorne’s profound comment: “Is this a rotten, dirty rip-off or what?”

At least in the taped commentaries, he comes across as reasonably articulate, and he definitely states his position. Cawthorne’s work as an anchor is a different story. Used only on the updates that air on the CNN Headline News channel, he is almost a parody of an anchor, unsure of when to punch words and when to pause. He is stumbling and awkward as he struggles with the TelePrompter.

Tuck’s anchor seat at Channel 10 is still warm, but KNSD-TV (Channel 39) is already promoting Denise Yamada and Marty Levin as “the most consistent anchor team” in San Diego. At last week’s luncheon to promote its fall season, a solid 10 on the schmooze-meter, Levin was referred to as the “senior player” in San Diego, now that Tuck is gone, and Yamada said that “people come and go, but you have got to look at who is staying.” Apparently Yamada can be counted among those staying, although there were rumors to the contrary. The station reportedly picked up an option on her contract earlier this year, and there apparently are no plans to make a change. “Marty and Denise are our team,” station General Manager Neil Derrough said. . . .

Leave it to XTRA-FM (91X) to use its most loyal listeners as fodder for pranks and practical jokes. Last week the station was playing games with callers requesting songs, putting some on conference calls with other callers and telling others they had the wrong number. The taped calls were then replayed on the air. Only 91X would think it logical to play mind games with devoted listeners. As if the 91X disc jockeys are not annoying enough. . . .

KFMB-TV (Channel 8) has filed a complaint against the San Diego police officer who climbed on the station’s van and put his hand over the camera lens during a live broadcast from the site of a plane crash on California 163 last Monday. “We’re investigating,” said SDPD spokesman Bill Robinson. . . .

KUSI-TV (Channel 51), which had hoped to have a 10 p.m. newscast on the air by Sept. 10, has pushed back the start-up date. They’re now shooting for later this month. . . . Morning guy Jack Diamond is off the air at KSON-FM (97.3). He left to take a job with a Top 40 station in Washington, D.C., his home town. . . . Channel 10 couldn’t resist blowing its own horn Thursday night, providing viewers of the 11 p.m. newscast with exclusive coverage of the station’s 6:30 newscast, a “video post card” to troops overseas. “We’ve done something special here at Channel 10,” anchorwoman Carol LeBeau modestly reported. . . . Call it counter-programming. KTTV (Channel 11) is airing “Rocky and Bullwinkle” at 11 a.m., opposite the local news. . . . KFMB-FM (B100) and KFMB-AM (760) are trading news people. Pat Gaffey, once a member of the Morning Zoo, is switching to the AM; Marilyn Hyder is going to B100.