Power Afternoons : Radio: KIIS deejay Matthew Shearer runs his 2-6 p.m. show like a high-energy, crazed morning program. It’s paid off--he’s the top-ranking afternoon radio personality in L.A.

Some people might accuse KIIS-AM/FM afternoon deejay Matthew (Magic Matt Alan) Shearer of not knowing how to tell time.

That’s because Shearer eschews the mellow, end-of-the-workday attitude of most afternoon deejays and instead runs his 2-6 p.m. show as if it were a morning program, complete with the irreverent humor and crazy stunts associated with that high-energy, get-the-day-started format.

“I believe there’s no reason you can’t do a morning show in the afternoon,” explains the 29-year-old Shearer. “If it’s entertaining, it’s entertaining.”

Says KIIS program director Bill Richards: “He has a lot of the elements that one would expect in morning drive without getting real chatty or real long-winded and getting in the way of the music.”

Shearer’s practice of turning back the hands of time seems to be working. For the past year, he has ranked as the top afternoon radio personality in Los Angeles, drawing larger audiences than his counterparts at arch-rival dance station KPWR-FM or hard-rocking KLOS-FM, according to Arbitron ratings. Only the Los Angeles area’s No. 1 station, KOST-FM, has higher ratings in the afternoon. But, like most adult contemporary stations, KOST is not a personality-driven format.

Perhaps even more startling is the fact that Shearer now draws a larger audience than KIIS powerhouse morning man Rick Dees. In the most recent ratings survey, Shearer attracted 5.5% of the audience, while Dees drew 4.5%.

So might Southern Californians hear Shearer someday during morning-drive time? “If Rick were ever to leave down the road, Matt would certainly be looked at,” Richards said. “You bet.”

The support and higher ratings notwithstanding, Shearer’s name recognition is still much lower than Dees’.

“It’s tough, but I try not to look at it like being in his shadow,” Shearer says. “I know he’s developed a real great following over the years and I want to appeal to those fans too.”

Even before signing on at KIIS, Shearer was used to being the act that followed a huge morning star. Prior to coming to Los Angeles, Shearer worked afternoons at Z-100 in New York, where Scott Shannon was the top-rated personality in the city.

Shearer is philosophical about playing second fiddle. “If I’m doing afternoons, I hope to be able to help the station and even hope to be able to help the morning show,” he says. “We’re all on the same team.”

And though “Magic Matt’s” magician alter-ego sawed Dees in half in August, 1989, the day he debuted as a KIIS personality, the two are friends.

“I have respected Rick’s work on the air for probably nine years,” Shearer says. “This is one of the guys I’ve learned quite a few basics of radio from.”

Perhaps one of those basics is his vocal style. Shearer even sounds something like Dees on the air.

“I have been told I sound like (Dees),” Shearer says. “That’s not so bad in this market since he’s got a lot of listeners. But I don’t want people to confuse me (with Dees).”

Shearer also does not want to be defined by his job playing pop records.

“I hate being referred to as a disc jockey,” he says. “To me that’s just a guy that spins records. I want to be thought of as an entertainer on the radio.”

Despite his tenure at a variety of Top 40 stations, Shearer’s personal listening taste tends away from pop music and toward news-talk. “I wouldn’t mind doing talk radio,” he says. “I find constant music annoying.”

Perhaps it has been his 14 years as a disc jockey at a variety of stations from Seattle to Houston to New York City--not to mention his syndicated show “Party America,” heard on 110 stations nationwide--that has made him tire of listening to popular tunes.

Shearer got his start in show business at the tender age of 10 doing his magic act at the Elks Club in Everett, Wash.

“I guess I was bitten by the performance bug,” he said recently over lunch at a Hollywood eatery. “I loved it on stage. It was such a feeling--not that I fooled them (with magic tricks), but the gratification I felt when they really enjoyed what I did.”

That performance led to more magic shows and even a stint on the ‘70s hit program “The Gong Show.” Shearer still regularly appears locally at clubs like the Magic Castle in Hollywood and performs magic tricks at most of his public appearances, which average about 15 per month. Those appearances include weekly station gimmicks called “Saw Your Boss in Half,” as well as volunteer magic shows at children’s hospitals and at anti-drug school assemblies.

Even though one of his favorite pastimes is crooning “That Old Black Magic” while swallowing razor blades, don’t call Shearer a magician.

“I’m a magical entertainer,” he explains.

Shearer’s aspirations have always been grander than simply performing magic or spinning discs.

“I always had these huge goals since I was 10 years old,” he says. “My goal at 10 was to be more famous than Johnny Carson. I don’t know if that’s really as important to me anymore. . . . My goal is to do the best I can possibly do in show business.”

And that includes someday trying his hand at acting.

“I like the idea--and this is going to sound nuts because it’s unrelated to what I do--but I would like to do a movie or two,” he says. “Or maybe a sitcom. I’ve seen a few sitcoms where I really think I could do a better job. I want more out of this business than being perceived as a disc jockey.”