Prager to Take Over KABC Evening Slot : Radio: Media moralist’s appeal with younger audience bumps Ira Fistell from the 9 p.m.-midnight shift. Other scheduling changes are expected.

As part of a continuing effort to appeal to a younger audience, KABC-AM (790) is dropping longtime talk-show host Ira Fistell and will replace him in the weeknight schedule with media moralist Dennis Prager, who currently hosts a weekend show at the station.

After nearly 15 years at the station, Fistell, an expert in American history, was scheduled to broadcast his last show Wednesday night. Dodgers baseball games are scheduled Thursday and Friday night, so Prager will take over the 9 p.m.-midnight slot on Monday, KABC General Manager George Green said.

“Ira’s been a great contribution and talent at the facility for almost 15 years and he’s been very successful all these years, but here again we feel we have a better choice,” Green said.

He said that Fistell’s ratings had slipped and that he wasn’t drawing as many listeners in the coveted 25-to-54 age range as Prager does. Fistell could not be reached for comment.

“The kind of show that Dennis does is capable of drawing down into a much younger demographic because of his philosophical slant,” Green said. “It’s a much broader-type show and he’s a high-impact person who cuts across every demographic.”

Prager is a conservative lecturer and author who deals with theological and philosophical issues and applies them to discussions of politics, morality, ethics and values. He had been on from 9 p.m. to midnight on Saturdays and 7 p.m. to midnight on Sundays.

“For talk radio to survive and flourish, you can’t talk about arcane points of American history, you have to be more current,” said a KABC insider who asked not to be identified. “(Fistell’s show) seems to appeal to very old people who like to look back and, unfortunately, that’s not the direction that anybody wants to go in. . . . I think (management) probably believes if you have a good, vibrant, contemporary show, you’re not going to lose old people and you’ll probably attract younger people.”

Meanwhile, KABC sources said that the station will be retooling its daily personnel lineup in August, although Green refused to comment on the matter.

The sources said that the morning schedule will remain intact, but in the afternoon, Steve Edwards will move up from his 3-7 p.m. slot to 1-3 p.m, discussing only current events and not sports, as he has been doing from 5-7 p.m. Psychologist David Viscott will move from his current 1-3 p.m. slot to 7-9 p.m. Peter Tilden, now on 7-9 p.m., will take over Edwards’ 3-7 p.m. time slot with comedy and interviews, the sources said.