LOCAL ELECTIONS / L.A. MAYOR : Riordan, Wachs Do Not Wait for Bargain Rates, Begin Ad Pitches

Hold on to your remote controls. Ad wars are about to break out in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

The fiercely competitive contest--which has attracted a record-breaking field of 24 candidates, 11 of them prominent--has so far offered little in the way of broadcast advertising.

That is expected to change today, as Richard Riordan and Joel Wachs begin their media blitz and Nick Patsaouras steps up his ad campaign. Michael Woo, Richard Katz and Nate Holden are expected to begin hitting the airwaves within the next few weeks.

So intense is the campaign that several major candidates are not waiting until Saturday when special bargain rates kick in for political ads on radio and TV.

“It is a measure of the fierce competition,” said Jay Severin, a New York media consultant to Wachs. But other campaigns, including that of Katz, a Democratic state assemblyman, believe that making major media buys now is wasteful because the public has yet to focus on the race.

Under FCC rules, TV stations are required beginning Saturday--45 days before the April 20 primary--to offer low rates to political candidates. Rates can drop 40% or more. The cost of a 30-second spot during the 11 p.m. newscast can drop from $3,300 to $2,500, said one TV executive.

But Wachs, Riordan and Patsaouras are not waiting for the cheaper rates.

“Conventional wisdom says that people don’t make up their minds until the last minute,” Severin said. “But we know, and I presume our opponents know, that there is a very vital universe out there of high-propensity voters who are forming or solidifying their impressions now.

“Many of the candidates are in a position that they simply cannot afford to be silent as other people are making a pitch to these voters,” Severin added. “That’s why you’ve got four people on radio and TV at a fairly substantial cost.”

Wachs has plunked down $100,000 on a radio ad that begins airing today.

The 60-second spot features unidentified Wachs supporters offering their views of the candidate. It was taped at a recent Wachs campaign event.

With a huge personal fortune, Riordan could afford to begin advertising before the cheaper rates kick in. And he could not afford to wait because polls show that he is still largely unknown among most voters.

A number of radio and TV stations have looked at the unusually large field of mayoral hopefuls and decided to limit political advertising after the bargain rates kick in.

KNBC-TV refused $50,000 in air time sought by Riordan because it would have been obligated to offer all other candidates an opportunity to buy equal time at the bargain rate next week. That would have cost the station money from nonpolitical advertisers paying higher rates.

“If 24 candidates came in and said: ‘I want equal opportunity for the time you sold Riordan,’ and it was a tremendous number of spots, I’d have to sell it,” said Bill Emerson, manager of broadcast standards and practices. “I don’t have that kind of time to sell. That is why I am limiting them.”

As a result, Riordan’s ad will appear only 12 times on KNBC-TV this week, at a cost to the campaign of $14,850, Emerson said.

Advisers to Katz, who represents the eastern San Fernando Valley, say they are figuring out how to adapt to such limits.

“The practical effect is that it’s going to mean more importance will have to be placed on other ways to get our message to the voters,” said Peter Taylor, Katz’s campaign manager.

The other methods include mailers, phone banks and precinct-walking, Taylor said.

“Although we’d like to be able to make more electronic buys, frankly we’re not all that displeased by this turn of events,” Taylor said. Katz, he said, will be able to draw on a large number of volunteers to mount the labor-intensive campaign of door-to-door contacts with voters.

The Katz campaign expects to be a top advertiser, but Taylor would not divulge when its commercials will air.

The broadcast limits will diminish the impact of money on the campaign, Taylor said: “Nobody is going to be able to come in at the last minute and blow the other candidates away with huge media buys.”