Lifeless L.A. Radio

Perusing the latest Arbitron ratings (“Stern’s Back on Top in L.A. Market,” April 20), I am once again reminded of the sorry state of Los Angeles radio: sterile, lifeless and directionless.

Los Angeles radio has lost its personality, its warmth, its color. While new stations such as KCBS-FM (“Arrow 93”) offer a fresh approach to music programming, it’s still just a bunch of songs played in a different order every few hours--a mass-market design by a big-business broadcast consulting firm, no doubt.

What happened to radio? What happened to the verve and vitality that made taking your favorite radio station with you everywhere so exciting and personal?

Perhaps the greatest sin in local radio has been the disappearance of the “Doctor Demento Show.” The Good Doctor is sorely missed by his multi-generational legion of fans here in the show’s home base.

Come on, L.A. radio! If this is the theater of the mind, I’m not sticking around for the encore.

BART WILTON

Los Angeles