KLVE-FM Romances to the Top : Radio: The Spanish-language station surges to the No. 1 spot while KNX-AM benefits from gavel-to-gavel Simpson coverage.

It is said that in spring, a young man’s fancy turns to love.

But, on the radio, a taste for love songs seems to have dominated the winter months, according to a local Arbitron ratings survey released Thursday.

KLVE-FM (107.5), a Spanish-language station that recently retooled its format to focus heavily on romantic ballads, leapfrogged to the No. 1 spot during the period between Jan. 5 and March 29.

Spanish-language radio has been at the top of the Southern California charts for nearly three years, but, before this, KLAX-FM (97.9) had cornered the Spanish-language market. This time around, KLAX fell to third, suggesting that the popularity of its format--largely centered around the up-tempo dance music known as banda --may be on the wane.

“The cycle seems to be showing that dance music is somewhat on the decline, and, when that happens, love songs are generally what the audience moves to,” said Bill Tanner, vice president of Heftel Broadcasting, which owns KLVE and KTNQ-AM (1020). “People have moods--maybe they’re putting a little more love in their lives and a little less dance.”

KLVE, which had been No. 11 in the last quarterly survey with 3% of the audience, attracted 5.2% this time out.

Officials at KLVE attributed their jump in listeners to the format change begun about six months ago, which has largely focused on love songs by such performers as Luis Miguel, Cristian and Los Bukis.

“We’ve gone out to the listeners and found out what they wanted to hear,” Tanner said. “They wanted the station to be in more of a romantic vein. It’s the old story that everybody loves a love song.”

KLVE’s duo of Pepe Barreto and Lupita Pena also jumped to the top spot among morning drive-time shows, drawing 5.6% of the audience. Tying for second place with 4.7% were Rick Dees of KIIS-FM (102.7) and news station KNX-AM (1070), whose live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial has given it added ratings clout.

In fourth place during the important morning period was ribald personality Howard Stern of KLSX-FM (97.1), who drew 4.5% of the audience, followed by Tha Baka Boyz on KPWR-FM (105.9) with a 4.4 share. Ken Minyard and Roger Barkley of talk-station KABC-AM (790) drew 4% to tie for sixth place with KKBT-FM’s (92.3) “House Party” show, featuring John London, Dennis Cruz, Shirley Strawberry and Ben Kelly.

KLAX’s morning duo of Juan Carlos Hidalgo and Jesus (El Peladillo) Garcia, who had been the top-rated morning-drive show in the previous quarterly survey, dropped to eighth place.

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Radio Ratings

The area’s Top 25 stations and their Arbitron ratings for January, February and March of this year compared to the fourth quarter of 1994:

CURRENT LAST QUARTER 1. KLVE-FM 5.2 3.0 2. KPWR-FM 5.0 5.5 3. KLAX-FM 4.5 5.6 4. KROQ-FM 4.4 4.5 5. KIIS-FM/AM 4.2 4.1 6. KOST-FM 4.1 4.0 7. KKBT-FM 4.0 3.8 8. KNX-AM 3.7 2.2 9. KFI-AM 3.4 4.6 10. KRTH-FM 3.2 3.8 KBIG-FM 3.2 3.6 12. KZLA-FM 2.8 2.3 13. KABC-AM 2.6 3.2 KTWV-FM 2.6 2.5 15. KYSR-FM 2.5 2.6 KFWB-AM 2.5 2.5 17. KCBS-FM 2.4 2.4 18. KLOS-FM 2.3 2.7 19. KKHJ-AM 2.2 1.7 20. KLSX-FM 2.1 2.4 KXEZ-FM 2.1 1.9 22. KKGO-FM 1.8 1.3 23. KWKW-AM 1.6 1.5 24. KLAC-AM 1.5 1.7 25. KRLA-AM 1.4 1.5

The ratings survey covers people 12 and older listening between 6 a.m. and midnight, from Jan. 5 to March 29.

Source: Arbitron ratings