President of KUSC Quits Trouble-Plagued Station

The longtime and, in recent years, controversial president and general manager of KUSC-FM (91.5) and its university affiliate radio network has unexpectedly resigned after nearly a quarter-century at the station’s helm.

Wallace A. Smith said KUSC “needs new ideas and a fresh start.”

The resignation, announced Friday by the University of Southern California, was effective immediately. Stephen Lama, vice president for broadcasting for USC Radio Network, will serve as interim general manager until a successor is named to the network, whose affiliates include KCPB-FM (91.1) Ventura County, KFAC-FM (88.7) Santa Barbara, and KPSC-FM (88.5) Palm Spings.

KUSC has recently come under fire for a $500,000 budget deficit, which the university called “substantial.” The deficit in the station’s budget, which was $4.9 million in the last fiscal year, is the subject of a specially commissioned USC task force investigating its management structure and finances.

Smith had been a member of that task force, and university officials had said he was giving the group his wholehearted cooperation.

Many of KUSC’s listeners had vociferously complained in recent years that, beginning in 1989, it had strayed from its longtime commitment to classical music and was broadcasting an eclectic mix of classical, jazz, folk and world music--hosted by talky, personality-driven announcers. One of the station’s most prominent hosts--and a key target for listener complaints--is Bonnie Grice, who is married to Smith.

However, earlier this month, KUSC suddenly announced that it was responding to listener discontent and was returning to its long-standing classical format. Even before the changeover, a second USC-commissioned consulting group was examining the station’s audience base.

Jane Pisano, vice president for external relations at USC, said in an interview Sunday:

“No decisions have been made about what’s going to happen next [in terms of] specific management changes that will be instituted. Wally just looked at all of the observations that were beginning to come in and decided to step aside now rather than kind of re-craft the station. . . . He had his turn at it, and it was time for someone else.”

In an interview Sunday night, Smith, who has headed the station for nearly half of its 50 years, said he decided to quit because he recognized that the “progress of the task force and whole purpose of the task force seemed to be directed toward determining whether or not the university wanted to search for new leadership and bring new lifeblood to the station.

“When they said they wanted to get at the bottom of the financial problems and guarantee that that wouldn’t happen again,” he continued, “that’s always going to involve a look at the leadership. And we reached a conclusion that, whether or not any of what’s been going on is directly attributable to my leadership, it was time for some fresh approaches to the issue of financing this radio station.”

As for Grice’s role--under the return to classical format, she is still a prominent on-air host--Smith said: “Whether or not she’s going to stay is completely separate from this.” Asked whether her role at KUSC is now up in the air, he conceded that it is.

On the deficit, Smith said the station had not been able to adjust to new expenses that the university has imposed, including rent.

The new expenses are “not a bad thing, but we have not been able to make up the ground. Some people think the format was not producing audience and revenue. We have some evidence that suggested that’s not true, but if you don’t hit the mark, then everything’s under scrutiny.”

Pisano said Sunday that the decision to step aside came from Smith. His status as a member of the task force, she noted, ended with his resignation.

Asked if there was pressure on Smith to resign, Pisano replied: “We began to look at a whole series of changes which I can’t even talk to you about because nothing is finalized.”

A report from the task force on the financial and programming issues is due at the end of October.

Pisano noted that other institutions at the university are self-supporting and are able to pay back the university for some of their financial overhead. As for the station, she said, “you would expect that there would be some changes, some substantial changes in terms of internal controls, so we’re never surprised about this [sort of deficit] again.”

Asked about the return to classical music, she said her “guess” is that the revised format would remain.

“Wally Smith . . . transformed KUSC from a small student-run station to one of the most influential public radio networks,” Pisano said in the USC announcement. “He is respected nationally in public radio circles as an innovative public broadcaster. We wish him well.”

For himself, Smith said in a statement: “The time is right to bring in new leadership.”

Smith, 61, who came to KUSC in 1972, said he is leaving with “mixed emotions.”