LOCAL ZEROS

I enjoyed your article on the decline of local talk radio in favor of nationally syndicated programs (“The Decline of the Local Hero,” by Judith Michaelson, March 29). I always find it entertaining to hear self-appointed guardians of the “public interest” wail in agony when the “public” decides not to cooperate and demonstrates a different “interest.”

KCRW-FM’s Warren Olney rejects audience preference for national programs and calls for government intervention to require local programming. He says that “there’s so little discussion of public affairs people don’t know what to want.”

I wonder what Olney would suggest if nobody listened to Federal Communications Commission-mandated local radio shows. How about an “L-Chip” installed in every radio that would ignore its owner’s station selection and automatically seek out and tune in local programs?

In the meantime, I’ll listen to what I like--while I can.

FREDERICK SINGER

Huntington Beach

Since deregulation in the early ‘80s, only large corporations can afford to own stations, and they own a bazillion of them. Syndicating the talent is a low-cost way of developing personalities and promoting them while splitting the cost among a large number of stations. That which was the radio business has become the business of radio.

For the local performer, it isn’t so much a question of only talking about issues and things that are already interesting, it’s about being able to take a tough topic and make it interesting. City and county politics allegedly bore the stuffing out of folks. Yet when laws change, taxes go up or communities begin to lose their value, people want to know why they weren’t informed.

Warren Olney has built a large audience on KCRW--certainly much larger than most public radio stations would normally have. However, Olney is an interesting and stylish person. He makes the tough topics worth knowing and talking about.

Of course, he spent a lifetime developing those skills. Today, that kind of personality development doesn’t happen, because general managers and program directors don’t really have those skills or vision.

BRENT SELTZER

Studio City

Michaelson states that Ronn Owens’ two-city simulcast is like a bouncing yo-yo that gives a semblance of localism. She credits Tom Leykis, whose show is heard on more than 175 radio stations, with discussing the protest over naming a predominantly white school in Riverside after Martin Luther King Jr. What surprises me is that Michaelson knows Ronn discussed this as well. She knows because I faxed her a list of his topics covering a four-month period.

She continued in her praise of Leykis by citing his ability to talk about legalizing gay marriage and L.A. Councilman Mike Hernandez and cocaine, without mentioning that Owens had talked about gay sex clubs on Santa Monica Boulevard. Ronn has also discussed gay marriage and Councilman Hernandez on several shows.

BERNARD PENDERGRASS

Producer, “The Ronn Owens Show,” KABC-AM

Los Angeles

The problem with radio is not syndication. The problem is too few local stations. The solution, interestingly, was recently discussed on Art Bell’s show (410 stations): low-output radio stations.

These stations would have signals that would barely reach beyond a small city’s borders. Limited in the possible listenership, these stations would realize smaller profits and thus be cheaper to purchase, opening the way for more diverse airways. They also by necessity would need to cater to the community they served.

Talk should be cheap, and it’s up to the FCC to make it so.

MARTIN ZAEHRINGER

Ventura