KCLU Decides to Tune Out Local Talk Shows

Ventura County’s public radio station, which brags about its local programming, has pulled the plug on a melange of local talk shows in favor of reruns of a nationally produced program.

KCLU-FM (88.3) general manager Mary Olson said Friday that listeners’ requests prompted the changes at the National Public Radio affiliate and that she and the station’s programming director wanted to have one show--not five--in the valuable early evening time slot. KCLU’s jazz programming will not change.

The hosts of the canceled shows speculated that changes were made to attract more listeners and sponsors to the commercial-free station.

The four hourlong talk shows--”Local Talk with Beverly Kelley,” “Backstage Pass,” “Beyond Words” and “Local Talk with Russell Stockard”--aired weeknights from 7 to 8 p.m. and addressed topics from gun control and drama to science-fiction writing.

Those programs will be replaced with reruns of NPR’s “Fresh Air,” which looks at contemporary culture and already airs weekday mornings and Sundays from 9 to 10 a.m. Olson said listeners had complained that they are missing “Fresh Air” in the morning because they are at work.

A fifth local talk show, “Dialogues,” has been tentatively moved to Saturdays at 5 p.m.

The new schedule came as a shock to Cal Lutheran University professor Beverly Kelley, who has hosted “Local Talk” since the station debuted almost five years ago. Kelley said she has already scheduled three members of Congress on upcoming shows and would have appreciated more notice.

“I don’t understand the thinking behind this,” Kelley said Friday. “This is National Public Radio. . . . These kinds of shows are not notoriously high-raters, but they are a service to the community. They are a chance for people in the community to talk to legislators, to talk about issues in Ventura County.”

Ventura screenwriter Jonathan O’Brien, who has hosted “Beyond Words” for more than four years, said he was sorry to hear that his show about writers, writing and the creative process is off the air.

“Personally, it’s like breaking up with a girlfriend or something,” O’Brien said.

But he added that he understands why the decision was made.

“Even though they’re public radio, it boils down to a business decision,” he said. “They’re following the trend of a lot of radio stations, which is basically to take network feeds.”

Thousand Oaks-based KCLU relies on donations from listeners, businesses and foundations to produce its around-the-clock news, talk and jazz programming. It has only five paid employees; more than 30 volunteers host and produce the station’s programming.

Olson said the canceled hosts have been “valued volunteers.”

“Unfortunately even public radio works in a way that you constantly tweak and you constantly reevaluate and you constantly measure your programming against what the public needs and wants,” she said.

KCLU airs on 88.3 in Ventura County and 102.3 in Santa Barbara County.

The shift from local shows to a nationally produced program seems to contradict what Olson said was one key to the station’s success.

“The reason we’re so popular . . . is because we’re parochial,” she said in an interview last month. On Friday, Olson left open the possibility that local talk would replace “Fresh Air” in the evenings.

O’Brien said he does not have any animosity toward Olson or programming director Jeff Barry.

“They have to make some tough decisions,” he said.

Retired defense attorney and former prosecutor George Eskin--who hosts Thursday night’s “Dialogues,” under the name George Castelle--said he is glad to be able to continue his public affairs show, which will replace two syndicated shows on Saturday but will no longer air live. Eskin said he was sorry to hear that his fellow hosts had lost their shows.

“For their sake I hope they are able to find another venue to continue with their work,” he said.

Mo McFadden, who hosted “Backstage Pass,” said she doubts there will be a place for her arts show on another station.

“One thing I love about NPR and what it stands for is it is an alternative voice, and that is important to hear,” McFadden said. “And I think it’s getting squelched.”

McFadden is sorry she was not able to thank her listeners. O’Brien said he too is sorry he could never say goodbye. But, he said, that’s radio.

“With radio there are no farewells,” he said. “You’re just off the air.”