A Labor of Love

Rita Wilde’s first act as she ascended to the job of program director at KLOS-FM (95.5) was a tough one. She had to remove a popular deejay, a presence on the rock station’s airwaves for 16 years.

The unlucky jock: Rita Wilde.

“Basically, this is a very demanding job, and I wanted to make sure I had the time and focus to do it right,” said Wilde, who ended her on-air work in September as it started to become clear that she would be succeeding John Duncan as the program director, moving up from the music director’s slot she’d had since 1991.

She’s still not entirely comfortable with the idea of not having a microphone for the first time since she started on KEZY-FM in Anaheim in 1981.

“Coming into work and not being able to talk on the air about some show I saw the night before or being enthusiastic about a new record is frustrating,” she said.

But it’s that very feeling that makes her confident that she’s right for the new job.

“I am a rocker,” said Wilde, who at 42 is in the heart of the baby boom demographic KLOS targets. “I’ve been listening to this station since high school. I pinch myself that I get paid for my hobby.”

In fact, she said, she has a room in her house devoted to rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia she’s acquired over the years, not just through her job contacts but as a devoted patron of record swap meets and such. A promotional-only Rolling Stones live album signed by all the band members, a Bruce Springsteen autograph gotten for her by a fan early in her career and a baseball signed by U2 are among her treasures (along with a baseball autographed by home run champ Mark McGwire when he visited morning show hosts Mark and Brian recently).

Having this real fan in the program director’s office is, in many ways, the final piece of the puzzle in the station’s return to its roots that began about two years ago. After some years of drifting and identity crises about where KLOS fit into the radio world of the ‘90s--and after suffering in the ratings because of it--Duncan tapped back into the ‘70s glory years of the station and of its now-gone competitor, KMET-FM, both in the music programming (classic rock supplemented by newer acts that fit the tradition) and the on-air staff, most notably bringing Jim Ladd back. The return of Bill Sommers, who had guided the station in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s as general manager, continued the trend.

Sky Daniels, general manager of the trade weekly Radio & Records and himself a former rock deejay and program director, is thrilled that Wilde is getting a shot at the job, comparing the situation to that of Kurt Rambis being hired as the Lakers coach.

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“Loyalty is being rewarded,” he said. “And that’s really something in this day and age. When a Los Angeles radio property is generating more than $20 million in annual revenues, you don’t expect these hirings to be made out of loyalty. But Bill Sommers wanted to regroup and reestablish the essence of what made the station successful in the past.”

Wilde acknowledged that her job now is mostly to solidify that status and maximize its impact. The station’s already doing fine, finishing consistently in the Top 5 among English-language outlets in the adult male demographic. She’s already taken steps to further that by bringing another longtime station favorite back into the fold, with Geno Michellini preceding Ladd’s evening show in the 2 to 6 p.m. slot, which encompasses the popular “Five O’Clock Funnies” comedy recording showcase that he founded.

This is happening as KLOS is set to celebrate its 30th anniversary and at a time when many keystone KLOS acts are going to be having very high profiles, with BruceSpringsteen’s reunion tour with the E Street Band and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s first tour together in 25 years both planned for the summer and with such acts as Aerosmith and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers coming around as well. Wilde says that sponsorship of those shows will provide KLOS with opportunities for a big presence in the community to mark the three-decade milestone. She’s also planning to get morning men Mark and Brian out of the studio with more public activities as well.

This, Daniels said, leaves the question of where the station goes after reestablishing its legacy.

“My question for Rita is, ‘Once you’ve re-centered it, what do you do to move it forward? How do you move something trading on its legacy forward?’ ” he said. “That’s a challenge to her. I know, 35-to-54 [year-old] males, they have good awareness and are doing things to please them, but what do you do to bring excitement and keep it moving forward?”

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Wilde points to young artists who have become staples in the KLOS stable.

“We were one of the first stations in the country to play Matchbox 20,” she noted. “And we’ve helped break Jonny Lang, Dishwalla, Kenny Wayne Shepperd. We’re playing Indigenous, a Native American band, a lot. And another new band from San Francisco called Train is doing well for us.”

She admitted, though, that those are all acts that fit very comfortably alongside the station’s classic tracks that dominate the music programming, a conservative philosophy at odds with the boundaries-breaking push of the station’s ‘70s heyday.

“That’s just the way the business is these days,” she said. “Everything in radio is a niche. Television, movies--everything is like that. You have to find your place and go after that market.”

That niche, she adds, is getting more crowded.

“The marketplace has changed in the course of the last nine months or so,” she said. “Arrow [classic-rock station KCBS-FM (93.1)] has become better, more fine-tuned. And there’s the addition of KACD-FM [the new adult alternative format known as Channel 103.1].”

She said, though, that the competition just gives her more chances for creativity.

“I want to just have a wonderful time here,” she said, “reestablishing what KLOS is and bringing it into the next millennium.”

In the Pink: In-studio music performances have long been a big part of programming at Santa Monica public station KCRW-FM (89.9). Now they’re moving outside the studio walls.

A concert at the Mint on March 20 by the eclectic Portland-based band Pink Martini, a favorite on the station, will be aired live as part of Liza Richardson’s 10 p.m. to midnight weekend show “Que Sera Sera.” This will be the band’s third of three nights at the Pico Boulevard club.

The event will inaugurate “KCRW Presents,” described as an informal series of live local appearances by artists being championed by the station. The notion has been under discussion for some time and gained momentum with the arrival last April of Nic Harcourt as music director and host of the weekday “Morning Becomes Eclectic” block.