Old Faves Still Rate

By JUDITH MICHAELSON

May 11, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Call it “Revenge of the Veterans.” In the Arbitron radio ratings world, this was the season, from Jan. 6 to March 29, when there was a significant surge on two signature Southland morning drive shows and at long-standing rock oldies station KRTH-FM (101.1).

The shows are Rick Dees’ “Rick Dees in the Morning” from 6 to 10 a.m. on Top 40 station KIIS-FM (102.7), heard in the Los Angeles/Orange County market since 1981, and Kevin Ryder and Gene Baxter’s “The Kevin & Bean Show,” from 5 to 10 a.m. on rock station KROQ-FM (106.7). By contrast Kevin, 37, and Bean, 39, are relative newcomers, having met in 1988 at a radio station in Phoenix, with their first radio gig as a team in L.A. coming in 1990.

This winter, Dees, who is on the cusp of 50, has for the first time in five years regained a second-place footing in the key morning drive slot, with a 5.4% share, moving up from third place among overall listeners 12 and older. For a good part of the ‘80s, Dees had been No. 1. But in the mid-’90s, Spanish-language radio began dominating the field.

Often, hosts and radio executives can pinpoint what’s behind ratings upticks (or its flip side, those downturns), whether special concerts and promotions, smart television commercials or tinkering with a station’s musical fare.

“There’s no doubt that the Hispanic pop wave of music [i.e., Ricky Martin] has contributed to Rick’s resurgence,” KIIS’ President and General Manager Roy Laughlin said this week, “as well as the big million-dollar birthday contests, along with clever, timely comedy, which is a key to Rick’s success.”

In a sense, KIIS, which itself moved into second place for the second quarter in a row among overall listeners, has co-opted the music of Latino crossover stars, including Martin, Marc Anthony and Enrique Iglesias. In both the 12-plus--and in the 25-to-54 category, where it moved into third place--KIIS increased its listener base.

KROQ, in the 25-to-54 set, posted even more dramatic numbers, jumping into a fifth-place tie with KRTH, after being in 13th place during the last rating period. “Right now [our] music is hot,” noted program director Kevin Weatherly. “Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine, Blink-182. And a lot of what [Kevin & Bean] do on the show is tied to the music. If you do a really good show, people will find you, and if you stay long enough, you will [succeed].”

The KROQ duo say their numbers caught them by surprise. Among overall audience 12 and older, “Kevin & Bean” drew a 4.3% share of audience, covering the standard 6-10 a.m. morning drive period, ranking fourth among listeners. Among the 25-to-54 set, they drew 4.1%, up nearly a full percentage point from the fall.

These are the best numbers--other than a slight bump during spring 1997--that they’ve gotten in at least three years. “We’ve been doing the same the thing for 10 years,” Ryder said. “It’s hard to put your finger on why it’s successful now. It was better than we expected.”

Baxter, who gained some national notoriety last week as one of Ray Romano’s “lifelines” on the celebrity edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” (Baxter didn’t know the answer), takes a philosophical approach. “I don’t get as worked up with disappointment when the numbers are low, or as over-the-moon euphoric when they are high. . . . The nature of our job is that every single day we have to do another show and concentrate on being as consistently entertaining as possible.”

Playing just four songs an hour, “Kevin & Bean” focus on talk and entertainment-type interviews, with celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Duchovny and Romano. Still, they do get serious. Last week they discussed Metallica’s lawsuit to prevent trading and downloading of digital audio of their music over the Internet, and on Monday, they were asking the audience to call in with their stories of what made them decide to stop drinking. They’ve also interviewed Al Gore.

“Our audience core is 18- to 34-year-olds, male and female,” Ryder said.

KIIS skews a mite older. Von Freeman, KIIS’ vice president of marketing, noted: “We really target the soccer mom family--the mom in the minivan with the teens and the preteens, and we make no apologies for wanting that audience. They’re the most powerful consumer in Los Angeles.”

With six to eight songs an hour, Dees’ morning show, syndicated this year by Premiere Radio Networks to 20 markets thus far, is more music- and contest-driven. With guests such as Schwarzenegger and Jack Nicholson, the emphasis, according to Freeman, is “his philosophy of fun. Fun. It’s Pop Culture 101.”

At KRTH, which rose half a point in its target 25-54 target audience, executives say that after extensive audience research they adjusted the music to fit the evolving demographic of the baby-boom audience. So instead of concentrating on ‘50s and ‘60s music, the focus is now ‘70s fare such as Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and “You Make Lovin’ Fun” by Fleetwood Mac. These are the new rock oldies, according to Pat Duffy, vice president and general manager, and Mike Phillips, program director.

In its new 30-second TV commercial, KRTH heralds the music it is now playing. Still, the station’s play list remains a home for ‘50s and ‘60s songs and the TV promos end with that long-standing upbeat melodic jingle--”KRTH 101.” Phillips notes that sometimes when he mentions he works at the station, people sing the jingle to him. Some things, after all, stay the same.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Top 10 Lists

The most-listened-to radio personalities from January through March and their average listenership per quarter-hour:

1. Renan Almendarez Coello, KSCA-FM (101.9), 5-11 a.m., 215,400.

2. Rick Dees, KIIS-FM (102.7), 6-10 a.m., 133,600.

3. Rush Limbaugh, KFI-AM (640), 9 a.m.-noon, 128,800.

4. Martha Shalhoub, KLVE-FM (107.5), 121,400.

5. Maria Nava, KSCA, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 119,600.

6. Dr. Laura Schlessinger, KFI, noon-3 p.m., 117,500.

7. Pepe Barreto, KLVE, 5-10 a.m., 117,400.

8. Sean Valentine, KIIS, 4-8 p.m., 111,100.

9. Pio Ferro, KLVE, 3-7 p.m., 90,700.