And Now, a Word From Our Anchor

Picture Peter Jennings, looking every bit as news-anchor-like as a man can, staring intently into the camera as the “ABC World News Tonight” set bustles behind him.

“When we come back, a look at how our European allies are responding to recent events,” Jennings says, “but first, let me tell you for a moment about the Regenix Hair Research Clinic, which can open the door to a brand-new you. Regenix. Make sure she loves you all over again.”

Such a scenario sounds preposterous, of course. Yet it is played out daily on local and national radio programs, where anchors, weathermen, traffic reporters and talk-radio hosts seem to increasingly find themselves temporarily stepping outside their roles as broadcast journalist or commentator to serve as commercial pitchmen, from simply reading copy for advertisers to providing personal endorsements.

For the sponsors, it’s a no-lose proposition. The assumption is that a familiar voice will invariably make listeners less likely to tune out and more apt to embrace a particular message.

“The talk-show hosts are much better able to communicate the message than I am because they’re on the radio all the time,” says Myles L. Berman, a defense attorney whose “Top Gun” law practice, serving those charged with driving under the influence, regularly advertises on KABC-AM (790) and KLSX-FM (97.1). In addition, Berman notes, “the listeners may pay more attention to the host, because they’re used to hearing that voice.”

Stations also benefit from the arrangement, which, in a constricting economic climate, allows them in some instances to charge a premium for commercial time. And although radio executives insist their policies have remained largely unchanged in recent years, both local AM all-news stations, KFWB (980) and KNX (1070), are owned by Viacom’s Infinity Broadcasting, where management has made no secret of its desire to wring every last dollar from the company’s broadcast properties since acquiring them via a merger with CBS two years ago.

Testimonials are clearly one way to help better achieve those ends. KLSX, another Infinity station, reportedly charges $2,900 for a Los Angeles-area commercial during Howard Stern’s morning show when Stern himself reads the copy, more than double what the station reaps from a pre-produced spot. Industry sources say Stern commands $6,000 in the New York area when he discusses a product live, incorporating his morning-show patter into the advertising. That’s more than three times what sponsors pay for spots they record themselves.

Despite the potential financial incentives, however, news and talk outlets--which could amass larger audiences in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11--would appear to be taking a risk as they blur the lines between editorial and advertising content by having news personnel directly fronting for advertisers. After all, how seriously would viewers take Jennings or his brethren if they did the same?

Joe Saltzman, a journalism professor and associate dean at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication, points to a gradual erosion of standards in local television and radio, causing the mix of advertising, self-promotion and news to become virtually indistinguishable.

“What has to happen is a brand-new definition of news, and a newscast that reflects that.... There is a very dangerous precedent in combining news and pseudo-news,” Saltzman says.

Nevertheless, it has become commonplace for anchors to read advertising as well as for talent on news and talk stations to provide first-person accounts of their experiences with everything from laser-eye surgery to diet programs and beauty aids.

Station executives insist they have not slackened their guidelines and maintain there is still a clear delineation between news and advertising.

KNX’s policy hasn’t changed in several years, according to its vice president and general manager, George Nicholaw, who says the station applies different standards to hard-news reporters/anchors and feature reporters, allowing the former to read ad copy without identifying themselves while letting the latter actually provide endorsements.

So KNX traffic reporter Jim Thornton can be heard plugging a plumbing company, just as entertainment reporter Tom Hatten provides testimonials for refinancing his home using a certain mortgage lender.

Although anchors are generally not identified when they read ad copy, those with an even moderately attentive ear could recognize KNX’s Tom Haule reading spots for proton therapy in the midst of his anchoring chores one recent morning. KFWB traffic reporters such as Jennifer Burns and Jane Monreal, meanwhile, have perfected the seamless segue from detailing jam-ups on the 60 and slow-going on the 134 to ads for auto dealerships, Food 4 Less, even Preparation H cooling gel.

Unlike KNX, KFWB does allow its staff anchors to provide endorsements. KFWB anchor Vicki Cox, for example, is among those local voices enthusing over the pounds she has shed thanks to the Body Solutions weight-loss program--a product also recommended by KNX anchor Pat Haslam, whose per diem status skirts the station’s endorsement guidelines.

KFWB general manager Roger Nadel stresses that the majority of endorsement spots are steered to sports and traffic reporters, that such advertising remains limited and that all such commercials are cleared through him. As for any thoughts about such advertising diminishing the station’s credibility or stature, Nadel says, “I give our audience a lot of credit for being able to discern between [advertising and editorial content].... When anchors read ads, it’s clearly stated this is a commercial.”

Still, at least one newsroom source at a local all-news station, who asked to remain anonymous, admits to wincing at the practice, saying the net effect fosters the perception of news people endorsing products, either by name or by voice.

This encroachment of advertising is difficult to quantify. USC’s Saltzman notes that endorsements by news staff began picking up steam in the ‘80s and really took off in the ‘90s, as the first tentative steps--anchors reading ads for charities or other worthy causes--gave way to more conventional products and services. “I can’t pinpoint the date,” Saltzman says. “It was a creeping thing that people didn’t even realize was happening.”

Nicholaw admits he was somewhat surprised when CBS News radio commentator Charles Osgood first began reading spots several years ago, which helped spur the station to alter its stance toward local talent doing the same.

“When that came into play, it opened up the door for feature reporters,” Nicholaw says, adding that money paid to on-air personnel who are asked to provide endorsements flows to them directly and not to the station’s bottom line.

If the practice is common, companies remain somewhat defensive when questioned about it. Asked about companywide guidelines, Infinity Broadcasting spokesman Dana McClintock accused The Times of seeking to discredit a “competitive medium” by even pursuing such a story.

“When the L.A. Times stops taking ads for movie companies that rely on [the newspaper’s] critics for endorsements, we’ll consider reviewing our policies,” he said. Yet that analogy doesn’t really hold, given that print critics (unless they are violating newspaper policy) are not paid to provide a thumbs-up for a particular movie. Moreover, The Times has a cooperative arrangement with KFWB on its noon business hour, giving the paper even less reason to intentionally undermine the station.

Although the association of on-air personalities with advertising often passes without notice among much of the audience, some listeners and media watchers say they have perceived an expansion of that connection in just the last few years.

“What we hear on the air seems to have changed,” says Don Shores, a professor of broadcasting at Pepperdine University’s Seaver College.

Shores worked in radio earlier in his career and thinks younger generations are growing up with little sense that a shift has taken place. “I personally have questions about it, just from the standpoint of credibility....[But] for the most part, when I talk to students about it, they say, ‘What’s the problem?’ They’ve grown up with commercialism,” he says.

Indeed, the trend toward talent-read radio advertising is well established by now, with respected national figures such as CBS’ Osgood and ABC’s Paul Harvey promoting the merits of exercise equipment and dietary supplements in the midst of their on-air essays.

While sponsors look for hosts who mesh with a particular product, such arrangements can occasionally create what appear to be strange bedfellows.

The pay channel Showtime, for example, has in the last few months enlisted Stern--who frequently makes African Americans, gays and lesbians the butt of his jokes--to talk up its original series, which include “Soul Food” (a show with a largely African American cast) and “Queer as Folk,” which focuses on a group of young gay men and explicitly documents their sexual exploits.

Despite the image of Stern’s audience as consisting primarily of white men, Showtime’s executive vice president of marketing, Len Fogge, points out that the host possesses a broader fan base than many realize and carries considerable weight among his listeners.

“Our hope was that if we run this and he talks about the shows in a positive light, we get some viewers that we might not have otherwise gotten,” Fogge says.

KFI program director David G. Hall, who also oversees sister talk station KLAC-AM (570), didn’t return phone calls seeking an explanation of that station’s policy, although local personalities such as morning man Bill Handel plug various products, including, of late, a health-test screening procedure.

The station’s lineup also features nationally syndicated hosts such as Rush Limbaugh--whose testimonials command some of the highest rates in radio because of the bond he shares with his audience--and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who began reading spots for selected advertisers in the face of a pressure campaign that prompted numerous sponsors to pull out of her program.

At a local level, KABC’s talk hosts provide testimonials for a wide variety of sponsors, among them attorney Berman, auto dealerships, even an anti-aging cream that morning co-host Amy Lewis claims has made her look years younger--an opinion seconded later in the day by host Mark Taylor, who reads spots saying how terrific he thinks Lewis looks.

According to KABC program director Erik Braverman, the station strictly regulates the volume of commercials its hosts read primarily for the sake of advertisers, trying to ensure that the premium paid for such spots is worth the investment. All hosts, he adds, have the right to sample and reject any product seeking their endorsement.

“Larry Elder won’t talk about just any sponsor,” notes Braverman, who draws a distinction between talk radio--where hosts are considered personalities, giving their opinions and talking about their lives--and news stations.

We have a little more flexibility,” Braverman says. “For newspeople, there’s definitely a finer line to walk.”

Whether listeners are always clear on precisely where news and talk diverge is open to debate. Certain studies, for example, have found that many young people get a significant portion of their news from late-night talk shows.

Listeners also doubtless glean considerable information from talk radio, where hosts face an obvious mandate to be entertaining, presenting topics that combine dollops of news with opinion--interrupted by expressions of their ardor for a certain hardware store or heart-scan service.

The presence of these endorsements has caught hosts in some awkwardly amusing moments, among them a caller noting that drive-time host Elder’s stated enthusiasm for a Southern California golf course contradicts his own tongue-in-cheek admonishment to various groups--including “weekend golfers”--to stay a safe distance from the radio during his show to avoid “discomforting enlightenment.”

In similar fashion, KABC’s Al Rantel--who now follows Elder from 7 to 10 p.m. weeknights--has felt obliged to publicly note that while he respects DUI attorney Berman, he has never personally availed himself of those services.

Rantel stresses that he isn’t bashful about exercising his veto power over endorsements and freely did so at his last job in Miami, where he nixed reading spots for a restaurant where the food was terrible and balked at delivering first-person testimonials for the book “Dianetics” by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

“If you lose your credibility with the audience, if they figure you’ll recommend anybody who will pay you, then the endorsement loses its power,” Rantel says, acknowledging that there are radio hosts “who will read anything you put in front of them.”

On a recent weekday, in fact, Rantel drove out to an auto dealership in Fullerton to survey the location and meet with management before he would agree to read one of its commercials. Whatever rules a station may set, Rantel suggests that hosts owe it to themselves, listeners and sponsors to be vigilant about what they endorse.

“You have to be willing to say no if you want to be successful,” he says. “You have to draw the line at what you really believe in.”

*

Brian Lowry is a Times staff writer. His On TV column appears Wednesdays in Calendar.