A CRITICAL LOOK AT VOLUME, TONE; INS AND OUTS OF RADIO PROGRAMMING EXAMINED IN NEW L.A. LIFE FEATURE.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Radio Writer

As far as we know, there's never been a regular critical review of radio programming - until now. With the debut of this biweekly feature, we'll hold radio - one show at a time - to the same standards by which critics examine movies, theater, TV, music and other cultural events.

Concentrating on talk-oriented shows, we'll look at content, etiquette, pace, sense of humor and creativity. We'll examine a show's entertainment value and its intelligence quotient.

Just why should we examine a medium that is so often taken for granted?

Because radio might be the most important electronic invention of the century. Recent studies have shown that 95 percent of Americans listen to radio an average of three hours and 20 minutes each day; that figure is holding steady.

Since it invaded the airwaves, radio has changed the habits of the nation, set the stage for television, made music a daily requirement for millions and impacted pop culture and even the face of politics.

``(Radio) constructed imagined communities - of sports fans, Fred Allen devotees, rock 'n' rollers, ham operators, Dittoheads - and thus cultivated a sense of nationhood and a validation of subcultures, often simultaneously,'' cultural critic Susan J. Douglas writes in her book ``Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination'' (Times Books; $27.50).

Radio may be the most democratic of all mass media, a place for ordinary people to blow off steam at the powers that be. Unlike the movies or an art show, with radio you don't have to be a millionaire or an expert to get your two cents in.

Consequently, radio always has attracted its share of demagogues like Father Charles Coughlin and others who pander to the lowest common passions.

Still, even Father Coughlin, whose heyday was in the '30s, might blush to hear some of what passes these days for on-air punditry.

Today, there are an estimated 1,800 talk stations across the country, more than four times the amount 10 years ago. If you live in L.A., there are eight talk stations on your radio dial - all doing general-interest topics, news or sport - broadcasting 24 hours a day, and that doesn't include Spanish-language talk. Stations such as KFI-AM (640) and KABC-AM (790) are perennially among the city's most popular year after year, with KLSX-FM (97.1) broadcasting usually racy ``extreme talk'' aimed at a far younger demographic, gaining ground quickly.

The format's potential began to be realized earlier this decade, when talk radio's steady drumbeat was credited with helping galvanize voters in ousting Democrats from Congress in 1994.

At its best, talk has the energy of a pop station, it's faster than TV and apparently more interactive, while offering instant reaction to events.

But the question remains: How broad a range of opinion makes it on the air? Producers and hosts more often than not tightly control access and content. At many stations, even the most random-seeming callers are carefully screened, with divergent opinions infrequently expressed on air and dissenters weeded out.

If a listener does sneak by to challenge the host, the worst talk-show personalities will bluster a denunciation and cut the caller off. Not all are like that, of course, but the demands of the format - fitting things in between commercials, being entertaining, which usually means being provocative - make sustained, meaningful discourse rare.

Another problem is that information is passed around like a game of Telephone, where each successive person incorporates another error into a story. And in the hands of the worst talk-show hosts, statistics are used as Silly Putty - twisted, bent and stretched to fit the host's uses.

That is why one of the criteria we'll be applying in this column is: Does the program encourage a thoughtful, enriching exchange of opinions and ideas? Or is it a cynical exercise in mind control, where the host acts as a puppet master of opinion?

That doesn't mean we're here just to slam radio, or that we're looking for nothing but serious talk. Besides the numerous intelligent shows on the air, there are dozens of fun, entertaining and even plain silly ones that just make our day - and in L.A., that often means our commute - a lot brighter. That may be the medium's biggest gift - its ability to put a smile on our faces.

Radio may be the most ephemeral of media - literally in one ear and out the other - but it's a powerful medium whose effects can be either fleeting or lasting, helpful or potentially harmful. As radio turns 104 this year, we thought it was time to start treating it like an adult - even if it doesn't always act that way.

Not all our opinions will be music to the ears of the people behind the microphones, or to their hard-core listeners. And we expect we'll be hearing back from some of these folks, both on the air and off.

That's OK with us. We want this column to open a dialogue within L.A.'s radio community. We want lots of voices to be heard, not just ours. Remember, you always have the option of flipping the dial - or turning the page.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY?

Fred Shuster puts radio shows under a critical lens in his new column

(2) Fred Shuster takes on talk radio in his biweekly column debuting today.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News