Former talk king KABC continues on long road back. (Up Front).

Has KABC-AM (790) finally turned the corner?

A war-related boost in listenership for its conservative lineup that includes Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, along with a healthy increase in advertising revenues last year, have station executives talking up recovery.

"Year-to-date, we're about 150 percent ahead of where we were last year," said Matt Mallon, general sales manager. "We will hit budget this year, which is something the station hasn't done for a couple of years."

Added John Davison, president and general manager of ABC Radio Network's four local stations: "We've developed a core audience that likes what we do and advertisers have bought into the new lineup. That wasn't the case a year ago."

KABC still appears to be in recovery mode, however. While the L.A. radio market experienced a strong rebound last year--overall revenues rose 9.2 percent, to $956 million--KABC had a more modest 5.3 percent gain, to $11.3 million. Two years ago, KABC's revenues exceeded. $18 million.

Meanwhile, the gap between KABC and its primary AM talk rival, KFI-AM (540), has continued to grow.

Revenues at KEI, one of eight local stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Corp., were $39.8 million last year, a 26 percent jump over 2001, according to industry tracker BIA Financial Networks.

"KABC has really become a non-factor as a competitor," said Robin Bertolucci, KFI's program director. "Anytime you're trying to compete against something that successful and established, that's an uphill battle."

Right turn

The irony is that KABC helped create .the modem talk radio format in the early 1960s and for many years was the undisputed champion of the niche. These days, the station is squarely in the middle of the ratings pack. In the most recent Arbitron ratings period, KABC had a 2.4 rating, compared with KFI's 3.6 rating, which places it among L.A.'s top six stations.

KABC's lineup changes have tilted the station's voice decidedly to the right. After signing on Hannity in 2001, KABC aggressively pursued Fox News personality O'Reilly. His show, "The Radio Factor With Bill O'Reilly," debuted last May.

O'Reilly and Hannity join other conservative voices at KABC such as Larry Elder and Al Rantel.

"Because of the popularity of his television show, Bill O'Reilly did really well in the beginning. But those ratings have begun to flatten out," said Mary Jo Sobotka, vice president of media for Phelps Group, a Los Angeles advertising agency. "It all comes down to the content and I'm not sure (O'Reilly's) interview style translates well to radio."

Ratings for the winter 2003 period, encompassing the first three months of the year, will be released later this month.

KABC's lineup moves are an effort by Davison, who was hired in 2001, to reverse the fortunes of a station that was sliding even before Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Radio bought it in 1996. Longtime KABC personalities Michael Jackson and Dennis Prager were jettisoned and a decision was made to jump on the conservative talk upsurge sweeping the nation.

"If you try to be a little bit of everything for everybody it doesn't work," said Erik Braverman, program director for KABC, along with ABC-owned KSPN-AM (710), classic rock station KLOS-FM (95.5). "By adding Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly we are confident that we have a common thread to tie the station together. We're placing our bets on this lineup."

But as popular as O'Neill and Hannity are nationally, they have yet to make a significant dent locally in KFI's audiences for Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, with whom they compete head-to-head.

Building loyalty

Davison said research by the station shows the average time spent listening to KABC was on an upswing and had been among the highest in the market.

KABC, relying on the resources of ABC News, broke away often from regular programming for news of the war. That required the station to preempt ads, resulting in lost revenue.

"It is expensive, we preempt more than anyone," Davison said. "But the advertisers who buy this station understand that we may need to do that and most of them will take make-ups."

Sobotka notes that right now KABC is a better bargain for advertisers on a "cost-per-point basis," or the ratio of dollars spent and station listeners. "The flip-side is that KFI is part of Clear Channel and we will often buy other Clear Channel stations like KBIG and KOST at the same time, and when you do that you expect to get cheaper rates," she said.

Although ABC owns four local stations, two of them are directed at sports listeners and children, formats that aren't necessarily compatible for a lot of advertisers on KABC, which limits the amount of crossover buys.

Despite that limitation, Braverman said there is optimism that KABC's format is gaining traction and driving sales.

"It's been about a year since many of these changes were introduced, and it takes time to develop," he said. "There was a period of time where we weren't sure who our core audience was. Now we have a format we believe in."