KCRW begins inching back on war coverage. (On the Homefront - Impact of War).

Public radio station KCRW-FM (89.9), a crucial source of information about the war with Iraq for many area residents, has begun to pull back from its round-the-clock news coverage.

Hooked by technology that delivers real-time reports from the theater of battle to television, radio and the Internet, Americans have shown a significant hunger for news about the Iraq war. KCRW and other local news organizations have adjusted accordingly, ditching regular schedules and boosting manpower whenever possible to provide wall-to-wall coverage.

But as the conflict moves into its third week, the inevitable reaction to the blitz of war news is beginning to set in. At KCRW, that means returning to an abbreviated version of its regular music programming last week after 10 days of straight news coverage.

The decision to shift back to music from around-the-clock news was made by General Manager Ruth Seymour, who acknowledged that in recent days the station has received a raft of e-mail and phone calls from listeners eager for a return to some semblance of normalcy.

"At the beginning there was enough momentum to sustain 24/7 coverage, but we never expected to do that for the entire duration of the war," Seymour said. "We have a mandate to provide a public service. But when you begin to see there is no new news and the situation is pretty slow, you can modify."

Just when to make that call can be a tricky business. The objective is to provide the latest information without oversaturating listeners with repetitive or trivial information. But even while inching back, the war remains front and center. "You're really flying by the seat of your pants:' said Will Lewis, a management consultant for KCRW who helps oversee news coverage at the station.

In the meantime, war coverage has meant extra work for producers and on-air employees alike.

Since the war began, Warren Olney has been pulling double-duty--chasing news reports, lining up guests and taping two segments of his nationally syndicated "To the Point" program each day he's on the air.

"From a personal standpoint, it's insane," said Olney. "It never stops. I find myself trying to keep my eyes open 24 hours a day, and I. can't do that."

KCRW is by no means alone among local television and radio stations in reshuffling its schedule to provide more war news, but the station has stood apart by virtue of the breadth of sources it has used to tell the story. Unlike other stations that rely on network feeds and wire services, KCRW has contacts with the BBC's World Service, CNN's radio network, CNBC and National Public Radio among others, and has made liberal use of its resources.

"When you're doing this in such an intense way, you start to have a pretty good idea if it's going to be a hot news day or if things are pretty slow:' Seymour said.

KCRW subscribes to those networks and the major wire services as a matter of course--so unlike at commercial stations where commercials have been pre-empted for expanded news coverage, the war in Iraq has not had a significant impact on its budget.

During the first Gulf War and immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, listener levels at KCRW increased between 10 percent and 20 percent. Arbitron Ratings have yet to come out since the start of the war, but he believes the station is experiencing a similar jump--one that could pay off in the form of more subscribers. Hits on the KCRW Web site have also been up since the war started.

"You figure maybe one in 10 will eventually subscribe if they become regular listeners," Lewis said. "It takes about two years."

For the time being, whether to air war news or regular programming will remain a day-today and even moment-to-moment decision.

"It's the biggest story everywhere and we are going to stay with it," Lewis said. "But if the war lasts 30 days or more, we're going to rethink how we are doing this because of (listener) burnout."