KRTH SPINS A WINNING FORMULA BELOVED OLDIES PLUS GOOD, CLEAN FUN ON ITS MORNING SHOW KEEP LISTENERS TUNED IN.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

It's a bleary-eyed Thursday morning at the studios of oldies radio KRTH- FM (101.1) and an analysis of the previous night's episode of ``Survivor'' is pending. Problem is, the war in Iraq is raging, and military families are causing the phone banks to blink with dedications to loved ones in a desert far from home.

Affable morning host Gary Bryan has a solution. While the touching sentiments of callers from throughout Los Angeles are being taped for broadcast at the rate of 25 per hour on Thursdays, he goes ahead with the scheduled reality-TV recap with the winner of last year's ``Survivor: Thailand'' series perched directly across the mixing board. It's an amusing respite from the moving voices coming through the monitors.

Bryan's year-old show on the highly polished top-rated oldies outlet is itself something of a respite. The good-natured program, co-starring former Rick Dees team member Lisa Stanley and longtime KRTH DJ Bob Malik, has found a G-rated niche in a morning radio market cluttered by bathroom chatter and right-wing diatribes.

It's all in the name of entertainment, of course, but Bryan's crew has found an alternative that's hitting an often-ignored target. As the host himself says, ``There's a huge audience for a mainstream, mass-appeal, fun, down-the-middle morning show. Like the old 'Tonight Show,' you always felt Johnny Carson knew more than he was saying. He took you right to the line, but he didn't have to be explicit.''

It may not sound revolutionary on the surface, but the ratings bear him out. Since September, Valley-based Bryan's weekday show has raced from 17th to sixth in what the radio industry calls the ``money demo,'' listeners ages 25 to 54 who don't flip the dial at the slightest hint of a commercial. After Bryan goes off the air at 9 a.m., KRTH's popularity is bolstered by strong personalities like Jim Carson, ``Shotgun'' Tom Kelly, Jojo Kincaid, Christina Kelley, Brian Beirne and Bill Stevens.

Ask anyone in town and chances are they'll tell you KRTH is among the stations programmed into their car radio - and they'll croon the Johnny Mann Singers' memorable jingle - ``K-Earth-1-0-1!''

While KRTH is a heritage station with a 30-year history and a perennial place in the ratings top 10, its morning hours underwent uncomfortable contortions when Boss Radio morning jock Robert W. Morgan became ill and retired in 1997. He was replaced in studio by, among others, Carson and Joni Caryl, then Charlie Van Dyke and Caryl before Bryan and company hit the airwaves in June.

Morning is considered the most important shift in radio, since listeners often tune in for the drive to work and simply keep the dial in the same place for the afternoon commute. KRTH's 51,000-watt signal reaches more than 1.3 million listeners. Oldies stations focusing on hits from the 1950s or 1960s to the 1970s are also highly rated in New York, Boston, Detroit, Dallas and Denver.

``KRTH maintains an exclusive corridor,'' observes Don Barrett, host of the Web site L.A. Radio (www.laradio.com), a daily must-read for radio fans that takes the temperature of the local airwaves. ``Radio is all about finding a void and filling it - and KRTH successfully does that. Bryan has infused a lot of positives into the station. He's a real old-fashioned morning guy who plays music, does bits, talks about the news and jokes with his sidekicks. It makes him very enjoyable for those not into potty humor. KRTH knows soccer moms won't be offended if they listen while taking their kids to school.''

With the call letters of oldies veteran KRLA now used for conservative talk, KRTH's only apparent competition for pop classics is rock 'n' roll oldies KCBS-FM (93.1) - commonly known as Arrow 93 - which is KRTH's sister station, since both are owned by Viacom's Infinity Broadcasting (which also has six other L.A. stations, including alt-rock KROQ-FM and talk KLSX-FM). Arrow, however, prefers Fleetwood Mac to the Fleetwoods.

The commonly voiced complaint about oldies radio in general is the perception that playlists are overly researched and too limited, with familiar titles by Mary Wells or the Temptations getting too many spins. One thing's for sure - no other radio station in town would dare play the great ``This Diamond Ring'' by Gary Lewis & the Playboys or ``Do the Freddie'' by Freddie & the Dreamers.

KRTH program director Jay Coffey points out that in an industry where a fraction of a ratings point can make a huge difference in a station's fortunes, oldies programmers must carefully consider their options.

``We have 1.3 million people listening,'' he said. ``If we took those people to a candy store, we might get them to agree on a half-dozen pieces of candy that they all like. With KRTH, we're saying, here's 10 pounds of candy, don't eat it all at once. Eat a couple of pieces and come back. KRTH is designed around the listening habits of an audience that tunes in on an average of six hours a week - in bits and pieces. What we do here is take the premium records that 70 percent of the people agree on.

``There's only so many records you can play, probably a maximum of 500. And we're not playing them all at once. Since they're not making new oldies, we have to bring some in, take some out, move 'em around. I think people don't listen to oldies stations to hear B-sides.''

What constitutes an oldie in an age when nostalgia for the sepia-toned 1990s has just begun is a subject of much debate in the radio world. One of the most popular features at modern rock KROQ, for example, is its ``Flashback Lunch'' segment, which highlights tracks from the 1980s. At KRTH, the definition is not as fluid as one might imagine.

``We go from 1963 to 1973,'' Coffey said. ``We want the music people are passionate about. People are passionate about the Beatles, about Motown. We've thought about adding music past the mid-'70s, and it's a tough thing because we don't want to alienate our listeners by making them think their favorite music from high school and college is nostalgic and old.''

It's clearly working. The fresh sound of oldies KRTH, which recently relocated to studios at the Paramount lot on Melrose Avenue, has been nominated several times by the National Association of Broadcasters as oldies station of the year and in 1998 was so named by Radio & Records magazine.

``We want to be the happiest place on Earth,'' says morning sidekick Stanley, who came to KRTH after fooling around on Dees' airwaves at KIIS-FM for 16 years. ``We're the morale station. There's 500 TV channels and God knows how many radio stations. When you want to laugh and have fun, here's where you should come.''

As for the competition, Bryan, who has worked mornings at top-rated formats in New York and Seattle, admits the L.A. airwaves are among the toughest.

``There are a lot of big shows here, and some of them are beamed to other places,'' he said. ``Rick (Dees) has done a great job for over 20 years, and I give him all the credit in the world. And, of course, Howard (Stern) is always a factor in every market across the country. But for us, Howard is not a factor. The way I see it, because Stern's been so incredibly successful, everybody's headed right down the same path. They see him making $25 million a year and they say, 'Let me go there, too.' I don't want my kids listening to that kind of stuff. So, if 30 percent of the market is being served by those kind of shows, let's offer something different.''

GARY BRYAN IN THE MORNING

Where: KRTH-FM (101.1).

When: 5 to 9 a.m. weekdays.

101.1 IS WHERE YOU ARE

Oldies radio KRTH-FM (101.1) does an unusually good job promoting its station and air personalities at charitable events, concerts and appearances.

On Sunday, the station's morning host Gary Bryan will be at Griffith Park from 10 a.m. to noon for the Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon. Benefiting the St. John's Child and Family Development Center, the family event features a 26.2-mile relay marathon, a five-mile celebrity relay race, a family expo, children's races and entertainment with music, costumed characters, a petting zoo and more.

On April 19, the morning team's Bob Malik will be at the Krispy Kreme in Palmdale from 9 to 11 a.m. For info on both events, call [phone].

- F.S.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover - color) KRTH's morning show with Gary Brian, left, Lisa Stanley and Bob Malik has leapt from 17th to sixth place in a key demographic.

(2) KRTH morning show personalities Bob Malik and Lisa Stanley broadcast from the station's Hollywood studios.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

Box:

101.1 IS WHERE YOU ARE (see text)