L.A. radio stations seem immune to economic woes.

With the recent stock market seesaws, TV and newspaper executives are getting nervous as advertisers think twice about their spending commitments. But local radio just keeps on rocking.

August saw a 14 percent increase in total ad spending for radio stations in the L.A. market, according to the monthly L.A. Radio X-Ray compiled by accounting firm Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co.

Although most media saw a hot first half followed by a slower third quarter, the August increase in radio was actually larger than in most of the preceding months. Year to date, radio ad spending is up 11.9 percent in L.A.

And there is no sign of a let up, according to the Southern California Broadcasters Association. The association's pacing report, which tracks ad commitments on the books, indicates that commitments from local advertisers are up 30 percent for the month of November over the previous year, according to SCBA President Mary Beth Garber.

"It has to do with a better sales staff, looking in more places than they looked before, with more marketing savvy behind them," Garber said.

There aren't many small independent radio stations left in L.A. anymore, following several years of ferocious consolidation in which a handful of giants swept up nearly all the major-market stations. Those radio giants have invested handsome sums in their sales departments, which means there are more people selling radio time than ever before.

Their efforts are reflected in the SCBA's pacing report. While local advertising is up 30 percent for November, national advertising is down 10 percent, Garber said. These local sales staffs don't have much effect on the decisions made in New York by ad giants, but they can convince local businesses that haven't used radio before to jump in.

Media buyers are skeptical about whether these newly formed sales staffs - often called NTR or Non-Traditional Radio divisions because they seek advertisers that haven't been in radio - are all that effective.

Paula Harris, broadcast supervisor at Century City media-buying giant Carat/ICG, says bigger sales staffs have little to do with the rise of radio. "Everyone's been talking about this, why radio is so healthy, and everybody agrees it's the networks and the political advertising," Harris said.

Harris has noticed a big uptick in spending by TV networks. Fledgling nets UPN and The WB are spending heavily to establish themselves, while the Big Four, steadily losing audience share, are jumping into radio to try to pull viewers back. Meanwhile, the new network PaxNet is spending large sums to promote itself, particularly in radio, Harris said.

In addition, this is the season for political advertising, and some campaigns - notably Proposition 5, the Indian gambling initiative - are spending record sums this year.

Despite the impressive numbers, Gather isn't uncorking any champagne. Radio stations usually give advertisers the right to cancel commitments on the books within two weeks, meaning all those November commitments could easily be erased if advertisers get nervous.

For more about the local radio wars, see the Business Journal's list of L.A.'s top-rated stations on page 33.