Local talk radio gets slammed in the mouth as three stations wrestle with financial woes.

KGIL-AM (1260) of Mission Hills has become the latest talk radio station in the Los Angeles market to suffer financial problems and lay off staff.

KGIL, which broadcasts at 5,000 watts, recently let go three staffers, plus one on-air personality at its sister station, KMGX-FM (Magic 94.3).

The news came just shortly after KBLA-AM (1580), a 50,000-watt, business news/talk radio station in Century City, announced a major downsizing this month that resulted in layoffs of half of its formerly 30-person staff and an almost complete switch from local programming to national satellite feeds.

The only local program spared the ax was Chuck Ashman's "California Drive."

KBLA was purchased last year by real estate mogul Fred Sands, who launched the business news format in April 1991. A minority interest is held by developer Paul Amir.

Prior to the Sands purchase, the station went by the name KDAY-AM and broadcast rap music. Since the format switch, KBLA has been unable to generate a listening audience large enough to even register in the ratings books.

"The station is simply responding to current economic conditions. Advertising revenues are down in most industries, and broadcasting is no exception," said KBLA General Manager Ron Thompson.

Tom Mosier, general manager at KGIL, also saw the layoffs at his station as a symptom of the recession.

"It's a tragedy of our economic times," he said, noting that radio advertising in 1991 was flat at best, and possibly down marketwide by as much as 3 percent compared to 1990, after years of increases.

The layoffs at KGIL included one staffer in the continuity department, the station's program director and an afternoon news reporter.

Financial woes also are continuing at XEK-AM (950) Consumer Business Radio, a Mexican-licensed talk station with studios in Hollywood. Sources said the station has failed to pay its employees this month.

"They are all so caught up in emulating the next guy that they don't take the time to conduct market surveys and find out what the market wants," said radio consultant Allen Silvarman, explaining what he feels is wrong with many of the talk radio stations in town.

"They (station owners/managers) are the old timers, and they're all caught up in their egos. They're all programming on the basis of what they've done before. Nobody has given (the public) a reason to listen."

Mosier disagreed, calling talk radio in Los Angeles "an emerging healthy market" and pledging to stick with the "issue-oriented" format.

XEK also is being sued by a former talk show host and by a Korean firm that purchased air time in 1990, and the FCC is investigating whether the station is broadcasting without proper permits and in violation of a U.S. treaty with Mexico.

"It does appear, at least preliminarily, that they are operating at a level that exceeds U.S.-Mexico agreements and without FCC permits," said an FCC official. "We're still trying to put the pieces together."

XEK's Vice President Tom Avila did not return phone calls last week.