RADIO EXAMINES ITS COLLECTIVE VOICE.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

For those who grew up with it, radio is steeped in romance. Just picture those sepia-toned images of families gathered round the wireless; the medium is imbued with intimacy. Even the most widely syndicated radio talent - from Edward R. Murrow and Wolfman Jack in years past to Art Bell and Susan Stamberg today - give the impression they're broadcasting on a one-to-one basis directly to their friend, the listener.

Intimacy and immediacy are radio's great assets, fostering a valuable bond. Crucial to this relationship, though, is trust. Regular listeners to Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Rick Dees or Bell often see their favorite host as part of an admittedly dysfunctional family.

In the midst of today's hothouse climate of corporate takeovers and consolidation, those within the industry are taking the familial analogy a step further by asking where the next generation of compelling talk talent will come from.

There hasn't been a breakthrough radio talent on the national level in ages - at least since otherworldly overnight host Bell became a coast- to-coast phenomenon in the wake of the Heaven's Gate suicides four years ago.

``I do wonder where the next Dr. Laura, Rush ... will come from,'' says Bell, whose show is broadcast locally on talk station KFI-AM (640). ``Even in our large corporate environment, there's room for the individual. It's a little more difficult ... but it can be done.''

Like them or not, what makes radio talents special is their individuality. Stern, Limbaugh, Bell, Paul Harvey and Jim Rome, to give a few examples, are as far apart in tone and presentation as cats are different from dogs.

``I'm not looking for the next Rush, the next Dr. Laura,'' said Randy Michaels, chief executive of Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio conglomerate, which owns more than 1,200 stations and the world's largest concert promotion company. ``I'm looking for the next whoever it is. Nobody is the next Paul Harvey. There is only one like him.''

Michaels would know. Clear Channel's eight Los Angeles properties include many of the city's most popular and top billing outlets: Top 40 KIIS-FM (102.7), adult contemporary KBIG-FM (104.3), modern adult contemporary KYSR-FM (98.7), r&b oldies KCMG-FM (92.3), soft adult contemporary KOST-FM (103.5), KFI, nostalgia KLAC-AM (570) and sports KXTA- AM (1150).

``There's not nearly enough innovation,'' Michaels continued. ``There are different kinds of stations under the banner of talk - KIEV (now KRLA), KLSX - and yes, they are spoken word, but there's all kinds. ... One of the reasons I love this format is it's art on the fly. Music radio is a science. In talk, you have to figure it out on the fly. You can't take two weeks to figure out what the buzz is.''

But while everyone agrees more innovation is needed in radio, nobody apparently is sick of talk, still one of the nation's most popular formats. TV news networks have gotten in on the hot-air act with combative commentary now filling TV schedules.

``Yes, there's a great deal of political `hot talk' on TV, but it hasn't hurt radio,'' said Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers, a monthly magazine that covers talk radio. ``If anything, it keeps people interested in the debate and feeds into talk radio.''

But where will the next generation of yappers come from? Some industry observers point to the success of syndicated talk host Matt Drudge as proof that new radio talent will come from untraditional sources like the World Wide Web rather than smaller markets.

``Talk radio today is woefully unable to develop talent through a farm system like it used to,'' Harrison said. ``In order to develop great radio talent, you have to develop great radio fans among young people. There has to be a culture of kids who grew up loving radio. And if young people don't grow up thinking of radio as a mecca of pop culture, they won't do whatever it takes to get on the air. The new era of consolidation has created an environment where that doesn't exist.''

Drudge rose to fame after his Drudge Report Web site broke the Monica Lewinsky story after it was leaked to Drudge by a Washington, D.C., journalist. Drudge, who broadcasts his Premiere Radio Networks syndicated chat show from Miami, argues that the Internet has given everyone a chance to be a talking head.

``Technology has finally caught up to individual liberty,'' he declared. ``To me, this is the future.''

Others, like Michaels, believe the traditional methods of cultivating talent still have their uses.

``Anyone can have an Internet talk station,'' the Clear Channel honcho counters. ``Is it a big deal today? No. ... We have to find a way to incubate, nurture and integrate individual talent into a format. We need to find interesting people and let them be themselves or let them do their act.''

Perhaps surprisingly, Michaels believes compelling talent is emerging from music rather than talk formats. He points to ex-rock jock Glenn Beck, a top-rated afternoon host on a Tampa, Fla., AM talker who spent years traveling the country doing mornings on Top 40 stations.

Music radio incubates interesting personalities because, Michaels says, it's a place where ``people who are passionate have to play a few records to maintain the illusion they're on a music (rather than talk) format.''

Bell, the most listened-to overnight host in the country with almost 500 affiliates, said he goes as far as encouraging anyone with something to say to get on the air somewhere and begin building a career in the familiar ways, despite the current acquisition-crazy climate and intense competition among stations.

``Individuals can survive in a corporate environment,'' he insists. ``If you try and walk in Rush's shoes, you'll never get where you want to go. You've got to try new, individual things.''

Locally, talk radio offers little we haven't heard before, despite the fact that the relatively recent development of ``hot talk'' KLSX-FM (97.1) - which boasts Stern in mornings and Tom Leykis in afternoons - has resulted in high ad rates and increasingly strong ratings for the formerly low-rated classic-rock outlet.

``FM talk has to be done right to catch on,'' Harrison said. ``It sometimes gets noticed for the wrong reasons - because the hosts talk dirty or try to be as outrageous as possible. KLSX is doing something right rather than following the `hot talk' formula.''

According to Michaels, the spread of FM talk was inevitable but shouldn't detract from chat on AM, the traditional home of the format.

``There is no question FM talk is for real - it sounds better and works better,'' Michaels said. ``Too many stations call themselves 'hot talk' and then go right back into (conversations about) 'what's your favorite color?' ''

For Harrison, however, music radio is a genre that must be escaped quickly if a host wants to further a talk career.

``They're stuck,'' he said of would-be talking heads. ``It's an island and they have to get away from it. Music radio long ago gave up its franchise in personalities.''

But with the potential of a new batch of Internet-groomed personalities comes the timely question of delivery. How will fans of the future tune into these riveting new folks?

Michaels has an answer that rings true: ``People will listen to talents like Art Bell or Matt Drudge if they're coming through on the Palm Pilot - or the toaster.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) The state of talk radio

While nobody's shuttin up, everyone's looking for the next bigmouth 

John Lazar/Staff Photographer

(2) Art Bell, whose radio show is carried on nearly 500 stations, says individual personalities can still break through in the sprawling medium. That's him on the left.

(3) Media critic Matt Drudge made a transition from Web site to talk radio; at a conference in Marina del Rey Saturday, he praised the Internet as a liberating force.

(4) `One of the reasons I love this format is it's art on the fly. Music radio is a science. In talk, you have to figure it out on the fly. You can't take two weeks to figure out what the buzz is.'

- Randy Michaels, chief executive of Clear Channel

David Sprague/Staff Photographer