Small-time radio: tiny stations carve out niche in big market.

SANTA CLARITA - It's 4 o'clock on a weekday afternoon in the cramped, slightly chaotic Canyon Country headquarters of 1,000-watt radio station KBET-AM (1220).

Tucked inside the control room is Brandon Cassidy, KBET's twenty something program director, who also serves as drive-time disc jockey and sports show co-host.

Cassidy clues in listeners on a celebrity interview within the hour. It's with Linda Carter, star of the hit '70s television show, "Wonder Woman."

"I'm pretty excited," said Cassidy, hardly sounding like a typically jaded, L.A. deejay.

But KBET is not like most L.A. stations. Here, the bread-and-butter programming involves kids reading book reports and shows like "Pet Talk With Dan."

Its format is homespun, it's folksy and it's exactly what a small radio station in the massive Los Angeles market needs to do to stay alive. KBET is one of a handful of L.A. stations that - unable to compete with larger competitors - are forced to carve out their own specialized niche.

With 80 or so stations, 45 of them of commercial significance, Los Angeles is the biggest, most profitable market in the nation. Because of a wealth of commuters and an aversion to public transportation, the relationship between listener and radio has blossomed.

So the bottom line for many tiny stations is to come up with something unique instead of trying to fight the more established fare.

"There are a lot of these tiny radio stations around Los Angeles that don't even make the ratings," said Gordon Mason, president of the Southern California Broadcasters Association. "This is a very vast marketplace, so these stations have to come up with gimmicks, or formats, that set them apart from the big boys."

KAZN-AM (1300) and KFOX-FM (93.5), for example, broadcast to the Asian community in Chinese and Korean, respectively. In Inglewood, KTYM-AM (1460) broadcasts a mix of Armenian religious programs, gospel music and Italian variety shows.

Two ratings services, Arbitron Co. and Accuratings, publish radio listening patterns for the entire L.A. market. However, many smaller stations do not even meet the minimum requirement levels to make the report.

The highest Arbitron rated station in the L.A. market is Spanish language KLVE-FM (107.5) with a market share of 6.9, or an average of about 116,000 people listening every 15 minutes. One of the lowest of the rated stations is Glendale's KIEV-AM (870), which garnered a .5 share in the most recent ratings, or about 8,000 listeners in a 15-minute period.

Although smaller stations don't command the high ad fees of the big commercial stations, analysts say they manage to remain profitable.

"Don't let the size fool you," said Allen S. Klein, president of Media Research Graphics Inc. of Encino, whose company tracks ratings and sale data in the radio industry. "They might be bottom of the barrel when it comes to the L.A. market, but small radio stations with the right format can have staying power well beyond the big stations."

Such is the case at KIEV, says owner Ron Beaton.

"We don't consider ourselves a small station," Beaton said. "We've got a loyal listenership, we've got a good formula and we make money. That's all any station can ask for - big or small."

One way KIEV pays the bills is by selling 80 percent of its program time to those willing to pay up to $1,500 an hour to get on the air.

The station has brokered specialized shows that cover everything from psychology to the "Star Trek" television series.

The rest of the programming is provided by the station, including a two-hour talk show with veteran L.A. broadcast personality George Putnam weekday afternoons.

"Our audience is very dedicated because they know we'll air things that won't get on the other stations," Beaton said. "Everyone else is going corporate, but we're hanging on."

One way to hang on is by creating unusual formats, such as at West Hollywood-based KYPA-AM (1230), which last year went all-motivational.

Instead of having disc jockeys introduce songs, KYPA's on-air staff introduces speakers like Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar, who get rotated in three-minute stints.

"We hope to get a network of similar stations in every market," said senior vice president Joe Knuckles. "This is uncharted territory, and we're finding a real need for it. If we went all-news or all-talk, this station wouldn't last. But, with a motivational slant, we have an edge."

The small-town perspective at KBET has enabled the station - which broadcasts 24 hours a day from a mini-mart-sized building it shares with Halsey's Auto Service - to endear itself to Santa Clarita Valley residents.

Since many area residents can't tune in broadcasts from major L.A. stations because of the surrounding mountains, KBET has countered with a local format - including high school football games, city council coverage, a sheriff's report and even a dentist giving brushing tips.

Carl Goldman, who bought the station in 1990 for about $1 million, said it is now worth about triple that amount. Even without an Arbitron rating, the station thrives financially because it isn't jockeying for ad dollars with L.A. stations.

"We've taken our own little piece of the L.A. radio market and made it ours," said Goldman, who runs the station with his wife, Jeri. "There are 187,000 residents in our area - and all of them, at one point or another, will be touched by our station. That's pretty good penetration."

KBET relies on local advertising much like a hometown newspaper. Small restaurants and jewelry stores can buy a minute of time for about $20 - compared to about $1,000 for a top rated L.A. station like KIIS-FM (102.7).

Goldman said the format has worked so well that he's assembled a network of 11 similarly sized FM and AM stations with frequencies in Palmdale and Ventura County.