Syndicated show replaces last local talk host.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

"What's your take on this?"

The familiar refrain from Dan Carlin on KUGN-AM every weekday afternoon is no longer, but the question is now circulating among local listeners of his talk show.

Cumulus Media took another swipe at local radio recently when it canceled Carlin's two-hour, drive-time program and replaced it with more nationally syndicated programming. You now can hear Fox New's conservative Bill O'Reilly in the afternoons, not Carlin interviewing Eugene city councilors or Lane County commissioners.

Carlin, who replaced nationally syndicated Michael Savage in November 2002, completed his last show on Friday. The cancellation of the show follows the decision by Cumulus to replace Smooth Jazz 95.3, a local jazz show, with "The Moose," a country music station.

Since reaching the Federal Communication Commission limit of six stations in a market the size of Eugene-Springfield in 2001, Cumulus has made numerous changes, canceling several local shows and replacing them with syndication. Cumulus, the nation's second-largest owner of radio stations with about 270 nationwide, also owns KZEL-FM, KEHK-FM, KNRQ-FM, KUJZ-FM and KSCR-AM.

"It's not surprising," said Al Stavitsky, associate dean of the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication, who worked in radio for years. "We've lost the place where we can argue about local issues."

The loss of Carlin's show, which was politically middle-of-the-road, coupled with the recent loss of Allen Siporin's public affairs call-in show on KLCC leaves the Eugene-Springfield market without a single local talk radio show.

But Steve Ries, who recently took over as marketing manager for Cumulus and made the decisions to cancel Smooth Jazz and Carlin's show, says KUGN actually is gaining more local programming with the loss of Carlin's show.

Ries said he made the decision to cancel Carlin so the station could expand "The Jerry Allen Show" in the morning. Allen, "The Voice of the Ducks" at KUGN, has seen his show on news, weather and sports expanded by 1 1/2 hours. It now goes from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., instead of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

"We're trying to build the franchise of KUGN around Jerry," Ries said. Carlin's show, which aired from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., has been replaced by O'Reilly, who used to be on in the mornings on KUGN and now is on from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. slot has been filled with more local news, weather and sports.

"We've gained local programming," Ries said.

But Eugene City Councilor David Kelly, a frequent guest of Carlin, said the loss of the show is a loss for the community.

"Dan's political views and mine had little in common," Kelly said. "But I still think it's sad when we lose local programming."

Kelly was looking forward to an upcoming show Aug. 12 with Eugene land developer John Musumeci, a member of the infamous "Gang of Nine" that lampooned Kelly and other Eugene city councilors in a series of newspaper ads in 2001. Carlin saw the pairing as somewhat of a coup.

He had been working to get the two on his show for some time, and other local media had been doing the same, Kelly said, but Musumeci had always declined, until now.

Carlin, who came to Eugene in 1992 as a reporter for KVAL-TV, said he is not bitter nor surprised about the move. It's just the reality of radio in America today.

"These guys here have no control over it," Carlin said. "Basically, the decision is made from Atlanta," he said of Cumulus' headquarters.

It costs much less for syndicated programming than to pay local on-air talent, Stavitsky said. But Ries said the decision had nothing to do with money, nor was it a decision based in Atlanta.

"All the decisions are local," Ries said. "I'm the guy who makes the decisions here."