Talent turnover at KLSX as station tries to hold onto Stern's audience.

It's 2:30 p.m., and Tim Conway Jr. and Doug Steckler have reached the home stretch of their four-hour talk show on KLSX-FM 97.1.

Seated before a microphone in a cluttered studio, Steckler sifts through a pile of newspapers, searching for a suitable topic for discussion. Eventually, he settles on the upcoming schedule for a local performing arts organization - which appears to irk him.

"None of this stuff will get you laid," he mutters. "Guys don't mind shelling out if there's going to be some kind of pay-off in the end. But a Spanish dance ensemble? Forget it."

The topic fails to catch fire. The pair move on to a minor earthquake in Pasadena, which briefly lights up the phone lines, then to the disappointments of the fall television season. Finally, Conway and Steckler wrap up the show with a guest - Don Murphy, who recently earned a world drumming record by bashing his drumset for 52 consecutive days (with only five minutes of rest an hour).

It isn't exactly groundbreaking broadcasting, and it's a far cry from the morning antics of Howard Stern, who is KLSX's undisputed claim to fame. That's the problem - KLSX, L.A.'s only FM talk-radio station, has to get ratings when Stern isn't on the air.

"That's everyone's job here at the station," admits Conway, who bears an uncanny resemblence to his father, comedian Tim Conway. "Just try and hold on to Howard Stern's audience."

But the numbers haven't been very encouraging.

According to summer ratings compiled by Arbitron Co., Stern and KLSX ranked third among L.A. radio stations during the morning drive among listeners aged 12 and over - behind Spanish-language stations KSCA-FM 101.9 and KLVE-FM 107.5.

But as soon as Stern signs off, the station drops to No. 16. And by the crucial afternoon drive, KLSX falls to the No. 27 spot.

Overall, the station ranked as L.A.'s No. 18 radio station during the summer months.

To make matters worse, the station last month was forced to fire one of its top personalities, Riki Rachtman, who, in a much-publicized incident, physically attacked Steckler outside the studio following weeks of on-air insult trading.

Such travails have fueled speculation that KLSX is on the verge of abandoning its unusual FM talk format and returning to its classic rock roots, anchored by Stern's show in the morning.

"Their talent isn't doing well after Stern," said Edith Whaley, vice president at Carat/ICG, a media buying and marketing service in Century City. "I wouldn't be surprised to see them go back to music."

KLSX officials, for their part, argue that the station scores very high among its target demographic of males aged 25 to 49, routinely landing in the top 10 among L.A.'s 82 radio stations in that group.

As for returning to music programming, Bob Moore, the station's general manager, insists that FM talk is here to stay.

"The simplest thing we could do is play 14 records an hour after Howard Stern," Moore said. "The most difficult job for us is to find five qualified personalities to follow him."

Indeed, Stern looms large at KLSX's Mid-Wilshire headquarters - even though his syndicated morning show originates in New York.

Like most stations, the suite of offices is a decidedly unglamorous affair, with worn carpets, narrow hallways and cluttered offices and workstations.

The most notable signs of show-biz glitz are on display at the front desk - where a massive advertisement for Stern's recent biopic, "Private Parts," sits alongside an oversized poster of the shock jock's bestselling book, Miss America.

Determining how to hold onto Stern's fans after he signs off has been a challenge for programmers ever since 1995, when KLSX abandoned its classic rock format and became "Real Radio 97.1" - L.A.'s first FM talk-radio station.

The station was no stranger to being in the lead.

In 1985, it became L.A.'s first classic rock station, after Moore noticed that no one in town was playing such old favorites as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles or the Doors.

The timing, it turned out, was impeccable, and KLSX began outperforming its old, soft-rock format. It did even better when Stem was added in the mornings in 1991.

In fact, KLSX did so well that its classic rock identity was knocked off by a number of competitors, including KLOS-FM (95.5), KYSR-FM (98.7) and KCBS-FM (93.1).

"We were all playing the same 500 songs," says Moore. "The one thing that set us apart was that we had Howard Stern."

So in August, 1995, Moore sought to leverage that advantage by transforming KLSX into an all-talk station that would differ from the traditional AM talk radio by targeting a younger, hipper audience.

It was a risky move. Talk stations are as much as five times more expensive to operate than those that play music. In addition to on-air personalities, stations must hire producers, screeners, engineers and other support staff, and the hosts themselves sometimes command big salaries.

The advantage of talk stations is that there's more time for advertisements - typically 16 minutes per hour, compared to just 10 to 12 minutes an hour on most music stations.

Moore also was convinced that if he could stake out a new programming niche now, it would pay dividends in the future.

So Real Radio was born. But selling the non-Stern personalities has been tough.

"We did it ass-backwards?' Moore admits. "We designed the station around the listener, thinking that the talent wasn't that important. But what we found was that you have to have someone who can do something, who will take a strong position and not be afraid of controversy."

Aside from Stern, the talent roster has undergone a complete turnover in the past two years. But Moore says the station is getting closer to its goal.

Six weeks ago, KLSX hired nationally syndicated talk-show host and former KMPC-AM personality Tom Leykis for the afternoon drive.

"The goal is to attract professional radio talent," says Silver, "people who have had ratings and popularity and success elsewhere, and plug them in."