Changes in local radio, TV

KPBS and KOGO make changes

By Scott Horsley, San Diego Pro

Business reporter, National Public Radio

KPBS television has scrapped its nightly public affairs program, Full Focus.  Station managers say the half-hour show was a victim of low ratings and inadequate sponsor support.

Full Focus had evolved over the years from a monthly documentary series to a news and discussion program, featuring stories by the station’s own reporters and a weekly roundtable with local journalists.  A memo to KPBS employees said the average audience of 13,000 viewers was not enough to justify the $1 million annual cost.

Most of the show’s staff was laid off in early August, including managing editor Graciela Sevilla, reporter Heather Hill, and producer Mary Garbesi.  Others, including host Gloria Penner and reporter Amita Sharma, were reassigned to other duties at the station. 

Although “the numbers remained small by current television standards,” Penner wrote on the KPBS Web site, “viewers were passionate about Full Focus and its potential.”  Some of those passionate viewers sounded off in Web postings of their own.

“I am deeply disappointed,” wrote Laurie Sterling Jensen.  “In an era of sound bite junk news where more time is spent on Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears than on issues that really matter, Full Focus was a desperately needed last bastion of quality news programming.” 

“What is wrong?” complained Anthony Intrieri.  “KPBS is going the way of Clear Channel radio: one local engineer pushing buttons to start the canned programs from the national affiliates.”

Meanwhile, Clear Channel’s KOGO is revamping its morning drive lineup, replacing San Diego’s First News with a local talk show hosted by Baltimore transplant Chip Franklin.

Program director Cliff Albert says KOGO’s research has shown radio listeners “want their news presented in a way that not only brings them up to date but also presents it with a perspective so they can understand what it means to them.  They want to hear viewpoints about what’s going on so they can better understand it.”

For the last seven years, Franklin has hosted his own show on WBAL-AM in Baltimore, in the nine to noon timeslot.  The veteran stand-up comic has been honored by the Radio and Television News Directors Association with an Edward R. Murrow award for writing.  He’s the first talk show host to ever win that prestigious award.

Despite the switch to a talk format, Albert says KOGO will continue to provide “full-service news, traffic, business, sports and weather updates and breaking news when it happens.”  The station says it’s not cutting any news jobs and that familiar voices like anchor LaDona Harvey will still be on the air. 

KPBS-FM is also tweaking its morning drive offering this fall, adding more local content during the national broadcast of Morning Edition.