KUSC Returns Early to a Nearly All-Classical Focus

Beginning today, KUSC-FM (91.5) goes back to a virtually all-classical music format on weekdays.

Between 6 a.m. and midnight, the only non-music offerings will be the popular “Marketplace” business news program (6-6:30 p.m.) and “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer” (6:30-7:30 p.m.).

The public radio station had planned to return to the sound of traditional classical music in November. But with the resignation of longtime President and General Manager Wallace A. Smith on Sept. 27 and of his wife, prominent KUSC host Bonnie Grice, three days later, station officials decided not to delay the change because they said that’s what listeners wanted.

Although Grice, the host of “Wake Up, L.A.!,” had planned to stay until Oct. 31, she was relieved of her duties last Wednesday.

Stephen Lama, KUSC’s acting general manager, explained: “Bonnie resigned. I made the decision to grant her a leave of absence through Oct. 31, which was her previously stated resignation date, to relieve her of her lame-duck status--which is pretty common in the broadcasting industry--and to allow us to move forward with some programming changes that we had scheduled to start in November.” Lama declined to discuss the specifics of the “leave of absence,” which Grice said came as a shock. She said she was called into Lama’s office and told to pack up and leave. Grice said Lama objected to something she had said on the air.

Asked if what she had said was an issue, Lama said that that was not part of his decision, then added, “Any conversations that Bonnie and I had about it are a personnel issue and are confidential.”

As the centerpiece of its new weekday programming changes, KUSC today begins airing “Performance Today” from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The National Public Radio show, hosted by Martin Goldsmith, emphasizes concert performances recorded live throughout the country and reviews and commentary by classical experts.

“Wake Up, L.A!,” which had aired from 7-10 a.m., is being replaced by “The Morning Program With Martin Perlich.” The show will start an hour earlier, at 6 a.m., in the time slot that had been occupied by “Monitor Radio,” a news program presented by the Christian Science Monitor.

“We’ve determined that our listeners would prefer music instead of news,” Lama noted. “Martin will [present] classical music selections.”

The full weekday lineup:

6-10 a.m.: “The Morning Program With Martin Perlich.”

10-11 a.m.: “Adventures in Good Music With Karl Haas.”

11 a.m-1 p.m.: “Performance Today.”

1-2 p.m.: “Classical 24.”

2-6 p.m.: “Afternoon Classics With Rene Engel.”

6-6:30 p.m.: “Marketplace.”

6:30-7:30 p.m.: “NewsHour.”

7:30 p.m.-midnight: “Music ‘til Midnight With Jim Svejda.”

Midnight-6 a.m.: “Classical 24.”

“The focus of all our [weekday] music programs . . . will be classical music,” Lama said. “There will be much less personality. Our program hosts will continue to present the music with personality, with their own passion, their own opinions, but it will be done in a much more concise fashion.”

In the last few years, both Smith and Grice became focal points for listener discontent: Smith, for spearheading a move to an eclectic mix of classical, jazz, world and folk music, and Grice for presenting musical selections with a chatty, irreverent style. Grice came to KUSC in 1989, the year KUSC began its shift away from the all-classical format.

The University of Southern California, which is the station’s parent, stepped in this summer after it found KUSC $500,000 in the red. A special task force was set up and two consulting groups were brought in to assess the station’s management structure and finances as well as its audience and programming. A task force report is due at the end of October.

Saul Levine, president of KKGO-FM (105.1), Los Angeles’ commercial classical station, said he was unconcerned by the changes at KUSC. “That would not impact us in any way,” he said. “We do our thing, and when we came into the market to replace KFAC in 1989, they were all-classical. . . . We’re not affected by what they do.”

Levine said that his company is launching a full-time classical radio station in San Diego in December.