KLAC-AM (570) bills itself as “Southern California’s Sports Superstation,” featuring broadcasts of the Los Angeles Lakers, UCLA Bruins, Arena Football’s Los Angeles Avengers and the Oakland Raiders.

But the station’s secret weapons have nothing to do with hoops or the gridiron. One is a host known for his make-believe characters and unpredictable comedy, the other a nationally syndicated “shock jock” who goes by the name Mancow.

Among other new personalities, Phil Hendrie and Erich “Mancow” Muller are KLAC’s best hopes of capturing the sizeable audience now claimed by pioneering shock jock Howard Stern, heard locally on KLSX-FM (97.1).

Stern is scheduled to leave traditional radio by the end of the year for Sirius Satellite Radio, which is free of the decency regulations of broadcast radio that have long bedeviled the envelope-pushing Stern.

His departure creates an opening for radio stations nationwide, some of which are tinkering with their mix of personalities and music in an attempt to grab the predominately male and young-skewing audiences loyal to Stern. Infinity Broadcasting, which carries Stern’s show, has not officially announced a replacement for the caustic jock, but it’s been widely reported that Adam Carolla will replace him in the West and David Lee Roth will take Stern’s microphone in the East.

In L.A., KLAC more commonly known as XTRA Sports 570 has been revamping its lineup to bring in non-sports personalities such as Mancow and Hendrie, and more provocative sports personalities who go far beyond play-by-play.

KLAC has added an hour to the afternoon program “Loose Cannons,” with sports trivia whiz Steve Hartman, former NBA star Mychal Thompson and wild man Vic “The Brick” Jacobs. Although their program is sports-centered, the loose-cannon trio delve into other subjects, from the war in Iraq to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the birth of pop star Britney Spears’ baby.

The changes are so sweeping that KLAC General Manager Don Martin no longer sees his competition as L.A.’s two other sports stations, but as KLSX, which carries Stern from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. and a colorful mix of talkers during the rest of the day.

“For the first time in many, many years I saw a hole in the market because of Howard Stern leaving,” Martin said. “So I went out and got Mancow, signed a deal and got him on the air (in late June).”

KLAC’s ratings have been growing slowly, but it’s too early to assess the impact of new additions like Mancow, Hendrie and the more sports-oriented duo of Matt “Money” Smith and Joe Grande, who took over the afternoon drive this month. Grande came from the market’s leading hip-hop station, KPWR-FM (105.9), and Smith was hired from L.A.’s top alternative rock station, KROQ-FM (106.7).

In the spring 2005 Arbitron ratings, KLAC ranked 32nd of 46 L.A. stations measured, far behind KLSX, which was in 18th place. KLAC posted slightly higher ratings than fellow sports broadcaster KSPN-AM (710). Arbitron did not report ratings for the market’s other sports station, KMPC-AM (1540).

The revamped KLAC lineup isn’t yet reflected in the Arbitron ratings. But Martin is confident that the changes will bring in an audience much larger than hard-core sports fans.

“Nothing like this has ever been tried in the L.A. market, that’s for damn sure,” he said. “These pieces are all going to play out. We want to be in the top 15, the top 10 in the market. KLSX is the station that we have in our sights; it’s not the sports stations.”

Chasing Howard


KLSX Program Director Jack Silver chuckled at his rival’s assertion. Silver also scoffed at Mancow’s prediction that stations like his that have long relied on Stern as their marquee name will wither away in the shock jock’s absence.

“The reality of the situation is that our station is No. 1 with men 25 to 54 in Los Angeles all week,” Silver said. “XTRA Sports is nowhere near that. That would be like saying Schwinn is competing with Porsche because both are methods of transportation.”

Silver and his bosses at Infinity Broadcasting have yet to confirm the heirs to Stern’s radio throne, but Silver said he isn’t concerned that KLSX’s audience will bleed away post-Stern. And Silver discounted Martin’s suggestion that a large chunk of the Stern audience would migrate to Mancow rather than pay to hear Stern on satellite radio.

“Mancow has not made any impact in Los Angeles,” Silver said. “I don’t know what the future holds when Howard leaves but we won’t be competing with him.”

Mancow, a Kansas City native who broadcasts from Chicago, said he’s gotten a “huge response” from L.A. listeners and even suggested that he may someday move his show to L.A.

Mancow also scoffed at suggestions that he is a de facto replacement for Stern, saying the comparison implies that he’s standing in the elder shock jock’s shadow. “(Jay) Leno has always seemed to me as a Carson replacement,” Mancow said. “I would rather be Carson than Leno.”

Radio consultant Holland Cooke said broadcasters around the United States are experimenting with ways to capture Stern’s audience when he leaves traditional radio for satellite in January 2006. Cooke predicted that few of Stern’s listeners would follow him to Sirius.

It’s therefore logical for stations like KLAC to tweak their lineups to appeal to the same testosterone-laden male crowd that made Stern a star, Cooke said. KLAC can use sports as its base but build an audience from there, he said.

“I’m reminded of Cigar Aficionado magazine where when it first came out, ‘cigar’ was in big type and ‘aficionado’ was in small type and the emphasis was on cigars and smoking,” Cooke said. “Now it’s the other way around ‘cigar’ is in small type and ‘aficionado’ is in large type and it emphasizes lifestyle and interviews with celebrities. The fit between Mancow and Hendrie and sports is totally logical. Guys will always want to talk about guy things.”

Martin acknowledges that his formula isn’t new the nation’s top sports station, WFAN-AM (660) in New York broadcasts shock jock Don Imus in the morning but he says it’s new to the L.A. area.

“If you look at men, there’s very few of them who just want sports 24 hours a day,” Martin said. “You’d better give them entertainment as well. That’s what we’re trying to do.”