NPR MUTINY OVER LACK OF BOUNTY

WASHINGTON —  Loyalty tests went out of style with McCarthyism and the Caine Mutiny, but National Public Radio’s board of directors acted last week to virtually revive the practice--at least on an economic level.

As a result, at least two Los Angeles NPR stations are talking the ultimate NPR heresy: killing off “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.”

KUSC-FM (91.5) has already scrapped “Morning Edition” and has pared “All Things Considered” down from two hours to a single hour each weekday afternoon. Station manager Wally Smith told The Times that he may soon replace “All Things Considered,” which airs 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. daily, with the Canadian program “As It Happens” in the afternoons.

KLON-FM (88.1), which still carries both popular NPR programs, may also drop them in favor of a new local news-gathering operation, according to station manager Dave Creagh.

Creagh, who also sits on the NPR board, said this radical mutinous talk arose after the NPR directors voted unanimously last week to give all NPR’s federal money to the nation’s 251 NPR stations, beginning in 1987.

Exactly how much that will be depends on the whims of Congress. Using this year’s allocation as a benchmark, the federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting gave NPR $10.3 million, almost half of the network’s $22 million 1985 operating budget.

Currently, the $10.3 million is the backbone of NPR programming, including the two daily news magazines.

Under the new plan, the money would go directly to NPR stations, which would then have to decide whether to use it to buy NPR programming or drop out of the NPR system and spend the money elsewhere.

KLON, for example, would get an extra $150,000 to add to its $800,000 annual budget. But KLON’s annual NPR membership dues would almost double and its entire windfall would go toward retaining “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition,” according to station manager Dave Creagh.

Creagh said this new plan came about because each year National Public Radio haggles with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to win over enough federal money to continue producing its award-winning news programming, and each year CPB tightens those purse strings.

Two years ago, the network almost went bankrupt after mismanaging itself into more than $7 million in debts. For a time, it appeared as though a dubious CPB would not cough up bail-out money.

If NPR board’s new plan is accepted by NPR’s 251 member stations, it would put the burden of paying for NPR’s news programming directly on the stations and sidestep the CPB altogether.

Creagh told The Times that KUSC and KLON may, in turn, sidestep NPR. The two stations plan to create their own news and information service, covering local and state news.

“Neither KUSC nor KLON has decided to resign as NPR members yet, but NPR is designing disincentives (by charging more for its news programs), which may turn out to be very powerful,” Creagh said.

Creagh said recent listener surveys indicate only 9% of KLON’s contributors listen to the two NPR news magazine programs.

“KLON is perceived by most listeners as a jazz station with strong local news capabilities and KUSC is known as the fine arts station,” Creagh said. “KCRW-FM (89.9) has become recognized as the NPR station in Los Angeles.”

KPCC-FM (88.9) in Pasadena and KCSN-FM (88.5) in Northridge also are NPR affiliates.

“Is the public served if all five stations carry ‘All Things Considered’ and ‘Morning Edition’ at the same time? I don’t think so,” Creagh said.

Instead of NPR, Creagh and Smith envision a cooperative news network that, among other things, would re-establish a public radio news bureau in Sacramento.

“Since the governor reduced our state funding to zero, there has been absolutely no news reporting of any kind out of Sacramento. Restoring a reporter there is a high priority for me.”

A year ago, Gov. George Deukmejian blue-penciled all state subsidy for California’s 40 public radio and television stations. One of the casualties of the funding cut was the California public radio news bureaus in Sacramento and Los Angeles, leaving public radio with no statewide news correspondents.

KCRW, the Los Angeles-area station most dependent on NPR programming, operates on about $500,000 a year now and would welcome the additional cash infusion, according to general manager Ruth Hirschman, but the stations will not pull out of the NPR system.

“I don’t think there will be any major station in any major market that will pull out of NPR. It would be crazy to do that,” she said.

NPR’s news programs can’t be matched for quality, she said, openly doubting that Creagh or Smith would go through with their secession plans.

“If you’re in Vegas, playing the Big Game, you’re not going to pull your chips out and leave to play somewhere else, simply because there’s no other game like it in town. If I want to stay in NPR, I have to pay it. If I don’t, I have to get out. I’m not getting out.”

Harry Shearer got out.

The ex-”Saturday Night Live” writer/performer returned to KCRW and his creative roots over the weekend.

His new hour comedy show, “The Hour of Power,” airs at 10 a.m. Sundays and features something that KCRW manager Hirschman describes as “essentially serious” topical humor.

Shearer is probably best remembered for a scene in the movie “This Is Spinal Tap” in which he was stopped at an airport metal detector and ordered to remove a tin foil-covered cucumber from his underwear. . . .

KCRW continues its inevitable drive toward essentially serious topical humor with “The Cool and the Crazy” (Sundays from 10 p.m. to midnight). Art Fraud and Vic Tripp, hosts of the weird mix of ‘50s-’60s music and wicked satire, are currently sponsoring an audience-participation competition entitled “Battle of the Bob Dylans.” Through mid-March, listeners are invited to submit their best renditions of Dylan compositions. They will be judged in several categories, including, nasal voice quality, lyrical overkill and early acoustic sound.

Fraud and Tripp recently sponsored a similar essentially serious topical humor contest entitled “Battle of the Louie Louies.”