Rick Dees to Exit ABC’s Low-Rated ‘Into the Night’

Rick Dees will step down as host of ABC’s late-night series “Into the Night” in July, but the show will continue to air at least through October using guest hosts, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Dees, who is part owner of the show, will continue to work behind the scenes as executive producer, said Lindy Lewis, spokeswoman for Dees and “Into the Night.”

ABC would not confirm any changes, though spokesman Bob Wright said that “I can confirm that Rick is going to be leaving in the near future, according to Rick.” Wright said that ABC planned to announce new plans for the low-rated series today at the annual convention of network affiliates in Los Angeles.

ABC’s new summer Friday night music series, “In Concert ‘91,” already has reduced “Into the Night” to four nights a week.

“Into the Night” has been plagued with low ratings since it premiered last July, primarily because only 44% of the ABC affiliates agree to carry it at midnight, following “Nightline.” The rest either pass on the show entirely in favor of syndicated fare or air it in the wee hours of the morning.

By contrast, Johnny Carson’s top-rated “Tonight Show” is carried by all of NBC’s affiliates.

Since April, “Into the Night” has averaged a 1.6 rating, or about 1.5 million households a night, compared to “Tonight’s” 4.75 million homes.

Even so, ABC renewed the show through October just last April, and Phil Beuth, the network’s vice president of late-night programming, told The Times earlier this month that Dees was ABC’s man and no change was anticipated.

Lewis said that Dees, a popular deejay at KIIS-FM/AM in Los Angeles, had done everything he could to persuade the affiliates to carry his show, and had approached ABC himself about stepping down in mid-July. She contradicted published reports indicating that ABC had pulled the plug on Dees.

“He owns the show. They can’t just fire him,” she said. “They can cancel him in October, but they can’t fire him.” She said no guest host had been nailed down yet, and she left open the possibility that Dees might decide to return as host at some point.

Meanwhile, representatives for David Letterman, host of NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman,” have reportedly met with ABC officials in recent months. Letterman was reported to have been angered by NBC’s passing on him as successor to Johnny Carson, and he might be angling to move elsewhere when his contract with NBC comes up next April.

Jack Rollins, Letterman’s agent and executive producer, declined comment Tuesday.