Public Radio

Is classic jazz radio -- at least in the Los Angeles area -- headed for oblivion? That's what the jazz community fears now that KKJZ-FM's (88.1) license-holder, California State University Long Beach Foundation, has launched a search for new management at the public radio station.

THERE'S TROUBLE ON the left side of the dial. As was reported Jan. 14 on page B3 of this newspaper (What? You didn't see it?), KCRW-FM announcer Chris Douridas, host of "New Ground," the exceedingly mellow alternative music show that airs on Saturdays, was arrested Jan. 6 outside the Circle Bar in Santa Monica for allegedly drugging and attempting to kidnap a 14-year-old girl.

YESTERDAY WAS a sad day for me. After two decades of waking up to the voice of Howard Stern, I listened gloomily as the self-proclaimed "King of All Media" bid farewell to terrestrial radio. Like a political refugee seeking free speech in a new land, the famous shock jock is transplanting himself to satellite radio, where subscribers will have to pay a monthly fee to hear his latest, now completely uncensored musings about strippers, retarded people and disgraced celebrities.

The inspector general of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is launching an investigation into whether public television and radio stations around the country inappropriately used federal funds to lobby against threatened budget cuts this summer. Kenneth A.

In his old job, management told him what to do and then demoted him after 30 years of service. But he did have 13 million loyal listeners and a pension plan. In his new job, he is with a station that has maybe 5 million listeners and he has no pension. But he has his own show, with his name on it, and management treats him like a star.

Ira Glass was talking a blue streak, sipping takeout soup with a plastic spoon, bent over himself in a chair on a dog day afternoon in a Manhattan editing studio, explaining how fans of his Chicago-based public radio program, "This American Life," react when they find out he's attempting to cross over to television. "They go, 'Ohhh ...' -- like, 'Please, don't,' " he said in the unradiolike voice that is his trademark.

STEVE JOBS HAS a good publicist. How else to explain July's monthlong media swoon over a phenomenon -- podcasting -- that is used by almost no one? Granted, an ever-increasing number of Internet users are being added to the ranks of "almost no one," so that in the near future podcasting may be a technology used by "nearly someone."

NPR fans, rejoice. If there was any clear-cut victor in last week's showdown over federal funding for public broadcasting, it's KPCC listeners who were spared a day and a half of fund-raising appeals because of a bump in donations. Executives at KPCC-FM (89.3), a member station of National Public Radio in Pasadena, said they called off their fund-raising early because of strong support from listeners, with some responding because of a potential loss in federal funds.

Public radio show "Marketplace" dropped a San Diego-based financial advisor as a commentator after concluding that he lifted language from online magazine Slate. Gabriel Wisdom had been providing commentaries for the nationally distributed program since 2003. His last appearance on June 13 mentioned the economic theories of author Michael Panzner. Executive producer J.J.

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to restore $100 million in proposed cuts to public television and radio, softening a measure that public broadcasters had warned could cripple small stations. Even as the vote gave solace to public television and radio officials, the board of the nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting tapped a former Republican Party co-chairwoman to lead the agency, alarming Democrats who contend an ideological takeover of public broadcasting is underway.