Are recent changes in local radio messing up the pre-sets on your radio dial?

	Who's In, Who's Out WRRK-FM (96.9) In: Syndicated "Bob" format of variety hits, with some local on-air staff. Out: Classic rock with local on-air staff. WRKZ-FM (93.7) In: David Lee Roth's morning show. Out: Howard Stern's morning show. WAMO-AM (860) In: All-talk format geared to an African-American audience. Out: Mix of music and talk geared to an African-American audience. KDKA-AM (1020) In: Host Marty Griffin. Out: Talk hosts Mike Pintek, Mike Romigh and Paul Alexander. Coming soon: Daily news program, evening sports and general talk shows, plus syndicated investment talk host Jim Cramer.

Pittsburgh radio listeners have had their world rocked in the past few months. In what was a somewhat stagnant market, there have been several format, programming and personnel changes, with a few more just around the corner -- enough to make listeners feel lost on their own radio dials. And they're going to change our listening habits, whether we want them to or not.

The scorecard

WRRK-FM (96.9): It started in November, when longtime classic rock station WRRK-FM switched to "Bob," a variety hits format that spans several decades and formats of pop music. The format has already undergone changes, returning some local on-air staff to the musical mix.

WRKZ-FM (93.7): At the start of the year, Howard Stern defected to Sirius Satellite Radio, meaning listeners now have to pay a subscription fee to hear him. In Stern's place, WRKZ now carries the syndicated David Lee Roth show.

KDKA-AM (1020): News/talk KDKA-AM made waves with a major revamping of its programming lineup that left three daily talk hosts out in the cold. The new lineup includes Marty Griffin, who's on from 9 a.m. to noon, plus a KDKA-produced daily news program scheduled to premiere March 6, along with the debut of syndicated investment talk host Jim Cramer. New evening sports and general talk shows will be unveiled in the coming weeks.

WAMO-AM (860): Beginning tomorrow, the already-crowded talk radio market will get a little more competitive, when WAMO switches to all talk, dropping its mix of R&B and talk. The daily lineup, geared to the African-American audience, will include recently launched syndicated shows hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, author Michael Eric Dyson and sports talk duo The 2 Live Stews.

The game plan

Or: Life after Howard.

Although his show is nationally syndicated, Howard Stern has had local impact. When Clear Channel dropped his show on its stations, including WXDX-FM (105.9) here, the show moved to the former WBZZ, which switched to WRKZ and gave the market one more rock station. With a dominant rock station like WDVE-FM (102.5) and other competition in the form of new rock WXDX and WRKZ, the stage was set for classic rock WRRK's switch to the Bob format.

And Stern's departure from morning drive leaves his very large orphaned audience with two choices: Buy that satellite subscription or look around the dial for something new.

That could boost several morning shows here, especially those that appeal to male audiences. Will listeners stick with Roth or switch to WXDX's Alan Cox or WDVE's Jim Krenn and Randy Baumann?

"I think the jury is out on how many people are willing to pay to listen to the Howard Stern show. We won't know that for a while," says Keith Clark, vice president of programming for CBS Radio Pittsburgh.

"When a change that seismic happens, it takes people a while to figure out what their new morning listening habits are going to be. There's a lot of experimentation going on, listening to shows they might not have listened to."

"Stern's hard-core listeners will be scattered in a few different directions across the dial," Clear Channel senior vice president of programming Gene Romano predicts. "One will be those who signed up for Sirius, who will continue to listen to Howard religiously. When Howard left WXDX, we saw audience gains for Jim and Randy. My guess is that we'll see that again."

Who's No. 1?

Two stations see themselves as part and parcel of the city's fabric: CBS Radio's KDKA and Clear Channel's WDVE.

KDKA is the nation's first radio station and the one Pittsburghers have had their dials locked onto for generations. WDVE, a rock station that grew up with its baby-boom audience and new generations, is also a daily listening habit for many.

While local talk is the backbone of KDKA programming, it has competition from WPGB-FM (104.7) in the form of popular syndicated hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

Reinvention is the name of the game at KDKA these days, and Clark said it was simply time for some changes. "All entertainment vehicles, whether it's a sports team or a radio station, have to constantly reinvent themselves. KDKA has a wonderful history and a wide variety of people who listen. We need to constantly look for hosts and programs that inspire passion in the people that listen today."

In the most recent Arbitron book, WDVE beat out longtime first-place winner KDKA among total listeners. Was it because WDVE was home to Steelers' games during their championship year, or is there a bigger shift in listening habits going on? The answer depends on whom you ask.

"There are reasons why those stations are as big as they are," Clark says. "KDKA is a very broad radio station because a lot of people listen for news and information. A 20-year-old needs traffic and weather and news just like a 60-year-old. That's the common bond for KDKA."

WDVE's high ratings, he adds, are "part of the benefit of being the [Steelers'] flagship station." WDVE isn't just riding the momentum of the championship season, says its operations manager, John Moschitta. It's a combination of things that are making more people tune in, "delivering the right music, longtime hosts who are able to bond with the listeners, the comedy, as well as the relationship with the Steelers."

Dueling demos

Ultimately, the 12-plus age-group ratings are meaningless to people in the radio business.

Romano, for one, is underwhelmed by WDVE's status among total listeners. "I've never paid any attention to the 12-plus ratings," he says, noting that while KDKA has been No. 1 among total listeners, it has declined among key demographic groups, such as 25- to 54-year-olds. "It would be bad news for WDVE to slide in its primary demographics but be No. 1 in 12-plus."

For Moschitta, the fact that WDVE has been first in its target 25- to 54-year-old audience since 1993 is far more significant. "That's unheard of in any market."

Diversity

The WAMO change leaves very little music on the local AM dial. "AM is not the province for music programming," says WAMO-FM/AM general manager Michael Douglass. "There was a void, however, for news and information programming for the African-American community."

The switch is good news in terms of adding new perspectives and points of view in local talk radio. But classic R&B listeners are out of a destination.

Diversity is as much an issue in music programming as it is in talk. In an era where satellite and Internet radio offer a wide array of music, commercial radio formats have drawn criticism for playing the same old same old. Formats such as Bob are designed to widen the selection of songs throughout the day. It's also designed to steal listeners from any and every format -- from oldies to contemporary, from rock to pop.

"Because the music is so varied, it tends to pull [listeners] from different stations," says WRRK program director John Robertson. "There are many different genres of music. ... Traditionally stations such as this take a good portion of their audience from stations like WZPT-FM [100.7]. But I really think the draw will be from all stations."

Like WZPT's Hot AC format, Bob is often the choice in public places or in work places, where there are large numbers of people with different music tastes.

The Bob station has had only a few weeks to factor in the most recent Arbitron ratings. "It's hard to read too much within five or six weeks, but we are very encouraged by what we saw in the first month." Robertson says. "The phone line has been especially active. The comments we're getting are very encouraging."

Techno challenges

Finally, new technology will change old habits by giving listeners more choices and fragmenting the audience even more. Within the next few months, local radio stations will be able to program more than one channel of programming, thanks to HD radio technology. It means many new choices for listeners, including specialty formats such as smooth jazz, blues or Americana. A talk station could mix things up ideologically with Limbaugh on one channel and Al Franken on the other.

Most local broadcasters are already broadcasting some of their stations in HD, or contemplating doing it as soon as more listeners are able to buy HD receivers.

Then it will be time to re-program all those pre-sets once again.