STATION SHIFTS TO TALK FORMAT

SAN DIEGO —  Until two weeks ago North County news and talk show radio junkies who wanted to hear locally originated programs were out of luck. The closest thing North County residents could get on their AM dial was KNX, Los Angeles’ mighty news and talk station. The dominant local news/talk station, San Diego’s KSDO (1130), does not reach all of North County with a strong signal, particularly at night.

Now residents of beach and interior communities such as Leucadia, Carlsbad, Oceanside and Escondido may be able to tune into KNNC (1320) for San Diego news, sports and weather, plus a series of national network talk shows and collegiate sports programming.

On Aug. 12, KEZL AM, changed its call letters, format and identity and took a better shot at the North County radio advertising market, which is 30% of the San Diego market. The station had consistently been in the basement of the local Arbitron ratings. “Nobody was out there anyway,” operations director Jerry Jackson said of the station’s music audience.

Five hours of daily news segments will be aired between 6 and 9 a.m. and 4 and 6 p.m. The remainder of the programming will be primarily national talk feeds from the Mutual Broadcasting System and ABC Talk Radio featuring Michael Jackson and Owen Spann on current events and psychiatrist Toni Grant talking about personal problems.

Such older radio programs as “The Lone Ranger” and “The Great Gildersleeve” follow a 6 to 7 p.m. financial program. Larry King hosts a national all-night, call-in program. KNNC also will offer sports coverage including Aztec football and other national college sports events.

“We’re catering directly to North County,” Jerry Jackson said. “Right now we’re crawling, but we’re going to walk.”

STARLIGHT STREAKS: The musical “Evita” will headline next year’s expanded Starlight season. Following this year’s late addition of “A Chorus Line,” Starlight decided to go for five musicals next year--up from four--in its repertory of al fresco Broadway hits, staged in Balboa Park’s Starlight Bowl. Other shows scheduled include “Mame,” “The Music Man,” “Oklahoma!” and “The Student Prince.”

According to general manager Leon Drew, an audience survey indicated that Starlight audiences will support a five-musical season. “Evita” also continues a move begun this season with “A Chorus Line” of staging more contemporary and more sophisticated musicals beneath the noisy glide path to Lindbergh Field.

SYMPHONY NOTES: The San Diego Pops continues to be not only a popular but an exceedingly financially solvent operation in its third season since Symphony Association President Det Merryman revamped the format. “It not only pays its own way but pours money into our regular season,” a symphony spokesman said. The Mission Bay concerts on Hospitality Point are popular enough that two additional performances have been scheduled for the final two concerts.

While most of the regular performances have reached or are near sell-out, choice seats are available for the two added shows. A Sept. 1 performance of Big Band music by Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and others with guest conductor Newton Wayland has been added, as has a Sept. 8 performance of the traditional Tchaikovsky season closer.

Meanwhile, Wednesdays at noon visitors can don hard hats and take a 15-minute guided tour of the Symphony Hall, nee Fox Theatre, at 7th Avenue and B Street downtown--despite a mention in The Times on Sunday that the tours wouldn’t start until November. Restoration of the 56-year-old theater is proceeding apace as the Nov. 2 inaugural concert approaches. The $6.5-million campaign received a $100,000 boost from Great American First Savings Bank, raising the total received or pledged to nearly $4 million.

Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and flutist James Galway are on tap for the season opener and a third celebrity performer will be announced later, symphony sources say.

ART BEATS: The life of South African political prisoner Nelson Mandela is the subject of a play by local playwright L.C. Sain. A staged reading of the play will be given Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre . . .

Attention photographers: a downtown photo contest, “City Visions,” is being sponsored by the Central City Assn. Entries must be received by Oct. 1. It shouldn’t be too hard to find a snapshot to enter, given this year’s contest theme: “My favorite people, places, events, buildings and other things in downtown.” Judges are Arthur Ollman, director of the Museum of Photographic Arts, local photographer Phil Binks and Lea Hartman, art director of San Diego Home/Garden Magazine. Cash awards will be made. Contest forms are available at the Central City Assn. office, 625 Broadway, Suite 1116, or at most downtown photo stores . . .

The Lyceum Theatre, actually two theaters in Horton Plaza that the San Diego Repertory Theatre had hoped to be in by Christmas, won’t be ready until March. Wouldn’t you know it would be something like open-webbed joists? That’s right, they found that these joists had to be installed to provide structural support to the theater catwalk and lighting rigging, according to David Allsbrook of the Centre City Development Corp. The specter of this year’s Rep production of “A Christmas Carol” in its shiny new theater must remain a futuristic phantom of Christmases yet to come.