Michael Jackson’s Next Big Challenge : Radio: The veteran talk-show host, who comes back to KABC today after heart surgery, finds himself in an unusual ratings position, No. 2.

As KABC-AM (790) talk-show host Michael Jackson returns today after seven weeks off following heart surgery, he faces one of his heftiest professional challenges since starting here more than 25 years ago.

Jackson, whose name is virtually synonymous with talk radio in Southern California, for the first time has lost his hold as the top-rated talk-show host of mid-mornings. Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host whose syndicated show is heard locally on KFI-AM (640), has overtaken him.

The latest quarterly Arbitron ratings--which covered the period from Sept. 12, 1991, to Dec. 11, 1991, well before Jackson took off for quadruple bypass surgery--showed that during the hours they compete head to head, 9 a.m. to noon, Jackson had an average audience of about 90,000 listeners while Limbaugh attracted about 100,000.

Jackson’s ratings actually have remained relatively steady, suggesting that Limbaugh is not stealing his listeners but is instead attracting them from elsewhere. Limbaugh believes many of them were previously listening to FM music stations and switched because they liked his blend of passion, irreverence and ego, or simply his politics.

“There’s finally someone in Los Angeles who is offering a program which does not make fun of or impugn what conservatives hold dear,” he said.

Nonetheless, many observers see Limbaugh’s ascendancy as a sign that Limbaugh’s opinionated, combative brand of broadcasting may be supplanting Jackson’s style of polite, balanced discussion of news events and issues.

“By and large, the masses are not looking for dispassionate, objective weighing of issues. How many people watch ‘MacNeil/Lehrer’ as compared to ‘Oprah’ or ‘Donahue’?” said radio programming consultant Dan O’Day. “And there certainly is a trend in talk radio right now in which abrasive personalities are making noticeable impacts in many markets. . . . The key here is striking an emotional chord. Right now it would appear that Limbaugh is striking a more emotional chord with the audience perhaps than Jackson is.”

The programs that Jackson and Limbaugh offer are markedly different. Both take calls from listeners, but while Jackson features informed guests and usually tries to explore the various sides of an issue, Limbaugh does not share the spotlight, filling his three hours with his opinions, judgments and derisive wit. “I want to be the reason people listen, not a guest or a parade of guests,” he explained.

“I think compared to my show, Michael’s is boring,” Limbaugh said in a telephone interview from New York, where his show originates. “I think that people listen to the radio for three reasons: to be entertained, to be entertained and to be entertained. I’m sure (Jackson) would say, ‘I’m not trying to be an entertainer, I’m trying to perform a public service and keep them informed.’ But compared to what I do here, his show is going to be slow-paced and a little bit more boring.

“I don’t think anyone’s better at doing what he does,” Limbaugh added. “Michael Jackson is a premiere broadcaster and always has been, and in himself was a standard-setter and so forth. But it’s formula.”

Jackson, not surprisingly, sees it differently, but says he welcomes the competition as an inspiration to put on a better show.

“I go for balance,” he said. “While I was off, I had time to listen to tapes of myself. I think sometimes I’ve been overly polite to guests, showing them greater deference, but I’m not going to become less polite. Rudeness is such an easy excuse for not doing your homework.”

KABC officials acknowledge Limbaugh’s showmanship but remain convinced that Jackson’s more dignified, informative style will ultimately have more staying power.

“Rush will always have a loyal audience, and some people are going to like him more than they’ll like Michael, but I think, in the long run, the masses who want substance have got to come (to KABC),” said KABC General Manager George Green. Nevertheless, Green and program director Michael Fox are hedging their bets by encouraging Jackson to become a bit more of an entertainer. “Our challenge is to incorporate both the credibility with the entertainment factor,” Fox said.

Some observers think Limbaugh’s surge in popularity over the past few years--nationally as well as locally--reflects the mood of the public.

“I think Limbaugh probably expresses a lot of the feelings of frustration and anger that people feel, the fear of the future, the sinking of the economy,” said Tracy Westen, who teaches a course in communications law and broadcasting at USC’s Annenberg School of Communications. “When things are reasonably comfortable, people like to hear comfortable people. But when things are scary, they look for people who can better articulate what they themselves are inarticulately feeling. And even if they don’t agree with him, my guess is people like listening to him because he’s more outrageous in ways they would like to be outrageous. . . . They kind of like seeing the Establishment get it. I think talk-show hosts who can articulate that sense of anger are drawing an audience.”

Jeff Cole, who teaches media ethics and the future of the media at UCLA, agreed.

“I don’t think people want objectivity at the moment,” Cole said. “I think people like the flavor, the noise, the excitement, the heat of real strong controversy, and Rush Limbaugh certainly doesn’t shy away from that. I think it has something to do with disenchantment with the political Establishment. . . . (With Rush) you turn on the show and you know his views. You know what you’re going to get. Rush is real good at what he does.”

In fact, consultant O’Day said, people might be tuning in to Limbaugh so that they don’t have to formulate their own views. Indeed, Limbaugh never tires of telling his listeners that he has all the answers: “You don’t have to read the newspaper; I’ll do it for you. You don’t have to think. I’ll do that for you, too.”

“I think somebody like Limbaugh frees the listener of the obligation of thinking,” O’Day said. “If life is a struggle, it’s really nice to have somebody say, ‘It’s not your fault. . . .it’s the damn whoever.’ ”

KFI program director David Hall speculated that listeners may simply have grown bored with established talk shows and look to Limbaugh because his show is unusual.

“I don’t know if they’re tiring of (Jackson’s style) or if they just found something different that’s more compelling,” Hall said. “Rush knows that there’s a line and he tap dances the line of taste, decency and political correctness. He knows just how far to go and he doesn’t go any further.”

Limbaugh, 41, attributes his success to the unpredictability of his show and to his passionate stances--especially in opposition to the liberal sensitivities regarding the homeless, the environmental movement, gay-rights activists, the women’s movement and animal-rights activists.

“I think outspokenness is magnetic,” Limbaugh said. “I think it draws. Passion always does.”