The half-hour that Warren Olney hosts on KCRW at 7 pm Monday through Thursday "remains an abiding presence in the landscape of local news," Sean Mitchell writes in a freelanced piece in today's LAT Calendar. The show, originally an hour, began as a response to the Rodney King riots in 1992.

When a big story breaks, from the King/Drew hospital scandal to Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo's motor vehicle problems, Olney finds voices to add to what's been in the news while he himself adds a sense of history and a human touch....

A fourth-generation Californian, Olney has a casually genteel air. He is bookish and well-mannered in a city known for brashness, an unfashionable personality at the ever-fashionable KCRW. Famous for his restrained moderation of arguments and for keeping his opinions to himself — sometimes to a fault — he nevertheless brings more to the table than a microphone. Olney is the reporter as mediator and the mediator as reporter. Which comes first is never certain, and that alternating current may define his style.

"The way I see my role is I don't take sides because I want everyone to be comfortable and be able to express their views," he says at noon on a recent weekday..."There are times when someone comes in and says the Earth is flat, and I have to say, no, it's not. But if the subject is controversial, then by definition what we need to know is the richness of the argument, and let people decide for themselves."

Olney, who is 69, works with six producers for WWLA and his daily national show "To the Point" in a two-story house near the KCRW studios at Santa Monica College. There are glowing words about Olney in the piece from Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilman Bill Rosendahl. The story says, by the way, that rival KPCC's news ratings recently pulled ahead of KCRW in the L.A. area and that Arbitron credits both stations with about 500,000 listeners a week.

Photo: Richard Hartog / L.A. Times