C Span

Like many kids who grow up to be journalists, Richard Weinstein was intrigued by what made the world turn. One day in 1972, at Baltimore County's Milbrook Elementary School, Weinstein astounded his third-grade teacher by engaging a visiting newspaper reporter in a spirited discussion of the presidency of Richard M. Nixon, whose campaign for re-election had become clouded by the developing Watergate scandal. "I remember being fascinated by the news," said Weinstein, 41, now a senior editor with C-SPAN in Washington.

If C-SPAN, the cable TV network offering gavel-to-gavel coverage of Congress, sounds like an idea that's better in theory than in fact, then the idea of C-SPAN radio sounds like tedium redefined.The torture inherent in listening to Newt Gingrich or Richard Gephart speak is somewhat relieved by watching their faces. But without the picturesBut duplicating C-SPAN is not what WCSP-FM (90.1) is all about. C-SPAN is obligated to focus a camera on the House and Senate whenever they're in session.

WASHINGTON - In his 22 years on television in this mecca of self-promotion, Brian Lamb has not once uttered his own name. In his hour-long interview show "Booknotes" each week, Lamb appears on camera for about four minutes. His guest gets the other 56. And when Capitol Hill's gossipy social season rolls around, Lamb is not among the Congressmen, Cabinet secretaries and celebrity journalists who gather to drop names and rub elbows. If you're wondering how anyone could possibly run a TV network this way in an environment so conducive to bluster over substance, then you just don't understand Lamb or C-Span, the cable network he founded in 1979.

President Clinton's electronic "town meeting" from Detroit will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. today by C-SPAN and Maryland Public Television (Channels 22/67), and on WBAL-AM (1090) nTC radio. ABC's "Nightline" will review the meeting at 11:30 p.m.

Speaker Include: Mayor Martin O'Malley, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Sen. John Edwards. On television: MSNBC, Fox News and CNN, 4-11 p.m.; ABC, CBS and NBC, live 10 - 11 p.m.; C-SPAN 4 -11 p.m.; PBS 8 - 11 p.m.

C-SPAN to bring Campaign 2008 bus to county C-SPAN will bring its Campaign 2008 bus to the county tomorrow as part of its "Road to the White House" tour. The red, white and blue bus will visit the Cockeysville library, 9833 Greenside Drive, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and Towson University, 8000 York Road, from noon to 2 p.m. The 45-foot-long mobile production studio is used in C-SPAN's political coverage and in educational programs for teachers and students. In Baltimore County, C-SPAN is on Comcast cable Channel 16; C-SPAN2 is on Channel 17 or 104; and C-SPAN 3 is on Channel 105. Information: 202-309-3358.

Don't fight it. On the last weekend before one of the most important elections in American history, go with the political flow when it comes to TV viewing. SORTING OUT THE WEEK For an end-of-the-week analysis of all things political, no talk show does it better than Inside Washington. Host Gordon Peterson keeps the program moving at a brisk pace from topic to topic, but he is willing to stop things dead in their tracks to let the panel and viewers savor an especially tasty insight or remark (8 p.m., MPT-Channels 22 and 67)

A day without violenceEVERY DAY should be a day of nonviolence. But a nation that records 20,000 homicides a year cannot expect to achieve such an impossible goal. Within our reach, perhaps, is one day of nonviolence -- a day on which homicide detectives will not have to open a new file.The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People deserves support for its National Day of Nonviolence on April 4, the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination and Easter Sunday.NAACP leaders hope no homicides occur that day, and no acts of "physical, verbal or emotional violence."

WASHINGTON - Just before midnight Tuesday, when Maryland Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett rose to speak, the House of Representatives suddenly looked like the Home Shopping Network. In what the cable channel C-SPAN calls a first in its 25 years, Bartlett propped up a sign during his remarks about the world's supply of oil, telling people how they could purchase videos and DVDs of the speech from the cable channel beloved by government junkies. Jennifer Moire, a spokeswoman for C-SPAN - which televises all floor proceedings of the House and Senate - said it's the first time anyone has made such a helpful suggestion to viewers.

You don't get the calls on C-SPAN that you get on other call-in shows.The calls are much more likely to be about employer mandates for health care than whether O.J. Simpson should give up hair samples.C-SPAN is about as serious and informative as television gets. And the most frightening thing about appearing on it (at least for me) is that the questioners often know more than the people they are questioning.Though I may be changing my mind about that last point.I was on C-SPAN last week and, as always, I kept track of the calls.