Talk Radio

The strange thing was that, on his finest day, Rush Limbaugh wasn't there.His Republicans had taken over the country (meaning, the world) and Rush was out of town. They said he was on vacation, maybe working on his tan -- which, you must agree, would be no small job.It was as if Rush had looked down on his creation -- and then rested. Or maybe he's figured out something that we don't know yet, like it's all downhill from here.We call this the Alexander-the-Great syndrome. Like, after you conquer the world, what do you do for an encore?

What would happen if a group of angry liberals with little or no broadcast experience founded a national network in hopes of making their voices heard amid the din of conservative talk radio? That's the question posed by Left of the Dial, an HBO documentary airing tonight at 8, about last year's launch of Air America Radio. And while the answer isn't pretty, the film that records it is fascinating, funny and illuminating. This is one great and wicked backstage story of media madness and cultural warfare.

Ron Smith greets a visitor to WBAL with a newspaper tucked under his arm. If you think it might be The Sun, the New York Times or the Washington Post, you haven't been paying much attention to his radio talk show over the past 10 years. So, of course, it's the conservative Washington Times.Mr. Smith, 53, has been a con- servative voice on Baltimore's most powerful radio station since the first dittohead was just a gleam in Rush Limbaugh's eye. Since 1985, this former Marine and stockbroker has been a full-time part of the talk lineup on WBAL (1090 AM)

IF THOSE who have complained so loudly about talk radio in the past few days have their political wits about them, they will quit worrying about how reactionary, unfair and distorted it is, and figure out what to do about it.Right-wing radio shows have been around since the late Joe Pyne. But they have suddenly become a hot topic because of the role they played in the fall of Zoe Baird and the furor over gays in the military. The tidal wave of telephone calls they generated are this week's manifestation of the new age of interactive media, which is changing all politics in its wake.

The '90s are finally taking shape -- and in the most peculiar and unexpected ways.It's the decade when sex is out and John Travolta is back in. You explain it.What's more confusing, though, is that in these days of the information superhighway and CD-ROMs and cappuccino makers, it's that old reliable, nearly obsolete instrument -- the radio -- that has emerged pre-eminent.Go figure.It's radio, of course, that gives us talk radio. And talk radio is now the most powerful political force in the country.

Like witch doctors conjuring up zombies in a bad B-movie, certain members of Congress are trying to bring the Fairness Doctrine back from the grave. Forget it, folks. Changing times already have put a stake through its heart. I don't say that as an enemy of fairness or balance. I say it as a realist and a former broadcast industry insider who has seen media and political giants humbled by the new media. My education began when I ran the community affairs department at a CBS-owned TV station in Chicago for two years in the early 1980s.

FEMALE FANSEditor: I enjoyed your feature story about the popularity of dTC sports talk on Baltimore-area radio stations by Tim Warren ["On the Air, Everywhere," June 26]. However, as one female listener (and caller) to all of these shows, I was not happy about the remark made by one talk sports show host who stated "women sit around and discuss their soap operas while men talk about sports."I would like to enlighten your readers that there are quite a few of us women out there who would rather get Rafael Palmeiro's autograph than Luke Perry's, who know the Orioles' batting order and their current stats, and can hold their own on the radio with Jeff Rimer, Rex Barney, Stan the Fan and Nasty Nestor.

Leading a team of investors, Grotech Capital Group Inc. agreed yesterday to pour about $20 million into a new company to buy four radio stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It is the fifth multimillion-dollar deal for the Timonium-based venture capital firm since December.The new company, Nassau Broadcasting Partners L.P., is acquiring WPST-FM, a top-40 pop music station, and talk radio WHWH-AM from New Jersey-based Nassau Broadcasting Corp., pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission.

I CATCH UP with Allan Prell at the sumptuous Reisterstown home of Morris the Remodeler, where the two are rehearsing a TV commercial that may set the advertising industry back 200 years. Right now, they're strolling with umbrellas in Morris' driveway and croaking their way through "Singin' in the Rain," thus doing permanent damage to the memory of Gene Kelly and the 1952 classic. "It may be so dreadful, it's good," Prell says of the commercial for his longtime buddy, home-remodeling guru Morris Ellin.

Rush Limbaugh, talk radio hero of the Republican freshman class, warned the newly elected members of Congress last night not to be seduced by the attention of the liberal media."