Talk Radio

There are very few saints among people of any race, religion, national origin or sexual orientation. None should be above criticism. Increasingly, however, there are tighter and tighter restrictions on what you can say about more and more groups. San Francisco radio talk-show host Pete Wilson discovered this recently when he criticized a city supervisor and his female friend who had a baby together. The man is gay and the woman is a lesbian, so they are not lovers in a committed relationship.

The 2006 primary election campaign, now in its final hours, lived up to its billing as a series of well-contested races. There was a little bit of almost everything, some of it zany, some quite serious. We have had the nursery rhyme as mud, a family drama involving car keys and octogenarian drivers, lawn signs that eclipse houses and, in the background, war. The Court of Appeals ruled we can't vote early, but Marylanders ought to be queuing up to cast their ballots Tuesday. We'll be choosing leaders for the next two to 30 years.

Allan Prell was back on the radio the other night and, as he might say, it was a glorious occasion. He laughed riotously at his own jokes. He made fun of callers foolish enough to share details of their personal lives. And he was oh so naughty. Baltimore remembers naughty Allan. His provocative and often hilarious morning talk show aired on WBAL Radio from 1982 to 1999. Since then, he's worked for stations in Denver and Seattle, before returning to his home in Northern Virginia. Tuesday night, he filled in on the nationally syndicated Jim Bohannon Show out of Washington.

As a young man, Adam Carolla believed "something" -- preferably memorable and funny -- would break for him in show business by the time he was 30. He was wrong. At the time, his best work was appearing on local floors, walls and roofs, not on national radio and television programs. The closest the born in Philadelphia and raised in Los Angeles carpenter-turned-comedian came to the big time on a regular basis was listening to talk radio as he pounded nails or spread roof tar. "I'd be at someone's house or be up on the roof all day and I'd get lonely -- stir crazy -- and talk radio became this soothing voice in my life," said Carolla, who especially enjoyed listening to shows like Howard Stern's.

Call it the evolution of Edward T. Norris: Top police officer. Convicted felon. And now, radio talk-show guest turned host. Norris is returning on Monday to the city that he once ruled as police commissioner to begin his 500 hours of community service. This is the last stage of the sentence he received after pleading guilty to federal public corruption and tax charges stemming from his time at the helm of the city force. He spent six months in a federal prison in Atlanta and is finishing up six months on home detention in his Florida home.

Hoping to force action on his centerpiece witness-intimidation bill, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. called on a favorite weapon in dealing with a reluctant legislature: TV. Just in time for Wednesday's 5 p.m. news, the Republican governor strode into his ceremonial reception room alongside Patricia C. Jessamy, Baltimore's Democratic state's attorney, and hammered home the notion that opponents of the bill are bucking an issue that crosses partisan, racial...

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.

TAMPA, Fla. - The former Baltimore police commissioner who once made six figures is seeking $8-an-hour jobs, and he's not having much luck. "What am I going to do?" asks Edward T. Norris. "I don't know what I'm going to do. Nobody wants to hire me." He has applied at five or six health clubs, he says, and a handful of retail stores. Each time, he checks the box that says he has been convicted of a crime. All he has landed is a part-time gig at a store, the name of which he won't disclose.

ELLICOTT CITY resident Sherry Healy said she always loved listening to talk radio. Now she has her own show. Cosmopolitan People, owned and hosted by Healy, debuted on WCBM 680 AM in October. The show's co-host, Donna Clementoni, lives in Columbia's Town Center. The show is a magazine format, Healy said, with different topics each week. "I want each show to be unpredictable," said Healy, 43. Her listeners have heard topics ranging from suggestions on holiday gift buying to the personal story of a Marine who fought in Iraq.

A Carroll County man was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the stabbing death of his former mother-in-law, who was a fixture on local talk radio known as "Helga from Westminster." Leon A. Costley Jr., 39, showed little emotion as Carroll County Circuit Judge Michael M. Galloway imposed the sentence. On the other side of the courtroom, the victim's husband, Robert V. Nicholls Sr., and their daughter, Kristina Costley, wrapped their arms around each other and cried.