Talk Show

WASHINGTON - Talk-show television has long been the realm of Oprah! And Regis! And Rosie! But soon the giants of daytime TV could get dwarfed by some big-name competition - a smooth-talking regular guy named Bill! That would be Bill Clinton, the former president, who this week was in talks with NBC executives about being the host of his own television talk show. Hard to imagine the one-time leader of the free world gabbing about fat-free desserts and cellulite creams, doing lifestyle makeovers or doling out relationship advice.

Nacen o se hacen? Are gay people "born or made"? That's a typical night's Chat on the recently launched Spanish-language Mun2 cable television network, seen throughout the United States and Latin America. Chat is a live talk show from Telemundo studios in Hialeah, Fla., with five young Latin Americans as hosts. Their mission: to attract 18- to 34-year-old Latino viewers who can call or e-mail the show in real time. Topics include religion, nationality and sex. During an episode about AIDS, the hosts (three men and two women)

They want to talk about the federal budget, genetic clues to homosexuality, SAT scores. They want to discuss blacks and Jews, the Soviet Union, William Donald Schaefer. Callers to Baltimore radio shows want to talk about lots of things -- except the primary election that's just over a week away.If radio call-in shows are a barometer of public interest, "the election's in a tremendous amount of trouble," hooted Allan Prell, WBAL's morning call-in impresario."The race for mayor and comptroller could put a cup of coffee to sleep," said Tom Marr, whose daily talk show airs on WCBM.

Conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh revealed yesterday that he's functionally deaf, and that he expects to lose all capacity to hear within a few months. "At that point, a decision has to be made as to what to do about it," Limbaugh told listeners yesterday, according to a transcript. "My desire is to continue doing this [show], and there are an infinite number of ways of continuing." In his statement, a mixture of vulnerability and classically Limbaughian bravado, the host acknowledged that he had not heard a single word spoken by callers on yesterday's broadcast.

For one night, Jerry Springer tried not to be "Jerry Springer" -- ringmaster and purveyor of television's most talked about daytime smut-show where guests slug it out instead of talk it out.He was looking to be thoughtful and insightful and to seriously explore how the media mirror society as part of a lecture symposium at Johns Hopkins University.But when he walked onto the stage Friday night, he was laughed at.Several hundred hooting students, who until then had been amusing themselves by sailing paper airplanes through the auditorium, burst into wild applause.

Chris Hayes, an editor at large of The Nation and host of the talk show bearing his name on MSNBC, was raised in a working-class neighborhood but attended some of the most exclusive schools on the planet. "I grew up in the Bronx," says the affable, 33-year-old anchor of "Up With Chris Hayes. " "My mother was the daughter of an Italian deli owner. But I'm also hugely a product of the meritocracy, and for that reason I have my own affection for it. " Both experiences provided fodder for his much-discussed first book, "Twilight of the Elites: America after Meritocracy.

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Have you heard the one about the former mayor convicted of corruption who gets a talk radio show before heading off to prison? No, it's true. And it took almost the entire two hours of what could be called the Buddy I'm Back, Not That I Could Ever Leave radio show yesterday before the first incredulous caller pierced the onslaught of well-wishers. "I'm at a loss for words," said Adam, from Narragansett, R.I., speaking to former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr., who was sitting comfortably in short sleeves in the WPRO studio.

HOLLYWOOD -- No official fight bell will clang when the two latest entries in the late-night talk-show arena, "Vibe" and "The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show," square off tonight.But publicists, agents and talent managers are getting their scorecards ready for what they say will be one of the fiercest late-night showdowns since CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" first went toe to toe with NBC's "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" in 1993."Vibe" and "The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show" -- both syndicated one-hour programs -- are competing to put the funk back in late night, employing comedy, music and fashion to bring an urban flavor to the post-prime-time period missing since Arsenio Hall ended his talk show in 1994.

Viewers who tuned into WMAR (Channel 2) this week at 4 p.m. could be excused if they were a bit confused: instead of chat, they got the news. WMAR executives decided not to renew Rosie O'Donnell's program for its 3 p.m. slot when the station's contract with her syndicate expired last week, preferring the controversy and heat stirred by the new advice show of Laura Schlessinger. But Schlessinger's program does not debut until Monday. So, with no fanfare, WMAR aired a half-hour of news at 4 p.m. each day this week, believed to be the first regular news show at that time broadcast by a Baltimore-area television station.

Barbara Kellner has been practicing, spending hours looking into a camera and carefully enunciating her syllables. The local historian was recently chosen to host Columbia's new cable TV program, Columbia Matters, and she is taking her duties seriously. She knows little about show business and rarely watches television, so she has spent recent mornings watching the Today show and studying Katie Couric for tips. "She does fine," Kellner said, but noted that Couric sometimes talks too much, leaving less time for her guests.