Talk Show

The Ravens have tapped Baltimore native and veteran local sportscaster Tom Davis to call the TV play-by-play on the three preseason games that are available for local telecast, including tomorrow night's opener.Davis, who is host to the Orioles pre-game show on Home Team Sports and does morning sports updates on WQSR (105.7 FM), will be joined in the booth by analyst Paul Maguire, with former Colts linebacker Stan White doing sideline interviews.The telecast airs live at 7: 30 tomorrow night on Channel 54, with a replay at noon Sunday on Channel 45. It will be produced by HTS.On the radio side, Infinity, the team's carrier, has announced that Steve Davis, Channel 45's weekend sports anchor, will be host of the pre-game and halftime shows, starting tomorrow.

In 1994, at the age of 26, “Hairspray” sweetheart Ricki Lake had one of the hottest daytime talk shows in the history of television. With a daily audience of 5.8 million viewers after only one year on-air, “Ricki Lake” was second only to “Oprah” among all syndicated talk shows, and she was beating “Oprah” among younger viewers. But today, the 43-year-old performer, who returns to talk TV this month with “The Ricki Lake Show,” looks back and says: If only she had been able to understand what she had and what she might have done with all her clout at the time.

When the network television talk show hostess announced Wednesday morning that the winner of a brand new Mercury Villager minivan was from Bel Air, Md., Dolores Roday's heart skipped a few beats faster.And then the telephone rang!She just stared at it for a few seconds, her body rigid. She can't remember getting to the phone, but she does remember answering it and hearing the audience cheering at the other end. bTC Then it slowly began to sink in, she was one of nine winners of a sweepstakes contest conducted on the CBS network morning talk show, "Regis and Kathie Lee."

Ron Reagan says he wants his new talk show to be a cross between "Donahue" and "Nightline." There is a little bit of "Donahue" with Reagan's fielding questions in a smarmy, touch-me-feel-me way in the audience. But it's "Nightline" only in your dreams, Ronnie.Let's be fair: Ron Reagan is every bit as good a talk-show host as Neil Bush was a savings & loan director . . . as David Eisenhower was a sportswriter . . . as Lucy Baines Johnson was a debutante.What is it about presidential offspring -- is it them or us?

The talk of talk radio station WBAL-AM (1090) this week has been about the station's newest talker -- and he was getting a bum's rush from many callers.That's Rush, as in Rush Limbaugh, whose nationally syndicated afternoon show premiered Monday on the local talk show leader, moving over from WCBM-AM (680).Morning talk show host Allan Prell pleaded with his listeners yesterday to stop calling to criticize "The Rush Limbaugh Show." "Let's talk about this show, not somebody else's," he said.

Add two more names to the talk-show circuit this fall. Former ABC News correspondent Jack Ford and Saturday Night Live alum Ali Wentworth will be hosts of a live daytime talk show called Living It Up With Jack and Ali, premiering Sept. 15 on CBS. The two recently stopped by Baltimore to talk about what sets them apart in the crowded universe of daytime TV. How exciting is it to have your own talk show? AW: It's extremely exciting ... but now that it's really happening I'm going, "Oh, my God!

A TIMES MIRROR poll released last week showed that radio talk show callers tend to be conservative, male, loud and angry. Listening to these shows is not for the faint of heart -- nor for the faint of stomach, either.Talk show hosts, by their own description, fall into two main categories, conservative and liberal. Though the poll found an even split nationally, conservatives dominate the Baltimore airwaves, not only in number, but more tellingly, in the messianic fervor with which they pursue their listeners.

Driving to Annapolis from Baltimore the other day, the man on my car radio was talking about guns. So naturally I changed the station. The talk show man is always talking about guns, so I'm always hitting the dial. The talk show man treasures his weapons and wants to hold onto them. But Maryland's legislators have told him: Tough luck.Before wrapping up business last night, the General Assembly had taken measures to infuriate the talk show man. They voted to limit handgun purchases to one a month, and to put new restrictions on private handgun transactions.

The Crystal MethodVegas (Outpost 30003)Like the Chemical Brothers, the Crystal Method's greatest genius isn't rhythmic but textural. In other words, it's not the beats that make "Vegas" worth visiting, but the way those beats are played out. Master mixers Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan have tweaked the components in their electronic arsenal for maximum sonic impact, so the synth sounds are thick and chewy, the drums carry more punch than Holyfield, while...

THREE Mount Airy stay-at-home mothers have taken to the airwaves in a big way.A few years ago, the three friends began spending afternoons sitting on Kathleen Warholic's deck watching their children play and offering each other support and advice on child-rearing. Now the trio is producing a talk show on a Frederick radio station.Warholic, with Barbie Burdine and Lynne Galletti, are the hosts of "Mom's Talk, No You're Not Crazy," on WFMD-930 AM.After two successful shows this summer, the women have been offered a six-month contract to be hosts from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Thursday starting next week.