Clark Howard

I was listening to the L.A. feed of "The Clark Howard Show" last Thursday afternoon, and was so captivated that I missed a call from Howard to talk about his show on the consumer scene. So I dialed up the host of the syndicated show that airs weekdays on KFI-AM (640) 3-4 p.m. and 2-4 a.m. overnight. The lanky 44-year-old host with an aw-shucks tone, easygoing manner and a crackly, un-radio voice, erupted with near boyish glee: "So we'll let you pay for the call? . . . See, that's a deal."

I was listening to the L.A. feed of "The Clark Howard Show" last Thursday afternoon, and was so captivated that I missed a call from Howard to talk about his show on the consumer scene. So I dialed up the host of the syndicated show that airs weekdays on KFI-AM (640) 3-4 p.m. and 2-4 a.m. overnight. The lanky 44-year-old host with an aw-shucks tone, easygoing manner and a crackly, un-radio voice, erupted with near boyish glee: "So we'll let you pay for the call? . . . See, that's a deal."

They've known one another for the last seven years, making the same stops in four different cities. They've shared dreams, failures--even apartments. Now, for the first time, they realize one must go. There can be only one survivor. Clark and Howard. It sounds more like a scouting expedition than a left-field tandem. In 10 days, Jerald Clark and Thomas Howard should know who'll be the Padres' starting left fielder. "God, I'd hate to make that decision," Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said.

They've known one another for the last seven years, making the same stops in four different cities. They've shared dreams, failures--even apartments. Now, for the first time, they realize one must go. There can be only one survivor. Clark and Howard. It sounds more like a scouting expedition than a left-field tandem. In 10 days, Jerald Clark and Thomas Howard should know who'll be the Padres' starting left fielder. "God, I'd hate to make that decision," Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn said.

Guglielmo Marconi, Benny Goodman, Edward R. Murrow, Orson Welles and Alan Freed are among 18 radio legends to be installed in the just established Emerson Radio Hall of Fame at a ceremony Tuesday at the Empire State Building in New York. The selections were made by a panel that included Dick Clark, Howard Cosell and Casey Kasem, whose choices span radio categories from technology to quiz shows.

Twenty-five wide-eyed kids from Georgia, benefactors of a man who took an airline promotion very, very seriously, arrived in Los Angeles today for a four-day fling visiting tourist hot spots. Clark Howard, 33, a former travel agent who arranged the trip, spent $2,110 to travel 26,338 miles on 68 flights in 48 days in a marathon-on-wings to meet the requirements of the Eastern Airlines promotion and get the free ride West.

Today * 3:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m.: "Moneyline." Nike CEO Philip Knight. (CNN) * 5:30 p.m.: "Nightly Business Report." James Dines, editor of the Dines Letter. (KCET; also airs at 6:30 p.m. on KOCE) * 8:30 p.m.: "Wall Street Week With Louis Rukeyser." Guest host: Frank Cappiello. Guest: Michael Kenneally, chief investment officer, Banc of America Capital Management. (KCET; also airs at 6 p.m. Saturday on KOCE) Saturday * 4 a.m., 11:30 p.m.: "Your Money."

* David Gergen, White House advisor to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, will discuss his new book, "Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership from Nixon to Clinton," at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., Yorba Linda. General admission for the lecture is $7. A public book signing will be held at 11:30 a.m. (714) 993-5075.

"The Big Town" (citywide) is so entertaining, so true to its period that it's easy to peg it as another '50s nostalgia piece when it actually possesses the kind of complexity usually associated with less commercial, less starry productions. It is very much in the spirit that former Columbia Pictures Chairman David Puttnam said he wanted to bring to Hollywood.

--Clark Howard gives new meaning to the term frequent flier. Howard, 33, of Atlanta, traveled a total of 26,338 miles on 68 flights in 48 days to fulfill the requirements of an airline promotional package. The result? Twenty-five inner-city youngsters from Georgia arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday to begin a four-day Southern California fling that will include visits to Universal Studios, Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo.

Prescription eyeglasses are part medical product and part fashion accessory for the two-thirds of American adults who wear them at least occasionally. But no matter why you're buying a pair of specs, you're probably overpaying. Americans spend $28.7 billion annually on vision products and services, according to the Vision Council of America. Eyeglass frames and lenses make up the largest portion, about $16 billion.

In the first decades of the 20th century, thousands of Midwesterners flocked to Southern California for its storied sunshine and fragrant orange groves. Still others came to avail themselves of two of the region's other fabled attractions--eccentric religions and equally irregular medical therapies. Among immigrants in pursuit of the latter, many would eventually find their way to a castle overlooking then-undeveloped Hollywood that served as both dwelling and clinic for the improbably named Dr.