Listen to this

One of the most common requests I get in this column is from readers wondering about "whatever happened to" a certain celebrity or personality of former noted interest.

On Monday, Betty Knight of Hammond called me looking for some station identification for tracking down Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who lost her lucrative Chicago radio outlet WLS-AM a few years ago to radio personality Sean Hannity's syndicated show.

Schlessinger's name came up in connection with my Saturday offBeat column, when we shared the most recent radio personality popularity rankings with readers, as reported by the leading radio trade magazine "Talkers," which says Howard Stern has lost the top rated spot to Rush Limbaugh.

For anyone trying to find Schlessinger, she now broadcasts her three-hour weekday radio show from her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. and it's syndicated to more than 270 stations around the country (significantly down from the more than 470 stations that piped her show over the airwaves in its heyday of the mid-90s.) Those nearest stations I can find that air the show in our readership area is WSJM 1400-AM from St. Joseph, Mich. which just makes it over the stateline (on a clear day!).

For real fans, a better option may be to invest in XM Satellite Radio, which Schlessinger signed on with in February 2005 (at the same time as Watergate convicted Richard Nixon staffer G. Gordon Liddy) and features commercial-free programming.

As for Schlessinger, she is throwing herself a 60th birthday this Saturday at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. and charging $100-$1000 a ticket to attend. The party, which boasts a 1960s music motif, is raising money to benefit Schlessinger's Operation Family Fund, which helps the families of soldiers serving in Iraq.

She has also just released a new book (her 14th) last month called "The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage" ($25.99 HarperCollins 2007) and I'm also told she has a new 11-inch Dr. Laura talking doll (it says 23 different things) available for $29.95 for order by calling (800) 760-3646.

As for Schlessinger and her popularity, radio industry types believe her fan base and influence suffered after she sold the ownership of her show for a reported $71 million to Clear Channel Communications.

She has also come under fire for her criticism of homosexuals, especially after she was quoted in 1998 referring to gays as "biological errors," just as she was attempting to launch an ill-fated television talk show.

A cartoon image of Schlessinger appeared in a 1999 episode of "The Simpsons" with a story plot about the U.S. government preparing for the millennium with a spaceship plan called "Operation Exodus," allowing human civilization to safely escape to another planet in the advent of Doomsday.

The Simpson Family finds they have boarded the wrong spaceship, when they notice the passengers seated include Tom Arnold, Ross Perot, Courtney Love, Pauly Shore, Dan Quayle, Tonya Harding, Spike Lee, Al Sharpton, Rosie O'Donnell and Dr. Laura and they conclude correctly, that this is the spaceship intentionally sent on a direct collision course with the sun!

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

celebBirthdays

Actor Charles Durning is 84. Smokey the Bear is 79. Actor Gavin MacLeod ("The Love Boat," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") is 76. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 68. Singer Joe South and racer Mario Andretti are 67. Actor Frank Bonner ("WKRP in Cincinnati") is 65. Actress Kelly Bishop ("Gilmore Girls") is 63. Actress Stephanie Beacham ("Beverly Hills, 90210," "The Colbys") is 60. Actresses Bernadette Peters and Mercedes Ruehl are 59. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 51. Actor John Turturro and singer Cindy Wilson of The B-52's are 50. Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 46. Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 38. Singer Pat Monahan of Train is 38. Actor Bobb'e J. Thompson ("The Tracy Morgan Show") is 11.