
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993                   TAG: 9305040379
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From wire reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

THE PEOPLE COLUMN

Montel Williams says he's glad to be known as a bald former naval officer and not a black talk show host.

Williams said he hopes America is moving into an age where people are known for who they are and not their race.

"Out of all the magazines that have done articles on me, 85 percent of them refer to me as `the bald-headed former naval officer,' " Williams said.

The nationally syndicated television talk show host and Naval Academy graduate spoke at the academy in Annapolis, Md., last week.

"People come to me and say, `Your show is not a black show.' They say this in astonishment," Williams said. "I am a talk show host. The fact that I'm black is obvious." Williams' show airs weekdays at 10 a.m. on WJPR/WVFT (Channels 21 and 27) in the Roanoke viewing area.

In a new ad for Nike that debuted this past weekend, Charles Barkley gets right down to it.

"I am not a role model," he shouts to your TV-mesmerized self. "I am not paid to be a role model. . . . I am paid to wreak havoc on a basketball court. . . . Just because I can dunk a basketball doesn't mean I should raise your kids."

by CNB