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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 5, 1994                   TAG: 9403050210
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium

PHILBIN HAS TIME ON HIS SIDE AND ON HIS HANDS

There's a buzz that Philbin, who in 1981 replaced a low-rated David Letterman morning show, could end up tailgating Letterman's "Late Show" as the 12:30 a.m. host on CBS.

Another veteran talker, Tom Snyder, also is said to be a contender for the post-Letterman slot. Snyder hosts a talk show for CNBC, NBC's cable channel.

Philbin is cheerfully noncommittal when asked about rumors that Letterman - whose Worldwide Pants company will be producing whatever show ends up in the slot - wants Philbin.

"It's flattering that it's in the newspapers," he said from New York, where he and Kathie Lee Gifford tape their syndicated daytime talk show, "Live with Regis & Kathie Lee."

"But that's as far as it's gone. I'm under contract for the next 17 months and I can't talk to anybody."

There is, however, a hint of career re-evaluation when he discusses "Regis & Kathie Lee." He's hosted a version of the program for 11 years, nine of them with Gifford.

"I've done just about everything I can with this show," he says. "It's been great. We've had a nice run. But I love Letterman, I love his show; it's the most creative show on.

"I'd love to be associated with him and his organization."

Philbin has been a part of the late-night landscape before. Over four decades, his breezy chatter and everyman approach has found a niche on local and network TV; in morning, noon and late-night slots; solo and in tandem.

His nighttime career began in 1961 with a three-year stint in San Diego and the "The Regis Philbin Show."

He was even - briefly - pitted against "The Tonight Show" and Johnny Carson at one point, when the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. syndicated his talk show in 1964.

Philbin's co-hosts over the years have included - besides Gifford - Sarah Purcell (of ABC's "Home") and Mary Hart ("Entertainment Tonight").

But it was as a late-night announcer, not host, that Philbin created one of those spontaneous moments that help make the talk show genre what it is.

In 1967, viewers of "The Joey Bishop Show" saw a tearful Philbin quit on camera, to Bishop's obvious shock. The newly launched ABC show was struggling against NBC's then-unbeatable "Tonight."

"When a show starts, everybody's looking for the reason why (it works or doesn't). And all of a sudden it became me," Philbin recalls. "Bishop was a nice guy and I didn't want anybody to think he had fired me. So I simply quit on the air. It was emotional."

Philbin came back a week later, but the low-rated show was gone by 1969. There were several years of unemployment, then stints for ABC in Los Angeles as an entertainment critic and host of a morning show.

In 1981, NBC invited him to try to succeed in the morning slot where Letterman had stumbled. But Philbin ran into the same problems.

"The network affiliates wanted to carry `Donahue,"' he said, referring to Phil Donahue, the rising star of the fledgling daytime talk show brigade.

When ABC suggested he come back aboard, but this time with the New York affiliate, Philbin decided to return to his hometown. (He has a portion of a Bronx street named for him).

"The 9 o'clock show there was never a success," he says. "But I started this show, built it, and Kathie Lee joined me a couple years later."

After bumping through at least eight different talk shows, Philbin was settled. Then health problems flared: chest pains that he ignored for months were diagnosed in January 1993 as the result of a blocked artery.

Two separate medical procedures were done and the problem hasn't re-occurred, Philbin says. He also cleaned up his health act, adding aerobic conditioning to his longstanding weight-training program.

His exercise videotape, "Regis Philbin: My Personal Workout," Philbin says, "is an informal look at one guy's workout." It includes this coy cover note: "Anyone can do this workout (except David Letterman!)."

Is the newly fit Philbin, who is 60, ready for a challenge - say taking on the conventional wisdom that late-night belongs to younger audiences and hosts, such as 30-year-old Conan O'Brien on NBC?

"Does it have to be like that? I agree that seems to be the way that time slot is perceived and maybe it would be a mistake for me to try to move in there with these young, snot-nosed kids," he says with a laugh.

Besides, he muses, is there really anything in it for him?

"I look at our ratings, and at what (shows) pull at 12:30, and it's minuscule compared to the number of people looking at us now," he says. "And I say to myself `Hey, don't be a dope, stay where you are.'

"So I don't know."

Besides, there is that pesky contract.

"Frankly, CBS wants to get started right away," Philbin says. "I think they're going to find somebody and throw them in there before I'm ready to join them."