Will Bill Clinton join the world of daytime talk show hosts?

<br>NEW YORK (AP) _ Bill Clinton is reportedly considering joining Oprah Winfrey, Regis Philbin and Jerry Springer in the world of daytime TV talk. <br><br>Clinton met with NBC executives in Los Angeles

Thursday, May 2nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Bill Clinton is reportedly considering joining Oprah Winfrey, Regis Philbin and Jerry Springer in the world of daytime TV talk.

Clinton met with NBC executives in Los Angeles on Wednesday to discuss a potential talk show, according to a television industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday. NBC had no comment.

The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the discussions, quoted a source as saying Clinton was demanding a fee of $50 million a year and had dreams ``of becoming the next Oprah Winfrey.''

Calls to the former president's office in New York were not immediately returned on Thursday.

The Times said Clinton is not interested in a political talk show because of potential conflicts of interest with his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It would remain to be seen whether he would dive into more traditional daytime fare like celebrity interviews, ``boot camps'' for troubled teens or beauty makeovers.

Winfrey is the current queen of daytime talk. She recently signed a contract extension but said she would quit her show in 2006.

Daytime talk show ratings are generally down this year and two prominent hosts, Rosie O'Donnell and Sally Jessy Rafael, are ending their shows.

Winfrey and, to a lesser extent, O'Donnell, have parlayed their talk show careers into multi-media empires, including their own magazines.

There was a broadcast report last week that CBS or Clinton had expressed interest in the soon-to-be-vacant job of host of that network's morning news show, ``The Early Show.''

``There is not one ounce of truth to that,'' said CBS spokeswoman Sandra Genelius.