Talk show host to turn up the heat on the LIA

Robert A. Scott, an anthropologist and president of Adelphi University in Garden City, may not be the type one would think of as a television talk show host in these often ear-shattering days of 24-hour TV. But Scott has won three Telly Awards, cable television's version of the Emmys.

Scott's show, "Exploring Critical Issues," is broadcast on Uniondale-based Telecare TV, the station of the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre. It opens its sixth season this week, with business issues on the front burner. The show will feature some of the biggest names in Long Island's business community, who will be discussing ways to grow Island companies.

"Long Island Economic Development and the Role of the Long Island Association," the title of the broadcast, will run on Telecare through Nov. 7. Guests will include Long Island Association president Kevin Law, Bethpage Federal Credit Union president Kirk Kordeleski, LIA economist Pearl Kamer and Esther Fortunoff of department store fame.

Scott, soft-spoken and professorial, has an issue to raise. The LIA, he says, has not in recent years played the prominent role in the Island's business and political life that it once did. Law, Scott says, needs to help change that. That will be one topic on the show.

"I think Kevin wants to make the LIA a more visible and vocal voice for economic development," Scott said. He noted that Law played a key role in persuading Astellas U.S. Llc to keep 90 of its 240 employees at its subsidiary, OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc., on Long Island.

Scott said he plans to bring together company chief executives and the presidents of the Island's colleges and universities to discuss what can be done to expand the business base of local companies.

The show airs Sundays at 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m., Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and Thursdays at 9 p.m.