Photo: Laura Savini.

Yes! Public television can make you a "beloved star". Do people watch public television? You bet, if PT stations networks have personalities like Laura Savini and Charlie Rose. We know who Charlie Rose is, but Laura who? Hold your horses. Laura Savini is a knockout, brilliant, sharp, extremely well respected and above all, she is stunning. But who in heavens is Laura Savini? We asked this question to 15 of our reporters and senior writers. Twelve of them knew who she was. We asked 300 of our readers if they knew anything about Savini, heard of her, and if they did, what did they think of her. Great! To our great astonishment and delight, 210 heard of Savini and 179 of them watch her regularly on her public television network. So, public television is well and kicking. Although, many of our readers who are regular viewers of PT admitted that they get extremely annoyed by the monotonous and continuous appeals and begging of public television announcers and hosts for donations and contributions, the majority of those whom we have surveyed, admitted that they love to see the face of Savini on the small screen. To some viewers, Savini is the prettiest face they have seen on public television networks. To others, Savini is sharp, straight to the point, an effective fund raiser and an "Italian Stallion". WOW! So we decided to check her out. Laura Savini is the VP of marketing and communications for WLIW21 New York Public Television. She controls and manages the whole marketing, communications, fundraising, outreach, graphics and instructional television departments of the station. The whole 9 yards, from concept to realization. Yes, sir, Savini managed to  raise $6 million for her station. And astonishingly, she does it every year. Watching this woman is a pure delight. No doubt, we watched her last week, and yesterday when she appeared on an Italian food segment of a show. Savini was there helping an Italian chef cooking his Spaghetti A La Carbonara. She was a darling, event though, she missed one or twice, grabbing the spaghetti with her fork. No problem, she got it with her fingers and of course with grace and a big smile. To many, Savini is a celebrity. A hot hot celebrity and  a familiar face, for she  hosts the station's on-air fundraising campaigns and ever week, she  interviews new talents on her program, "Metro Guide." This program is extremely informative and entertaining. A large segment  of "Metro Guide" is ethnic, and that is good for Savi. Because it helped her in creating a super duper, quality ethnic programming, with strong and intelligent  emphasis on Italian-American community and vital topics. After all, Savini is  the past president of the National Organization of Italian American Women, and currently, she serves on the Advisory Board of the Italian American Museum. Fascinating woman, de facto. So we decided to learn more about this most unusual woman. Files and Internet data, as well as literature on Savini provided us with the following: "In March 2002 she hosted the acclaimed national PBS special "The Best of Sarah Brightman: Classics" from Europe with Ms. Brightman. In June 2002 she spent two weeks in Italy co-hosting a new series on wine. That month she also interviewed Irish tenor Ronan Tynan in Dublin for PBS. Never one to slow down, in September she was in Guadalajara on a Mariachi project for PBS, then on to San Francisco to interview Tony Bennett under the Golden Gate Bridge. In April 2001 she was one of only seven American women invited to participate in Global Forum: Women and Power, held by the Women's Federation for World Peace, as a guest of Taiwan's Vice President Annette Lu.