‘NIGHTWATCH’ SAMPLES SOME DAYS L.A. : Rose and His CBS Washington-Based Interview Show Are Getting a Taste of Southern California Hospitality

Charlie Rose, host of CBS’ middle-of-the-night, Washington-based “Nightwatch” program, already knew that Los Angeles means Hollywood.

What he and other “Nightwatch” staffers didn’t know was that entertainment isn’t the city’s only claim to fame. Although still in second, Los Angeles is edging closer to New York as the nation’s largest financial center.

“I didn’t know how powerful California was,” Rose said, enjoying a few minutes of sunshine on a cafeteria terrace at CBS’ Television City, where a “Nightwatch” crew has been taping shows since Monday. “It is a financial center, a direct route to the Pacific Basin and a multi-ethnic melting pot. The cultural impact it has on the country is astonishing.

“I think this is a fascinating place. This is one of the most interesting places around.”

In their first trip outside Washington, Rose and his crew sought to bring a little insight into the real Los Angeles to “Nightwatch” viewers this week. “Nightwatch,” an issue-oriented interview program that attracts a viewership of more than 1 million homes during its back-to-back repeat broadcasts from 2-4 a.m. and 4-6 a.m. weekdays, tapes its last show here today, for airing Monday.

“Nightwatch” producers hope to take the show to other cities, and to return to Los Angeles for as much as four weeks a year. Although Rose often interviews Los Angeles celebrities via satellite, he said the personal touch lends authenticity to the proceedings.

The producers decided to tape “Nightwatch” in Los Angeles as their first out-of-town venture because CBS has facilities here and because Los Angeles is physically and culturally about as far from Washington as you can get.

“It would have been silly to take the show to New York, for example,” “Nightwatch” executive producer Deborah Johnson said in her makeshift office at Television City. “The power structure in East Coast cities is much the same. It’s good for a national program to step outside itself occasionally and take a long view.”

Rose said that most Washingtonians have a fascination with the West Coast, rather than the condescending attitude toward the Southern California life style espoused by some New Yorkers, although even “Nightwatch” staffers could not resist wryly expressing surprise that CBS offered them doughnuts backstage instead of alfalfa sprouts. “They’re impressed by the glamour,” Rose said. “The line between work and play is more blurred here.”

“California has produced a lot of influential politicians, including Ronald Reagan,” Rose said. “Plus, a lot of people in Washington need California. That’s where they raise money for their political campaigns.”

Included in a day’s taping in Los Angeles were local stories and breaking news as well as subjects with no regional slant. A segment on sperm banks included an interview with “Ed,” an anonymous donor who has fathered 10 children. A discussion of AIDS in the workplace included a San Francisco Pacific Bell worker with acquired immune deficiency syndrome who talked about how he had been received by colleagues when he returned to the job after diagnosis.

Rabbi Marvin Hier joined Rose to discuss the controversy surrounding the United States’ decision to bar Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from the country. Former California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. talked about his recent extended visit to Japan, focusing on its effect on his religious life and U.S.-Japan trade. Other guests included Mayor Tom Bradley, Los Angeles muralist Judy Baca and Bruce Marder, owner and head chef of Rebecca’s restaurant in Venice.

“Nightwatch” made its debut from New York in 1982 as an interview program with five anchors. In 1984, it moved to Washington and became a one-host show with Rose at the helm. Clips from his interviews are sometimes pulled for the “CBS Evening News,” as was the case with this week’s conversation with basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about his financial troubles.

Rose, 45, a Henderson, S.C., native who earned both a bachelor’s and a law degree from Duke University, practiced law until he was 30, when he was encouraged by Bill Moyers to try a media career. He became executive producer of Moyers’ public-television show, then began his on-camera television career in 1972 as an interviewer for WPIX-TV in New York.

Rose originally came to Washington to host a nationally syndicated daytime TV talk show, “The Charlie Rose Show,” which debuted in 1981. It folded after two years. Rose did free-lance interviews for a local TV station and early-morning radio before getting the “Nightwatch” position.

Although Rose’s interviews this week included some actors, most of his entertainment industry focus has been behind the scenes with figures such as NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff and former NBC Chairman Grant Tinker, who talked about his career and his return to independent production.

Tinker said he agreed to the interview because Rose’s format provides him with the chance to discuss television in depth. (“Aren’t you glad I know everything, Charlie?” Tinker deadpanned between takes.)

“I like Charlie; I like his work,” Tinker said after his taping Tuesday. “I don’t mind talking about the medium when people will let me talk about it, and it’s not just a puff piece. As you can see, he makes it easy.”

Rose has an affable, relaxed way with his interviewees, keeping the conversation going even when the camera isn’t rolling. In fact, the only evidence that Rose was not at home in Washington were his loud red, gray and black Argyle socks, which he had inadvertently packed in his hurry to board a plane for the Coast.

“Nightwatch” staffers wondered if Rose was trying to make a California fashion statement. Rose pointed out that the socks were the last clean pair in his suitcase.

Anyway, socks don’t show on camera. “I don’t think I was hired for the way I dress,” Rose said. “I think I was hired because . . . I don’t know. I have an enormous and wide-ranging curiosity about people and what makes them tick.”