Faces to Watch in ’96 : The Year’s in Their Hands : Well, maybe not just theirs (notice we don’t list Jim Carrey). But these artists and entertainers--some you know, some you don’t--are most likely to make some kind of splash in ’96. Ready? Everybody into the pool. : RADIO : Ray Suarez

‘It’s not a slash-and-burn, rough talk show like so many others,” host Ray Suarez says of his popular “Talk of the Nation.” “This is more like a conversation.”

The National Public Radio show is heard on more than 90 stations with more than 1 million listeners each week. Guests have included Gov. Pete Wilson, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and author Salman Rushdie.

And now, as of last Monday, Suarez, 38, can be heard on KPCC-FM (89.3) Monday through Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. Unfortunately, with a good portion of the show being call-ins from listeners around the nation, “Talk” does not air live here.

Suarez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, grew up in Brooklyn and majored in African studies at New York University. He has a master’s degree in social studies from the University of Chicago. He worked for CNN in Los Angeles and AP Radio in London. And before joining “Talk” in 1993, Suarez was a reporter for WMAQ-TV, the NBC affiliate in Chicago.