For, starting today, a top broadcaster from the Massachusetts-based Talk America will host his radio show from The Reefs in Southampton.

Dr. Bill Bailey -- a top lawyer and insurance expert -- will broadcast his daily current affairs show from the Island from today until next Thursday, complete with local guests, to be aired in more than 80 US cities between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Bermuda time.

He will also record his Sunday afternoon show Are You Protected?, which examines insurance issues and will concentrate on ensuring students returning to college have safe health, athletics programmes and transportation.

Dr. Bailey, a regular vacation visitor to Bermuda, said: "This is our annual vacation. We really love Bermuda and try to get there once a year or so.'' But he added: "One thing about live radio, it doesn't give you time off -- just like a fireman or a Policeman. It's a working vacation.'' He said: "We'll set up wherever the hotel tells us to and hopefully have the chance to interview guests and the hotel manager.'' The Sunday show will coincide with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, which wreaked havoc in Florida.

Dr. Bailey said: "We will be discussing what has happened to the insurance industry since.

"It's of special interest in Bermuda because it's become one of the major reinsurance markets since then. We hope to have someone from the reinsurance industry in Bermuda as a guest.'' Barb Jones of The Reefs said: "Dr. Bailey has come here a couple of times and he said he would be doing his programmes over the phone.

"It's our first time as a radio studio -- we were a bit surprised, but we are quite happy to accommodate him.

"It'll definitely be good publicity for Bermuda and the hotel.'' Dr. Bailey, special counsel to the US Insurance Information Institute since 1986, is a former top executive with insurance company Commercial Union.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1962 and graduated in law from the same university in 1968. In 1996, he won his doctorate from the Union Graduate School in Ohio.

He worked for a prestigious Boston legal firm and served as assistant to lawyer James St. Clair, who was counsel to then-President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

He was appointed co-director of the Hurricane Insurance Information Center, Miami in 1992, representing the insurance industry in the media following Hurricane Andrew, a position he held until the centre closed in 1993.