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Chuck D, the rapper who made waves in music, now turns his attention to radio and TV.

He is everywhere - and nowhere.

For the average media watcher who punches in mainstream radio, flips through network TV and thumbs through Entertainment Weekly, the name may be dimly remembered from hip-hop's paleolithic past. They might have better luck spelling Evanescence than reeling off any of Chuck D's hits.

But for those who tap a little deeper into pop culture, Chuck D -- the leader of the breakthrough New York hip-hop group Public Enemy -- is close to inescapable these days:

• He's heard daily as a co-host of Unfiltered on Air America, the new liberal talk-radio network that much of the country -- including Fort Worth-Dallas -- can hear only through satellite radio or online.

• He has been involved in efforts such as the Hip-Hop Symposium and the recently concluded National Hip-Hop Political Convention in Newark, N.J.

• Public Enemy, though eclipsed in the hip-hop headlines by younger performers in the '90s, are still a working proposition. Much of the group's recent material is available only through their Web site (www.publicenemy.com), but a new 12-inch-single collaboration with electronica heavyweight Moby, is due out July 26. The band headline the Texas Zen Festival 2004, an all-day hip-hop and techno extravaganza at American Airlines Center in Dallas on July 10.

• Trio, the pop-culture cable channel that's available in 20 million homes through digital cable and satellite, is turning over several hours of its schedule tonight through July 10 to Chuck D for its latest My Trio promotion, in which a guest celebrity programs favorite shows. If previous My Trio guest Quentin Tarantino went crazy on the kung fu, Chuck D's tastes lean more toward social commentary, such as the documentary The N Word, airing at 8 p.m. Sunday.

For Chuck D -- born Carlton Douglas Ridenhour -- it's all part of being a hip-hop ambassador, interpreting the music and the culture for a broader audience. He was especially intrigued by the Trio opportunity.

"I don't watch a lot of movies and TV . . . But when I was looking at Trio, I was thinking 'Wow! I could show some of my favorite movies,' " Chuck D, 42, says in a phone interview, noting the opportunity to show nonfiction works about black popular culture. "I collect documentaries. I'm more of a documentary [fan] than a movie buff."

In addition to The N Word, in which the likes of Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg and Samuel L. Jackson talk about one of the most inflammatory words in the English language, Chuck D will also show Biggie & Tupac, Nick Broomfield's controversial look at the late rappers the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.

For Trio President Lauren Zalaznick, Chuck D's particular point of view is what she wanted.

"We had done two previous My Trios, with [writer] Joel Stein and Quentin Tarantino. . . . So we had talked about [the next one being] music, being as it's such a part of Trio and the culture.

"The other piece of it was we had this phenomenal documentary called The N Word, and Chuck D is a prominent part of The N Word as an interview subject. So we drew up a pretty short list and Chuck D was at the top."

While programming TV is just a minor diversion for Chuck D, music and radio provide his full-time occupations. With a no-nonsense, never-smile attitude and such often-incendiary tracks as Fight the Power and Don't Believe the Hype, Public Enemy were one of the most talked-about hip-hop acts of the '80s and early '90s.

Known mostly for their politically charged hip-hop that appealed to rap and rock fans, Public Enemy opened for U2, collaborated with Anthrax and Sonic Youth, and had one of their songs, (911 Is a Joke), covered by Duran Duran. But the group's popularity couldn't survive the rise of gangsta rap or, later, the party-hearty "crunk" and Dirty South variations.

Chuck D is philosophical about Public Enemy's role these days. He says hip-hop is at a crossroads and many are looking back at a time when the music had more of a social edge.

"People look at Public Enemy now as the Rolling Stones of rap and hip-hop," he says. "And a lot of people are trying to find the basic foundation of the music."

He points to the success of OutKast as evidence that listeners are ready for something new. "The beauty of OutKast is they tried to do different things," he explains. "We did different things before they were recognized, and we didn't care if one person liked it or not."

When Public Enemy play Dallas next week, they will share the stage with such techno acts as Rabbit in the Moon, but Chuck D says that's not so unusual. "We've been playing raves ever since the term was created," he says.

Chuck D is optimistic about where hip-hop is going ("The future of hip-hop is interwoven into the future of music") as well as Air America, the radio network that's had trouble lining up broadcast outlets. With the Internet, he says, that doesn't matter.

"We have a large contingent of streaming listeners around the country," he says. "The right-wing has Rush Limbaugh with 600 stations, but this is a whole different medium. Satellite and the Internet are changing the face of radio."

Chuck D on TV

Chuck D's week of programming on Trio begins at 8 tonight with the screening of the 1964 film Nothing but a Man, starring Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln. It's repeated at 11 p.m. Here's the rest of the schedule:

Saturday

• Noon: Cooley High, the 1975 film by director Michael Schultz (Car Wash) set during the early '60s.

• 2 p.m.: A Rage in Harlem, Bill Dukes' 1991 film about '50s Harlem.

• 6 p.m.: Public Enemy: Live at the House of Blues.

• 8 p.m.: Mario Van Peebles' Panther, a movie that mixes news footage and dramatization to tell the story of the Black Panthers.

Sunday

• 8 p.m.: World premiere of The N Word, the documentary about perhaps the most controversial word in the English language. Repeated at 11 p.m.

• 9 p.m.: The network TV premiere of Nick Broomfield's controversial documentary, Biggie & Tupac. Repeated at midnight.

The remainder of the week consists of reruns of these programs. Check www.triotv.com.

Chuck D onstage

Public Enemy headline the Texas Zen Festival 2004, a hip-hop/techno event 10 a.m.-11 p.m. July 10 at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Also playing are Common, Rabbit in the Moon, Particle, Kid Icarus, Chris Lawrence, Carbon Community and others. Tickets are $40-$45; call Ticketmaster at (972) 647-5700.

Chuck D on radio

Unfiltered -- co-hosted by Chuck D, Lizz Winstead of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow -- is heard on the new, liberal talk radio station, Air America, 8-11 a.m. weekdays. The station doesn't have a North Texas outlet but can be heard through satellite radio or online at www.airamericaradio.com.

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