CROSSOVER APPEAL SELF-DESCRIBED 'ORDINARY GUY' JOHN EDWARD LINKS THE LIVING AND THE DEAD FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

WHEN JOHN EDWARD says he hears the dead talk, millions of living people listen.

The 32-year-old Long Island native has become America's most renowned psychic personality. His part seance, part talk show, ``Crossing Over With John Edward,'' which begins its second season of syndication today, is carried by 210 stations covering 98 percent of the country.

What makes him worthy of such a devoted following - not to mention the target of a long line of skeptics - probably has as much to do with the messenger as it does the message.

As Edward humbly puts it, ``I'm an ordinary guy.''

The down-to-earth psychic with the longshoreman good looks and J. Crew style has been in Los Angeles meeting anonymously with famous personalities to tape segments for his show. He seems to go unnoticed in his black bowling-style shirt and blue jeans as he walks past sunbathers atop West Hollywood's posh Le Montrose Suite Hotel. His familiar face is masked by his fashionable sunglasses - oversize and with amber lenses.

The glasses stay on - except for a brief photo shoot - as he sits in the shade of a canopy for an hourlong conversation. His tone is lighthearted as he talks about the revamped show that will include different location shoots and more celebrity readings than before. He refuses to name names. (A press release issued weeks after the interview names celebrities such as A.J. McLean and Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys, rapper Coolio and actress Jenny McCarthy.)

Spirit phone?

``I didn't even know who the celebrities were going to be until they pulled me up to the place, escorted me in the room and, literally, it was like the Secret Service was at every door,'' Edward says with a laugh. ``I'm thinking, 'What am I going to do: Research them on my phone?''

This he says in a nod to his critics who have accused him of researching people before doing their readings. Edward admits that even he was a skeptic once.

At age 15, John Edward Magee Jr. crashed a psychic house party being thrown by his grandmother, mother and aunts. In his family, this kind of thing wasn't so unusual.

``It was like a Tupperware party, you know - coffee and tea and Entenmann's,'' he says with a chuckle.

Although he wasn't a believer in psychic phenomena, he decided it might be fun to debunk the fortune teller. With his class ring in her grasp, Edward says she revealed tidbits that left him unnerved.

``She told me that I was going to be this well-known psychic and that she was there to put me on this path,'' Edward says. ``I thought, 'How psychic could she possibly be? Because if she was remotely psychic, she would know that I didn't believe that she could do this.'

``But she wouldn't go down that road,'' he says. ``She'd go down a different road, and she was extremely deliberate with her information.''

The psychic, he says, prophesied what has come to pass and even predicted the criticism he would face.

Universal application

Edward has been called a hoax. Some say he speaks in generalities that could apply to anyone.

``If I were to say to you, 'One of your grandmothers is dead now - seriously, is one of your grandmothers dead? And you have a piece of jewelry from her,' '' says James Underdown, executive director of the Hollywood-based Center for Inquiry-West, an organization that promotes critical thinking about the paranormal. ``That's one of the guesses.

``Now some people look at that guess and say, 'That's unbelievable! That's very specific that grandma gave me this,' '' says Underdown, adding that the psychic then might ask if it's a ring. No, it's a watch, the person could respond.

`` 'You know what I was envisioning was a closed circle,' and that's what John Edward would say,'' Underdown says. ``That would cover necklaces and rings, anything like that. A lot of people, especially women, get pieces of jewelry from their dead grandparents.''

Edward discounts the criticism, saying his gift is misunderstood. However, when asked to demonstrate, he says he doesn't do readings for journalists because he's had negative past experiences.

Hotlines to heaven

For every skeptic, however, there are plenty of believers.

``Mediumship really involves having the courage to speak about the pictures that pop into your head,'' says Doreen Virtue, a Laguna Beach- based psychic, who says she communicates with angels. ``They give you mental pictures, and they give you words, and John is the real deal. He's the most sincere, open-hearted person I've ever met.''

This sincerity is the foundation of an empire that began with his popular TV show, which made its July 2000 debut on the Sci-Fi Channel a year before going into national syndication. Now he travels the country hosting seminars; writes best-selling books such as the reissued ``Crossing Over: the Stories Behind the Stories'' that features vignette readings with the families of the victims of Sept. 11; and offers his services to the grieving for a fee of $300 an hour, which again outrages his critics.

``The reason why John Edward is a big deal is because anybody that loses a loved one is in some kind of pain,'' Underdown says. ``Of course we hate to lose loved ones, and it feels good if we think that they are somehow safe or comfortable or that they are still watching over us - those are pure human emotions. And frankly, I think John Edward is exploiting those human emotions for profit.''

Edward explains that this is how he makes his living.

``People say, 'If it's a gift, why do you charge?' Well, Whitney Houston's got a gift too, and nobody is asking her to sing for free,'' Edward says. ``I have to charge for what I do. And again, people will critique, but realistically I can charge $5,000 a session today and get it, but it's not about the money.''

What is it about? According to Edward, his show is meant to offer comfort to the grieving, who during their readings can often be seen reacting with looks of shock or breaking down in tears.

This kind of drama makes for compelling television and seems to be opening the door for other such programs as ``Beyond With James Van Praagh,'' premiering Sept. 16 on KTLA Channel 5. But Edward doesn't see his show sparking a trend.

For him, ``Crossing Over'' is not about television, it's about people, although he admits that to some it's a form of entertainment.

``People like to know about other people, yes, otherwise there wouldn't be a show on like the Osbournes or the Anna Nicole Smiths or anybody else,'' Edward says. ``It's not just because they're celebrities. You're getting to peak at yet another person's experience that's very human, that's very natural, that a lot of people will deal with or have dealt with. And I think that's why the show has been successful.''

CROSSING OVER WITH JOHN EDWARD

What: Psychic talk-show personality John Edward relays messages from the dead to their loved ones.

Where: KCAL (Channel 9).

When: 11 and 11:30 a.m. weekdays.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) medium rare

When dead people talk, psychic John Edward is there to listen on `Crossing Over'

(2) no caption (John Edward)

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News