A&E's "Jerry Springer: In the Center Ring" airs Dec. 16 at 8 p.m., but The Post has obtained a copy of the "Biography" installment which exposes some dark corners of TV's top-rated talk show host - known for staging outlandish fights between scantily clad trailer-trash guests on "The Jerry Springer Show" (which airs locally at 9 and 11 a.m. on WPIX/Ch.11).

"Center Ring" details Springer's heartbreaking relationship with his disabled daughter, Katie, who was born legally blind, deaf in one ear and without nasal passages.

The show also tackles Springer's troubled marriage to wife Micki, who forgave hispast infidelities but reportedly left him earlier this year when a London tabloid published photos of Springer cavorting with a busty stripper and her stepmom in a steamy hotel-room tryst.

That pales in comparison to Springer's shocking, mid-'70s confession that he had sex with Kentucky prostitutes while a young Cincinnati councilman - recalled in screaming headlines and film footage from the era.

That confession precipitated Springer's political downfall before he resurrected his career, serving as mayor of Cincinnati before becoming a successful, Emmy-winning local broadcaster and, eventually, host of "The Jerry Springer Show."

There's also some rare footage from Springer's newscasting career - including a hilarious blooper pertaining to Elvis Presley's death - and scenes from "Ringmaster," Springer's semi-autobiographical big-screen movie.

In all, "Center Ring" touches all the biographical bases, detailing Springer's childhood as the son of Holocaust survivors who fled from Germany to London and then to Kew Gardens, Queens - where young Jerry grew up.

-- Michael Starr - 12/10/98