'The Travis Smiley Show' returns to PRI

MINNEAPOLIS, April 30 (UPI) -- "The Travis Smiley Show" has returned to public radio in a two-hour program with Maya Angelou, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Jill Scott.

The Friday program on Public Radio International also featured regular contributors Cornel West, Connie Rice, J.C. Watts, Dr. Ian Smith and Michael Eric Dyson.

"It's good to be back," said Smiley. "Public radio is the perfect place to have a rigorous exchange on a difficult subject or simply to explore ideas that make you laugh -- and we'll do all of that on my show."

Added Smiley: Because of the range of guests we invite to the mic, we're in the enviable position of being able to re-introduce the nation to itself. We probe the ideas, the artistry, the poetry of people who create it, and we celebrate those things that make us the same or unique as humans and as Americans. It's definitely good to be back."

PRI, a Minneapolis-based network, provides more than 400 hours of radio programming each week, broadcast and streamed online by its 728 public radio station affiliates nationwide, reaching some 31 million listeners each week.