Imus created a media firestorm last spring when he made disparaging comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Although team members accepted his apology, Imus was fired by CBS Radio and MSNBC, which had simulcast his program on cable television.

"I will never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me," Imus, 67, said at Manhattan's Town Hall from where his new WABC-AM show was broadcast Monday, The New York Times reported.

"And no one else will say anything on my program that will make anyone think I did not deserve a second chance."

In addition to regulars Charles McCord and Bernard McGuirk, Imus also introduced two new cast members -- black comedians Karith Foster and Tony Powell, The Times said.

"I think things worked out the way they should have worked out," Imus said. "We now have the opportunity to have a better program, to obviously diversify the cast."