Radio talk-show host Don Imus. - Reuters

(AP):

Don Imus returned to the airwaves Monday before a live studio audience, introducing a long list of cast members on his new morning show, including a black woman.

Just eight months ago, Imus was criticised as racist, targeted for daily protests and forced from the airwaves over remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

"I want to take a minute to introduce this new incarnation of 'Imus in the Morning,'" Imus said Monday.

His debut, on WABC-AM, completed a comeback that seemed improbable at th of the uproar back in April over his calling the players "nappy-headed hos."