TV's Montel Williams to host Air America radio show

[a kennedy]

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran TV personality Montel Williams has signed a deal to host a new flagship talk show on Air America, the struggling radio network that comedian and would-be U.S. Senator Al Franken helped launch in 2004 as a voice for the political left.

Under his multi-year agreement, Williams, 52, will debut the new program, "Montel Across America," on April 6, and the show will air weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern time on affiliate stations nationwide, the network said on Thursday.

The bald-headed TV celebrity and author will become perhaps the best-known name on the network's on-air roster, which already includes MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, columnist Arianna Huffington, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Ron Reagan, the liberal son of conservative Republican icon and late former President Ronald Reagan.

Williams, a Baltimore native and former U.S. Marine and Navy officer, previously hosted his own syndicated TV show, "The Montel Williams Show," for 17 years, until 2008. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999.

full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSTRE52C07Q20090313