A special Inland Empire edition of KPCC's news magazine Talk of the City with Kitty Felde will be broadcast live on 89.3 FM from UC Riverside's University Theatre Wednesday, Feb. 5, from 1 to 2:30 p.m.

The event is open to the public with a request for audience members to be at the theatre at 12:30 p.m. Parking is available at a cost of $6 in Lot 30, the large parking lot at the entrance to campus near Martin Luther King Blvd. Signs will lead pedestrians on a short walk to the Theatre.

Talk of the City producer Julia Posey said KPCC has a lot of listeners in the Riverside area, and wants to forge even stronger ties with the Inland Empire.

"UC Riverside seemed like the perfect place to bring Talk of the City because the school is so well known and has such valuable expertise on so many issues," Posey said. "We invite all our listeners to come out and meet us February 5th."

Host Kitty Felde will explore Riverside Police Department reforms with Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach, Riverside Mayor Ronald Loveridge, state-appointed police monitor Joseph Brann, UCR professor and member of the Citizen Advisory Committee to the Police Chief, Rene Lysloff and Tanya Humphery, chair of the political action committee of the local NAACP.

After that, Kitty Felde will lead a discussion with three writers about UC Riverside's 26th Annual Writers Week celebration, Feb. 4 through 8. Guests are Writers Week headliners Aimee Bender (The Girl in the Flammable Skirt), and Lisa Teasley (Glow in the Dark) and UC Riverside's own Writers Week director, Susan Straight, professor of creative writing and author of "Highwire Moon." A Writers Week schedule is at http://www.creativewriting.ucr.edu/news_events/writers_week_2003/index.html

KPCC is the flagship station of Southern California Public Radio. It airs all of the signature public radio news and talk programs, along with locally produced news and talk, including AirTalk with Larry Mantle weekdays from 9-11 am, and Talk of the City weekdays from 1-2:30 pm. More information is available at www.kpcc.org

The University of California, Riverside offers undergraduate and graduate education to nearly 16,000 students and has a projected enrollment of 21,000 students by 2010. It is the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse campus of the preeminent ten-campus University of California system, the largest public research university system in the world. The picturesque 1,200-acre campus is located at the foot of the Box Springs Mountains near downtown Riverside in Southern California. More information about UC Riverside is available at www.ucr.edu or by calling 909-787-5185. For a listing of faculty experts on a variety of topics, please visit http://mmr.ucr.edu/experts/.