Stephanie Miller

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Stephanie Miller

Stephanie Miller (born September 29 1961) is an American comedian and host of The Stephanie Miller Show, a progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles and syndicated nationally by Jones Radio Networks. Talkers magazine ranked her as the 36th most important radio talk show host in America for 2007. [1] She is the daughter of former U.S. Representative William E. Miller, who was Barry Goldwater's running mate in the 1964 presidential election.

Miller's radio show was briefly televised live from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Eastern Time on MSNBC from April 30, 2007 to May 2, 2007. During this period, the show originated from MSNBC's studio in Secaucus, New Jersey, the studios and time slot formerly used by the now-cancelled Imus in the Morning. [2] After the stint, she said that she was not interested in the position full-time.[3]

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[edit] Early life

Miller grew up in Lockport, New York. After completing her secondary education in private Catholic schools, she attended the University of Southern California, earning a degree in theater. [4]

After graduation, Miller performed stand-up comedy at the Laugh Factory, the legendary Hollywood comedy club. Later in her career, she performed at many comedy clubs around New York and Los Angeles.[5]

[edit] Acting roles

Early in her career, Miller had several small acting jobs, such as appearing as a nun in the 1984 TV movie Shattered Vows. After gaining prominence as a radio and TV host, she had roles where she essentially played herself, as in the movie View from the Top and an episode of the TV show Diagnosis Murder. Her most significant acting role was in the 1997 comedy film Just Write.[6]

[edit] Radio and television career

Miller returned to Lockport for an on-air job at radio station WLVL. [7] In 1985 she went to WCMF in Rochester, New York to work as "Sister Sleaze" on the Brother Wease Show.[8] She progressed to larger markets as morning co-host at hit music radio stations WCKG in Chicago and WQHT in New York. In 1993, Miller was hired by talk station KFI in Los Angeles, where she achieved high ratings with her own weeknight radio show.[9]

In the fall of 1995, Miller became one of the few women to host her own late night television talk show, The Stephanie Miller Show syndicated by Buena Vista Television.[10] The show was cancelled after just 13 weeks.

Miller returned to Los Angeles radio in 1997,[11] first at KTZN and then at KABC. Later that year, she also began co-hosting the CNBC television show Equal Time, as the liberal counterpoint to conservative Bay Buchanan.

In 2000, the game show I've Got a Secret was revived on the Oxygen cable TV network with Miller as host. The following year, she began co-hosting Oxygen's weekday TV magazine show, Pure Oxygen. She also served as a frequent panelist on the PAX TV game show Balderdash, which was hosted by Miller's personal friend, Elayne Boosler.

[edit] Current show

Main article: The Stephanie Miller Show

In September 2004, The Stephanie Miller Show was launched by Democracy Radio and WYD Media Management.[12] The live show is broadcast weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern Time in dozens of U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Miller is often referred to on the show as 'Mama' (or 'Jiggles') by both listeners and her co-hosts. These numerous references can be heard in free bits on her website or by purchasing a "Stephcast" subscription wherein users can download all of her shows for a monthly or yearly fee. She, and listeners, call her two co-hosts 'the Mooks'. The show is unusual in that her cohosts, impressionist Jim Ward and producer Chris Lavoie, often share their own opinions and arguments and aren't just lackeys. Miller's program is widely popular (for example, she is ranked #2 in L.A. [13] She also stated that she beat the "Armstrong & Ghetty" radio program in San Francisco in her first ratings book. Part of her appeal to listeners is that she does not put herself above her listeners, and likes to share intimate details about her life, from something as simple to a household appliance not working to much more intimate details, about sweat, insomnia, and even what she calls "shy pee syndrome", which is actually paruresis. She also covers a great deal of celebrity news/gossip and off-the-wall stories. In regards to her physical characteristics, she frequently states that she has warts on her 'hammer toes' and that when she was younger, she once had a unibrow. She jokingly refers to her breast size - her phrasing, "lovely lady lumps", per a popular song - and her co-hosts state that they are small in comparison to fellow liberal talker Randi Rhodes' breasts.

In 2006, Miller had numerous appearances on several cable news shows, such as Larry King Live, to represent the progressive political point of view. After an October 13, 2006 appearance on the Fox News program Hannity & Colmes, where Miller defended peace activist Cindy Sheehan, a viewer mailed an ominous letter to Fox News, which was interpreted as a death threat and forwarded to Miller's agent. The incident was notable because the letter's author included his phone number, and Miller took the unusual step of calling him live on her October 30, 2006 show.[14]

On April 30, 2007 through May 2, 2007, Miller filled in for the recently fired Don Imus on MSNBC's 6AM - 9AM EDST time slot. Miller and her on-air staff received generally favorable reviews for their appearance. A fan petition was started to make the show the permanent replacement for the Imus MSNBC show. Joe Scarborough's show Morning Joe has now taken over this time slot.[15]

Sirius Satellite Radio, which had been running Miller during prime time hours (afternoon commute time) on their liberal "LEFT" channel canceled her show in November 2007. (Giving the rationale that they wanted to replace all syndicated hosts with in-house hosts.)[citation needed] However, on November 30, 2007, Stephanie Miller announced that Sirius Left will air one hour of the show at 8 PM Eastern beginning on December 3, 2007 [16].

[edit] Spoof political career

On the October 1, 2007 show, Miller announced that she was running on the vice-presidential ticket alongside C.C. Goldwater, granddaughter of Barry Goldwater. They intend it as a publicity stunt, as heard in the interview at StephanieMiller.com. They have created a website for their campaign. [17]

[edit] Personal life

Miller has never been married, though she has compiled a long list of "future husbands". She often mentions her dogs on her radio show; she currently lives with two Great Pyrenees (Puff and Max). Her best friend wrote a children's book inspired by Miller's St. Bernard Chester; [18] Chester died a few months before the book's release in mid-2006. Her Newfoundland, Poo Bear, lived for two years with bone cancer before dying on March 30, 2007; she devoted a portion of her April 2 show to discussing his life and how sad her life would be now that he was gone. Miller has done promotional events for animal welfare organizations. She recently shared with the audience that she has been ill with mercury poisoning and is down to a size zero as of October 15, 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.talkers.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=44
  2. ^ http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-25-2007/0004573906&EDATE=
  3. ^ http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/entertainment/columns/article_1691930.php
  4. ^ http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/profiles/Stephanie+Miller/
  5. ^ http://www.wydmedia.com/smiller.html
  6. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0589352/
  7. ^ http://www.lockport-ny.com/media.htm
  8. ^ http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/profiles/Stephanie+Miller/
  9. ^ http://www.radioguide.com/magazine/vol3no1/stephy/steph.htm
  10. ^ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983512,00.html
  11. ^ http://www.variety.com/vstory/VR1117341918.html?categoryid=38&cs=1
  12. ^ http://www.wydmedia.com/smiller.html
  13. ^ http://www.wydmedia.com/index.php?page=press
  14. ^ http://www.bradblog.com/?p=3693
  15. ^ http://www.millionphonemarch.com/keep_stephanie.php
  16. ^ http://www.stephaniemiller.com/blog.php?Date=20071130
  17. ^ http://www.goldwatermiller08.com
  18. ^ http://chesterthestbernard.com/index.html

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://india.smashits.com/wikipedia/Stephanie_Miller"
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