Stephanie Miller
Stephanie Miller | |
---|---|
![]() Stephanie Miller | |
Birth name | Stephanie Miller |
Born | September 29, 1961 |
Medium | Stand-up, television, radio |
Nationality | American |
Genres | Political satire, Observational comedy |
Website | The Stephanie Miller Show |
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 Dial Global, and simulcast on television on the Current TV cable network. In 2012, Talkers magazine ranked her the 11th most important radio talk show host in America.[1]
Early life
Miller was born in Washington, D.C.[2] and grew up on Willow Street in Lockport, New York. She is the daughter of former U.S. Representative William E. Miller, who was Barry Goldwater's running mate in the 1964 presidential election and a Chairman of the Republican National Committee. After completing her secondary education in private Catholic schools, she attended the University of Southern California, earning a degree in theatre.[3]
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.[4]
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 and as a nurse in the 1981 horror film Happy Birthday to Me. 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, a brief appearance as a nurse on General Hospital, and she was in an episode of the TV series Diagnosis: Murder. Her most significant acting role was in the 1997 comedy film Just Write.[5]
Radio and television career
Miller returned to Lockport for an on-air job at radio station WLVL.[6] In 1985 she went to WCMF in Rochester, New York to work as "Sister Sleaze" on the Brother Wease Show.[3] 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.[7]
In the autumn 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.[8] The show was cancelled after 13 weeks.
Miller returned to Los Angeles radio in 1997,[9] 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 friend Elayne Boosler.
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-canceled Imus in the Morning.[10] After the stint, she said that she was not interested in the position full-time.[11]
Current show
In September 2004, The Stephanie Miller Show was launched by Democracy Radio and WYD Media Management.[4] The live show is broadcast weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon Eastern Time in U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle and on XM Satellite Radio's America Left channel 127.[12]
Miller's program is widely popular; for example, she is ranked #2 in Los Angeles[13] She also stated that she beat the "Armstrong & Getty" radio program in San Francisco in her first ratings book. The show's audience has grown substantially since its beginning, and had 2.5 million weekly listeners as of March 2010.[14][15]
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, whereby users can download all of her shows for a monthly or yearly fee. She, and listeners, call her two co-hosts 'the Mooks'. Her co-hosts, impressionist Jim Ward and producer Chris Lavoie, often share their own opinions and arguments. Miller often seems to jokingly call her co-hosts "mooks", or refers to them as "Voice deity Jim Ward and Boy-Toy Lavoie". Associate producer Rebekah Taylor (referred to by Miller as being surly) steps in to add some commentary early in the broadcast but is also utilized for her Ross Perot impression. Miller also has special guest co-hosts: Edie McClurg for "Mondays with McClurg", Aisha Tyler for "Tuesdays with Tyler", Hal Sparks on Wednesdays for "Hump Days with Hal", and John Fugelsang for "Fridays with Fugelsang."
She often shares personal details about her life, from something as simple as 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.
Sirius Satellite Radio, which had been running Miller during prime time hours (afternoon commute time) on their liberal "LEFT" channel 146, canceled her show in November 2007. However, on November 30, 2007, Miller announced that Sirius Left will air one hour of the show at 8 PM Eastern beginning on December 3, 2007.[16] She can currently be heard on Sirius Left from 10 am to 12 noon Eastern Time. Sirius Left has now moved to channel 127.
In late January 2008 her show on "Green 960" KKGN, San Francisco's Air America outlet, was cut from three hours to one. She had been on from 6am to 9am PST but was replaced in the 7am to 9am "prime drive-time" slot with local talent. This decision has provoked controversy, however, as many listeners were upset by the decision. After only two weeks off the air in that time slot, Miller's show was reinstated to the full three hours due to the large volume of correspondence sent to Green 960 from its listeners.[17]
In November 2009, it was announced on the air that the show was soon to "go bi," meaning bicoastal. After an offhand remark by Miller on November 12, 2009 that she was having trouble packing up her house to move to New York elicited questions on her online blog,[18] it was formally announced that Miller would travel back and forth between New York City and Los Angeles.
On Friday, May 28, 2010, Stephanie announced on her radio show that "in July" she will be moving back to Los Angeles.[19] During the streaming coverage provided by Hal Sparks on the previous day, Stephanie mentioned off air (during a commercial break when the audio was only being broadcast via Sparks' streaming coverage) that she would be coming back to Los Angeles.
On March 5, 2012, Current TV announced that the show will be simulcast on the network's new morning block as Talking Liberally: The Stephanie Miller Show beginning March 26, 2012.[20]
Other media appearances
In 2006, Miller had numerous appearances on several cable news shows, such as Larry King Live, to represent the progressive political point of view.
From April 30, 2007 to May 2, 2007, Miller filled in for the recently fired Don Imus on MSNBC's 6AM–9AM ET 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.[21]
More recently, Stephanie's Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour has toured the country to very high acclaim. Stephanie with regular cast members Hal Sparks, John Fugelsang, and other special guests brings together three “liberal comedians” for an evening of liberal humor and comment. A volume 1 (CD or MP3) of the tour is available online.
Personal life
Miller has never been married, though she has jokingly compiled a long list of "future husbands," most notably Keith Olbermann.
She often mentions her dogs on her radio show and currently lives with two Great Pyrenees, Max & Fred. Oliver, a Tibetan Mastiff/Great Pyrenees mix, which Miller rescued in Spring of 2009, has new owners now due to a family crisis that had occurred and left Miller unable to train and care for him fully. She frequently had to travel from the West Coast to the East Coast, which left her little time to train Oliver. Her other Great Pyrenees, Puff, died on April 23, 2009.[22] Her best friend wrote a children's book inspired by Miller's St. Bernard Chester;[23] 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.
In October 2007, she shared with the audience that she had been ill with mercury poisoning and was down to a dress size zero.
On August 13, 2010 Miller announced on her radio show that she is a lesbian and credited country singer Chely Wright with helping her in coming out.[24]
References
- ^ TALKERS magazine – Heavy Hundred 2012. Talkers.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ Stephanie Miller Show, March 4, 2009.
- ^ a b Ron Netsky, Stephanie Miller: From Sister Sleaze to progressive radio queen. Rochester City Newspaper. January 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ a b STEPHANIE MILLER’S POPULAR PROGRESSIVE VOICE RETURNS TO RADIO WITH NATION’S FASTEST GROWING RADIO FORMAT. PR Newswire. September 7, 2004
- ^ Stephanie Miller (I). imdb.com
- ^ Danny's Done; Stephanie's Back: KB Radio Changes Format. Niagara Frontier Media Monitor. 11/1/2005
- ^ roar head Stephanie's Roar is a Purr. Radio Guide Magazine, Vol. 3, No 1
- ^ Tynan, William. (1995-10-02) Joining The Boys' Club. Time. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ Miller signs on for Zone radio show – Entertainment News, VPage, Media. Variety. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ MSNBC Selects the Stephanie Miller Show to Fill the Former Imus Early Morning Program Slot for Three Days Next Week. Prnewswire.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ Lycan, Gary. (2007-05-13) Entertainment: Radio: Elder calls MSNBC stint a 'blast'. OCRegister.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ XM America Left Channel Program List. Xmradio.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ Press. Wyd Media. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ "The Top Talk Radio Audiences", Talkers Magazine, Fall 2005
- ^ "The Top Talk Radio Audiences", Talkers Magazine, March 2010
- ^ Stephanie Miller
- ^ GREEN 960AM, KKGN. Green960.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ LiveBlog for Thursday, November 13, 2009 – STEPHANIE MILLER SHOW. Stephaniemiller.com (2009-11-12). Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=lf#!/pages/Stephanie-Miller-Show/108941079151256?v=wall&story_fbid=124480427574906&ref=mf
- ^ [David Lieberman (March 5, 2012 @ 8:32am EST). "Current TV To Enter AM News Competition With Radio’s Bill Press And Stephanie Miller". Deadline New York. http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/current-tv-to-enter-am-news-competition-with-radios-bill-press-and-stephanie-miller ]
- ^ Keep Stephanie Miller on MSNBC. Millionphonemarch.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ LiveBlog for Thursday, April 23, 2009. Stephaniemiller.com (2009-04-23). Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ Chester, The Water-loving, Pool-hopping, Salad-eating, St. Bernard Dog. Chesterthestbernard.com. Retrieved on 2012-06-11.
- ^ Steve Weinstein, EDGE Boston: Radio Talkshow Host Stephanie Miller Comes Out. edgeboston.com. August 13, 2010
External links
- 1961 births
- Living people
- American alternative journalists
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- LGBT people from the United States
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- Radio personalities from Chicago, Illinois
- Radio personalities from Los Angeles, California
- Radio personalities from New York City
- Radio personalities from New York
- People from Lockport, New York
- Progressive talk radio
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