From The Boston Globe, 4/28/05:
http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2005/04/28/among_liberal_hosts_shes_an_independent/
Among liberal hosts, she's an independent
By Clea Simon, Globe Correspondent
Air America's programming gets most of the hype when people discuss
''liberal talk."
But listeners to the Boston area's progressive talk stations, WXKS-AM
(1430) and WKOX-AM (1200), may not know that one of these stations'
most popular hosts isn't part of that year-old syndicate.
Although she shares airspace with Air America's Janeane Garofalo and
Al Franken, Stephanie Miller, who delivers her liberal politics with
liberal laughs, broadcasts weekday mornings, 9 to noon, thanks to
Jones Radio Networks, an independent programming company that carries
her show nationally.
Since her debut in September 2004, the Los Angeles-based Miller has
become part of a growing wave of nonconservative talk-show hosts.
''There's a huge audience for this," says Miller, who will be
broadcasting from the WXKS studio today and tomorrow.
Locally, the stations' ratings have been low -- ranking around 20th
among adult listeners -- but no AM stations rank very high.
Plus, notes Miller, the stations, and her show in particular, are new.
''You can't compare the ratings [yet] with Rush Limbaugh," she says.
''Rush Limbaugh didn't have Rush Limbaugh ratings in only a few
months."
To bolster her confidence, Miller points out that her program was
picked up by the local Clear Channel progressive talk stations soon
after its launch.
''Clear Channel kind of woke up one day and said, 'Gee, half the
country doesn't agree with George Bush. I wonder if there's money to
be made in this?' "
''George Bush was the greatest thing to happen to progressive talk,"
she says.
''Though, to be honest, I'd rather have my country back."
Still, as a veteran of talk radio, Miller thrives on a certain amount
of conflict.
Before having her show picked up by stations like Boston's progressive
talkers, she served as the token liberal host on two LA talk stations.
And, as regular listeners know, Miller is not only a progressive and a
dog lover (she's got three, all big), she's also the daughter of
William E. Miller, who was Barry Goldwater's running mate in the 1964
presidential election.
For the offspring of a stalwart Republican to be spouting Democratic
wit, however, isn't such a big stretch, she says.
''Even Goldwater by the time he died was practically liberal," she
says.
''He was pro-gay-rights and prochoice. I think he and my dad," who
died when Miller was 3 years old, ''would both be appalled by what has
happened to the Republican Party."
Still, in her family ''I used to be the black sheep," says Miller.
Until 2004, that is, when both her sisters voted for John Kerry.
''So now I'm a grayish sheep," she says.
Throughout the conflicts, Miller makes her mark by finding the humor
in politics.
''You always have to remember this is entertainment," she says,
pointing out that one of her program's IDs notes that ''You have to
laugh or you'd cry all day."
Sometimes, however, tears are necessary.
''The day Terry Schiavo died, a caller called about her experience
with her father and it gave me a flashback to a day before my father
died and I burst into tears. The whole thing was disgusting and it
made me angry politically. But when she died it was sad. We were just
all sad."
________________________________________________________
Welcome, Stephanie Miller.
Harry
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