Stephanie Miller is a comedienne with 25 years of broadcasting experience. Since September 2004, she has hosted her eponymous syndicated radio show, which has become one of the most popular in the progressive talk genre. In 2009, Talkers Magazineranked Stephanie as the country's fourth most important female radio talk show host, and 30th overall.

Stephanie is known for her quick wit and self-deprecating humor. She keeps the Stephanie Miller Show moving at a brisk pace, creating a program that’s more comedy than politics, though with plenty of insight, thoughfulness, and sincerity interspersed among the wackiness. Though Stephanie is definitely not an ideologue or policy wonk, her political insights and instincts shouldn't be dismissed; for example, she was a believer in Barack Obama's campaign long before most people gave him any significant chance of winning the nomination.

Childhood

Stephanie was born on September 29, 1961, in Washington, DC. Her father was William E. Miller — a lawyer, part of the Nuremberg prosecution team following WWII, and congressman from Lockport, New York, since 1951. He was Chairman of the Republican National Committee at the time, and an unfortunately-timed trip caused him to miss Stephanie's birth by a few hours. Stephanie was named after her mother, and joined a family with two sisters, ages 17 and 14, and a brother, age 3.

Her father became even better known when Barry Goldwater selected him as his running mate at the 1964 Republican convention. After the ticket's lopsided loss to Lyndon Johnson, Bill Miller retired from politics. The Millers returned to their Lockport home on Willow Street, with Bill resuming a law practice in nearby Buffalo, generally out of the limelight except for his appearance in a famous 1974 American Express "Do you know me" TV ad.

Stephanie attended private Catholic schools for twelve years. The entertainment bug affected her at an early age, and she aspired to be like Carol Burnett. Though Stephanie jokes that she was "not pretty as a child" and has always been clumsy, she also says she did well in a local Junior Miss pageant, and that she was first-team basketball at DeSales Catholic High School.

Early Career

In 1979, Stephanie headed off to USC to major in theater. Shortly after she received her degree in 1983, her father died due to complications from what was expected to have been a routine arteriogram. She started doing stand-up comedy at the Laugh Factory in L.A., but decided to move back to the Lockport area in 1984 to be with her mother. Stephanie performed at local comedy clubs and took a job doing voices and brief comedy bits on a friend's radio show at WNYS 104.1 in Buffalo. She soon managed to get her own show on WLVL in Lockport, which led to her role as "Sister Sleaze", one of the radio sidekicks of morning host Brother Wease on Rochester station WCMF.

In 1988, she was chosen as morning co-host at WCKG-FM in Chicago. By this time, her acting credits were limited to appearing as an extra in the 1984 TV movie "Shattered Vows" and having one line in an episode of General Hospital. However, she continued to do stand-up, and made it onto an episode of An Evening at the Improv on the A&E cable network. WCKG's morning team was let go in September 1989, but before the end of the year Stephanie had landed a job in an even larger market — morning co-host at WQHT-FM ("Hot 97") in New York City, where she would work for over three years.

Talk Radio Star and TV Host

In the fall of 1993, Stephanie moved to Los Angeles with hopes of a sitcom deal; while that deal didn't pan out, she was hired to host her own radio talk show on KFI. Originally given a weekend time slot, she quickly was moved to weeknights where her irreverent show garnered high ratings and, by the end of 1994, the attention of Buena Vista TV executives.

Buena Vista (a division of Disney) had been looking for someone to host a syndicated show to compete in the potentially lucrative late night TV market. The deal was contingent on Stephanie giving up her successful radio show, which she did at the end of June 1995, something she later regretted.

The Stephanie Miller Show premiered on September 15th, 1995, but never caught on. Cancellation was announced after its 12th week, with the final week of new episodes being guest hosted by Danny Bonaduce. Stephanie disappeared from the public eye until 1997, when she made a comeback in film, radio, and TV: She had a role in the independent film Just Write starring Jeremy Piven; she returned to Los Angeles talk radio on KTZN (and soon was transferred to higher-profile sister station KABC-AM); and she became co-host with Bay Buchanan on the CNBC political discussion showEqual Time.

The Equal Time job only lasted one year, but her edgy weeknight KABC radio show was a hit, thanks in part to the rich mother lode of comedy and hypocrisy provided by the Clinton pre-impeachment news. Over the next few years the show was syndicated to more than 20 affiliates, and Stephanie occasionally appeared as a pundit on shows such as Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect. She also guest-starred as herself on a 1999 episode of Diagnosis Murder.

In February 2000, Stephanie debuted as host of the game show I've Got a Secret on the new Oprah Winfrey-backed Oxygen cable network. The show ran for two seasons and included a guest appearance by Steph's toy peke-a-poo "Pooky". The following month brought an unexpected blow: The Stephanie Miller Show was dropped from KABC. In a publicly acrimonious dispute, Stephanie insisted the action was taken because of her racy content and not because of disappointing ratings as cited by station management.

Stephanie moved back to the New York area to become co-host of Pure Oxygen in early 2001. She hosted the live weekday magazine-style show on Oxygen with May Lee for about a year, and then a third host, Oprah buddy Gayle King, was added.

Return to Radio

By the summer of 2002, the Oxygen shows had not been renewed. Stephanie worked on projects that never came to fruition, and moved back to L.A. the following year. In the summer of 2004, Democracy Radio, an organization set up to develop progressive talk radio, was looking to follow up on its earlier successful launch of The Ed Schultz Show. The result was the September 2004 debut of The Stephanie Miller Show, syndicated by Jones Radio Networks (now Dial Global). The show steadily added affiliates, and within a year it was carried on over two dozen stations as well as satellite radio. The show pulled big ratings in some markets, besting other long-establish talk shows.

Stephanie shared a highly emotional personal tragedy with her listeners in April 2006 following the unexpected death of her beloved St. Bernard "Chester". Nearly a year later, her Newfoundland "Poo Bear" died after an extended period with bone cancer, and in April 2009 her 13-year-old Great Pyrenees “Puff” died. Stephanie currently has two Great Pyrenees that were rescue puppies: "Max" (adopted in July 2006) and "Freddy" (adopted in September 2009).

The show received some major publicity in late April 2007 when it was chosen for a 3-day run on MSNBC in the former Don Imus time slot. Despite an unchecked hormonal sweating problem on day one and the inherent difficulties of presenting a radio show in a visual medium, the simulcast earned very positive reviews.

As the 2008 presidential campaign was heating up, Stephanie found herself in greater demand as a pundit on various cable news shows. She has appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources, Headline News, and frequently on Larry King Live; on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes and Your World with Neil Cavuto; and on MSNBC's Live with Dan Abrams along with one infamous appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Much to her dismay, she has yet to appear on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. She also teamed up with CC Goldwater for a mock presidential campaign, recreating the Goldwater/Miller ticket, bringing her life full circle in a way.