05/07/07

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER ON MSNBC AND STEPHANIE MILLER

Miller and Elder on TV's dawn patrol
Radio column
By GARY LYCAN
Special to the Orange County Register


Talking point: I spent the night with Stephanie Miller. The moon is nearly full, it's a little past 3 in the morning, and I curl up on the couch … to watch TV. Yes, there she is, frenetic and funny, talking so fast on MSNBC she later said "the closed- captioning person couldn't keep up with my rapid-fire delivery and put up the words 'inaudible.' "

Miller, Jim Ward and Chris Lavoie were terrific and charged with energy as they rolled through their radio-on-TV show for three days in Secaucus, N.J. They were in the old Don Imus time slot, and by the end of day one, Miller – now back in L.A. – told her KTLK/1150 AM audience Thursday, there were "a few 'Springtime for Hitler' faces and they sort of left us alone. People wondered why Jim was reading papers. It was radio, you moron." The KTLK show airs 6-9 a.m. weekdays and is streamed on www.progressivetalk1150.com.

Miller, 45, is likely to be the first of several liberal talkers to get wider exposure on the more mainstream-oriented MSNBC. Her comedy roots worked really well on TV. She wasn't above poking fun at herself, either. Day one, she sweated profusely under the armpits and the screen capture of what she called "the sweaty chick" became a running gag the next two days.

Miller calls herself "mama" and said she couldn't wait to get back to Max, her 1-year-old Great Pyrenees puppy. "We were very flattered to be on," she e-mailed. "We prepped all day and night for the show. We're so happy to be home. It's enormously difficult to do our show on the road. The staff at Clear Channel was tremendous, but I wouldn't do it again," she wrote.

Miller may be among several talk-radio hosts who will rotate into the Imus slot. Starting Monday, KABC/790 AM's Larry Elder will be on MSNBC 3-6 a.m. Pacific time for two days.

"Dan Abrams, who runs the place (MSNBC), called and asked me to come to New York for a couple of days. I know I want people to come on who disagree with me," he said in a phone interview.

Elder, the self-described "sage from South Central" who calls himself a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, faces a unique challenge. Others simulcast their radio shows. Elder's KABC show isn't on until 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays, so his MSNBC gig is strictly TV. Content was still being worked on at week's end, but he's expected to take e-mails and phone calls in addition to conducting interviews.

KABC decided to also simulcast his 3-6 a.m. MSNBC show live on 790 AM Monday and Tuesday. The call-in number will be the same used for his radio show: 1-877-99-LARRY. For updates, go to www.larryelder.com.

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