Gary Miller (sportscaster)
Encyclopedia
Gary Miller is an American sportscaster
and radio host.
, as former CNN news anchor Paula Zahn.
He has a bachelor's degree
in communications at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
and was the sports director at the campus radio (WSIU (FM)
) and television (WSIU-TV
) stations.
in Savannah, Georgia
. Before Miller came to ESPN, he spent eight years at CNN
and Headline News as part of their sports coverage.
, the host of ESPN's Baseball Tonight
, and the last host of the sports interview show Up Close
before it was canceled in 2001. Miller also occasionally did play-by-play of Major League Baseball
games, and was the primary dugout reporter on Monday Night
baseball broadcasts, as well as ESPN Daygame. Other play-by-play assignments during this period included games of the College World Series
and the Little League World Series
.
Miller appeared on Dan Patrick
's radio show
on Nov. 30, 2007, where Patrick revealed to his audience that a blooper tape exists of Miller butchering a soccer breakdown during the 1994 World Cup
. On the tape, Miller not only mispronounces the name of soccer's governing body, FIFA
, but also struggles with the pronunciations of many players, notably that of Cameroon national player Rigobert Bahanag Song
and Italian player Gianluca Pagliuca.
radio in Los Angeles
, along with former National Football League
athlete D'Marco Farr
. The show, which airs at 1 p.m. Pacific
time Monday through Friday, sometimes originates at ESPN Zone
in Anaheim, California
. On November 10, 2006, it was reported that Miller was leaving the show, effective immediately. The program was renamed The D'Marco Farr Show with guest host
s replacing Miller.http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-tvcol10nov10,1,2233937.column?coll=la-headlines-sports
-owned duopoly
of KCBS
and KCAL
in Los Angeles, working mainly nighttime newscasts. He and former Los Angeles Dodgers
first baseman
Eric Karros also co-host a pregame show which airs before about 40 telecasts of Dodgers games on KCAL, the team's broadcast flagship
station. The show is called Think Blue.
His sportscasting career was interrupted by an incident in October 1997, while covering the ALCS
in Cleveland. Miller was arrested for urinating out of a window at a Cleveland club in the now-defunct Flats
section called The Basement. According to Miller, he was drinking at an open-bar party, hosted by the American League
, then went to the Flats. He needed to use the restroom but the lines were too long, so he used an empty beer bottle. Newspaper reports quoted the police as saying he had "an instrument used for drugs" -- Miller said it was a plastic dental pick—and the reported "residue" in his pockets were from aspirin and Rolaids
. That was later confirmed. Miller was initially charged with indecency, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He immediately pleaded not guilty, but settled the matter with a no contest plea to disorderly conduct.
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
and radio host.
Education
Miller graduated in the same high school class, in Naperville, IllinoisNaperville, Illinois
Naperville is a city in DuPage and Will Counties in Illinois in the United States, voted the second best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine in 2006. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 141,853. It is the fifth largest city in the state, behind Chicago,...
, as former CNN news anchor Paula Zahn.
He has a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in communications at Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIUC is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system...
and was the sports director at the campus radio (WSIU (FM)
WSIU (FM)
WSIU is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk/information format. Licensed to Carbondale, Illinois, the station serves Southern Illinois...
) and television (WSIU-TV
WSIU-TV
WSIU-TV digital channel 8 is a PBS member station based and located in Carbondale, Illinois, at Southern Illinois University. Programming can also be seen on WUSI-TV digital channel 19 in Olney, Illinois, a translator. Both stations serve the extreme southern part of Illinois and portions of...
) stations.
WSAV-TV, CNN and Headline News
From 1978–82, he was the Sports Director at WSAV-TVWSAV-TV
WSAV-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Coastal Empire of Southeastern Georgia and the Lowcountry of Southern South Carolina. Licensed to Savannah, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter in Pooler, Georgia...
in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
. Before Miller came to ESPN, he spent eight years at CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and Headline News as part of their sports coverage.
ESPN
From 1990 to 2004, Miller worked at ESPN. He was an anchor at SportsCenterSportsCenter
SportsCenter is a daily sports news television show, and the flagship program of American cable network ESPN since the network launched on September 7, 1979. Originally broadcast only daily, SportsCenter is now shown up to twelve times a day, replaying the day's scores and highlights from major...
, the host of ESPN's Baseball Tonight
Baseball Tonight
Baseball Tonight is a program that airs on ESPN. The show, which recapitulates the day's Major League Baseball action, has been on the air since 1990.-Air times:...
, and the last host of the sports interview show Up Close
Up Close
Up Close is a sports interview show that aired on ESPN for 20 years.-Early years:The program debuted in 1981 on USA Network and was created by the advertising agency Foote, Cone and Belding to advertise one of its clients, Mazda cars...
before it was canceled in 2001. Miller also occasionally did play-by-play of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
games, and was the primary dugout reporter on Monday Night
Monday Night Baseball
Monday Night Baseball is a live game telecast of Major League Baseball that airs most Monday nights during the regular season on ESPN and is also available in high definition on ESPNHD. The official name of the game is Monday Night Baseball presented by Vonage. The game starts at 7 p.m...
baseball broadcasts, as well as ESPN Daygame. Other play-by-play assignments during this period included games of the College World Series
College World Series
The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...
and the Little League World Series
Little League World Series
The Little League Baseball World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 11 to 13 years old. It was originally called the National Little League Tournament and was later renamed for the World Series in Major League Baseball. It was first held in 1947 and is held every August in South...
.
Miller appeared on Dan Patrick
Dan Patrick
Daniel Patrick Pugh , professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio...
's radio show
The Dan Patrick Show
The Dan Patrick Show is a syndicated sports talk show hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by DirecTV Sports Group and is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks. The three-hour program broadcasts live every day beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern/6 a.m. Pacific time on Fox...
on Nov. 30, 2007, where Patrick revealed to his audience that a blooper tape exists of Miller butchering a soccer breakdown during the 1994 World Cup
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...
. On the tape, Miller not only mispronounces the name of soccer's governing body, FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
, but also struggles with the pronunciations of many players, notably that of Cameroon national player Rigobert Bahanag Song
Rigobert Song
Rigobert Song Bahanag is a former Cameroonian footballer who is currently a main consultant for the famous sports channel 'Orange sports'. Although receiving many propositions from top clubs, Song declined. Song played for Kosovo super league club KF Drenica, when his contract after season 2010/12...
and Italian player Gianluca Pagliuca.
West Coast Bias
Until November 2006, he was host of West Coast Bias, a daily sports talk show on KSPNKSPN (AM)
KSPN is an all-sports radio station based in Los Angeles, California. It is owned by Disney. It is an ESPN Radio owned-and-operated station.-Play-by-play:...
radio in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, along with former National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
athlete D'Marco Farr
D'Marco Farr
D'Marco Farr is a former American football player with the Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams in the National Football League. Farr played defensive tackle for the Rams from 1994–2000 and recorded 36.5 career sacks. He was a member of the Rams team that won Super Bowl XXXIV...
. The show, which airs at 1 p.m. Pacific
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
time Monday through Friday, sometimes originates at ESPN Zone
ESPN Zone
ESPN Zone is a Southern California-based chain of two sports-themed restaurants that include arcades, TV studios, and radio studios that are currently franchised, but formally owned by the American cable network ESPN. The first ESPN Zone opened in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 11, 1998, in the Power...
in Anaheim, California
Anaheim, California
Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
. On November 10, 2006, it was reported that Miller was leaving the show, effective immediately. The program was renamed The D'Marco Farr Show with guest host
Guest host
A guest host is a host, usually of a talk show, that substitutes for the regular host if they are, for example, ill or have other commitments...
s replacing Miller.http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-tvcol10nov10,1,2233937.column?coll=la-headlines-sports
KCBS and KCAL
Miller is currently an anchor for the CBS CorporationCBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
-owned duopoly
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
of KCBS
KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV, channel 2, is an owned-and-operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter...
and KCAL
KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV, channel 9, is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.-Digital...
in Los Angeles, working mainly nighttime newscasts. He and former Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
Eric Karros also co-host a pregame show which airs before about 40 telecasts of Dodgers games on KCAL, the team's broadcast flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
station. The show is called Think Blue.
Personal
Miller is married and is the father of two.His sportscasting career was interrupted by an incident in October 1997, while covering the ALCS
1997 American League Championship Series
-Game 1:Wednesday, October 8, 1997 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland-Game 2:Thursday, October 9, 1997 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland...
in Cleveland. Miller was arrested for urinating out of a window at a Cleveland club in the now-defunct Flats
The Flats
The Flats is a mixed-use industrial, entertainment, and increasingly residential area of Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The name reflects its low-lying topography on the banks of the Cuyahoga River.-History:...
section called The Basement. According to Miller, he was drinking at an open-bar party, hosted by the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
, then went to the Flats. He needed to use the restroom but the lines were too long, so he used an empty beer bottle. Newspaper reports quoted the police as saying he had "an instrument used for drugs" -- Miller said it was a plastic dental pick—and the reported "residue" in his pockets were from aspirin and Rolaids
Rolaids
Rolaids is a brand of antacid produced by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The brand was acquired from Pfizer Consumer Healthcare as part of a merger in 2006. It was invented by American chemist Irvine W. Grote in the late 1920s...
. That was later confirmed. Miller was initially charged with indecency, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He immediately pleaded not guilty, but settled the matter with a no contest plea to disorderly conduct.