Wayne Box Miller
You might need a super-computer to keep track of everything Wayne Box Miller has done in radio and television, journalism, sports marketing and education.
He’s the pregame, halftime and postgame host on the Cincinnati Bengals Radio Network broadcasting from WLW radio.
He often co-hosted Sports Rock on WLWT-TV and wrote a sports column for The Cincinnati Herald.
He founded a sports marketing company representing athletes like Cincinnati Reds Eric Davis and Deion Sanders plus Cincinnati Bengals David Fulcher and Jeff Blake.
He worked nearly every radio job at WCIN, WIZF and WDBZ.
He’s the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at St. Xavier High School.
Miller has found a way to succeed at each level and who knows what’s left to conquer.
Born in Maysville, Kentucky, Miller’s family moved to Avondale in 1964. It was in junior high that he picked up the neighborhood nickname, Box, and it’s stuck with him ever since
He attended Woodward High School and wanted to play basketball, but a spot on the team eluded him.
For college, Miller picked Morehead State University and was so determined to play basketball that he was a walk-on for a year with the junior varsity team.
He planned to major in art, but quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit. Instead, he recalled winning a radio copywriting contest in high school — a contest he entered because of a free lunch — and switched his major to communications.
That choice was a turning point.
Working at the campus newspaper The Trail Blazer plus the campus radio and television station WMKY, gave Miller a wide range of broadcasting and journalism skills. He ran the radio board, wrote commercials and promos, did television news and sports play-by-play.
After graduation from Morehead in 1979, Miller ventured to California for a few months, then returned to Cincinnati and began a career as a banker. His first communications job was in The New York Times marketing department in 1982. That led to an advertising sales position with The Cincinnati Enquirer three years later.
The move to radio came when WCIN put Miller on the air hosting The Midnight Happy Hour With Champagne Wayne. That was followed by three years at WIZF, where he started in sales and ended up as promotions director.
The entrepreneurial bug bit Miller in 1988 when he launched Miller Communications Sports Marketing representing Reds and Bengals players.
It was back to broadcasting in 2000, this time with WDBZ. Miller was Sports Director and Co-Host of The Prime Time Sports Show. At the same time, he often co-hosted WLWT’S “Sports Rock” with Ken Broo and George Vogel.
Miller’s radio audience got bigger in 2014 when he landed a part-time job doing the Bengals Pep Rally Show and Game Day on ESPN 1530.
The Bengals called two years later and offered him the job as host of the pregame, halftime and postgame shows on the Bengals Radio Network. The show originates at WLW in Cincinnati and airs in 30-different markets.
The move into education came in 2019 as St. Xavier High School’s DEI Director.
Looking back over his career, Miller quickly names the Bengals 2022 Super Bowl Game at So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles as his most memorable sports event. “It was surreal,” he said while wishing his father could have been there to share the experience.
Honors have often come his way. Morehead State gave him a Career Achievement Award in 2007 and inducted him into the school’s Alumni Hall of Fame. He currently serves on the LaRosa’s Hall of Fame Committee and the Cincinnati Public Schools Hall of Fame Committee.