The 2006 Genii Awards 50th Anniversary Gala

Tracey Miller Merit Award
Kimberly Blagrove
Writer/AWRT SoCal

AWRT SoCal’s Newsletter Director, KIMBERLY BLAGROVE is a comedy writer and relative newcomer to the entertainment industry. She got her first break reading scripts for a management company and currently works as a writer’s assistant for an Emmy Award-winning writer-producer at Gideon Productions. Prior to Gideon Productions, she worked as an editor’s assistant for Bunim-Murray Productions’ long-running reality show, “The Real World”.

Kimberly hails from Toronto, Canada, where she graduated with honors from York University. She earned a degree in French and Spanish, specializing in French and Spanish Literature. She has had a number of writing jobs, including writing treatments, translations and creating biographies for an online music company. She has also written several humor pieces for a local magazine.

In her spare time, Kimberly hosts LAwriters, a weekly writing group, and works to promote diversity in the entertainment industry through the Television Academy.

About the Tracey Miller Award

The Tracey Miller Award award honors an AWRT Southern California Chapter member who has who has shown an outstanding commitment to AWRT, the chapter, and who has made positive contributions to the industry.

Known for her rich contralto voice and quick wit, Miller, a four-time Los Angeles Press Club Golden Mike Award winner, was among the first female talkshow hosts in Los Angeles, helping KFI establish itself as a drivetime leader with the popular "TNT in the Morning." This year, the American Women in Radio and Television established a Genii merit award in her honor.

Born in Santa Maria, Miller grew up in Granada Hills. After graduating from broadcasting school in 1976, she became a news reporter at KOB-Albuquerque. From there, she moved to KOMO in Seattle, and helped cover the Mount St. Helens eruption. Even then, she spoke of the double standard for women covering news. "I wasn't allowed to hop in the helicopter like my male counterpart," she noted. "I had to broadcast my information from a local university in front of a Richter scale."

Miller returned to Southern California in 1982, beginning an 11-year run at KFI that saw the station go from Arbitron also-ran to juggernaut. She was the consumer reporter for "The Gary Owens Show," earning the first of her Golden Mikes there. She also was the station's film reviewer.

In 1990, Miller was paired with Terri Rae Elmer, as host of "TNT in the Morning." Among the highlights of the show's three-year run was a program aired aboard a pair of sailing yachts in which Miller's boat, with a running motor clearly audible to listeners, outran the ship on which a flustered Elmer kept demanding to know how she was being beaten so handily.

In 1994, Miller moved to KABC, where she was paired with Peter Tilden. Two years later, with Disney trying to establish a niche women's network on sister station KTZN, she hosted "Two Chicks on the Radio" with Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian.

When Disney reformatted KTZN as Kids Radio, Miller went to KLSX, working on the "Jonathan Brandmeier Show."

Miller may have been the only female talkshow host to have a radio engineer's license, and could run the studio board herself in a pinch.

Miller also worked on cable television as a hands-on consumer reporter for the Lifetime show "Essentials," with Andi Metheny and Forbes Riley, in which she underwent acupuncture, for instance, reporting on the harrowing experience with Lucille Ball-like comic timing.

She was a contributor to the Los Angeles Times' Laugh Lines column, commenting on domestic issues as a "soccer mom with an attitude." She became increasingly interested in politics later in her career, and remained active as an editorial writer after she left radio, contributing opinion pieces to the Times, among others. The Genii Awards handed out the first Tracey Miller Merit Award in July.

"She taught me everything I knew about radio," Abcarian said. "She was a natural. She had that fabulous smoky voice that was so pretty and unique. And she was so funny. I've never laughed so hard as when I worked with her."

In 2002, Miller became editor of the La Crescenta Valley Sun. In 2005, her weekly column Miller Time appeared in the Glendale News-Press.

She leaves two children, Taylor Brittenham and Kelsey Showalter; her mother, Rose; and a sister, Pam Miller Wood.

AWRT
American Women in Radio and Television is a national, nonprofit organization
that extends membership to qualified professionals in the electronic media and
allied fields. AWRT's mission is to advance the impact of women in the electronic
media and allied fields by educating, advocating and acting as a resource to its
members and the industry. Founded in 1951, AWRT has worked to improve the quality of broadcast programming and the image of women as depicted in radio and television.

AWRT SoCal’s Genii’s
For 49 years, AWRT’s Southern California chapter has presented the highest honor
AWRT SoCal bestows in the name of Chapter Founder, Jeanne Gray McDonald.
This special honor celebrates the notable achievements of excellence executed by individuals in radio and television broadcasting. The recipients of this prestigious honor are being saluted for their significant contributions to the industry aligned with the mission of the organization to promote progress and create change within the electronic media.

Genii honorees are recognized for their pioneering efforts, dedicated leadership, commitment to quality and excellence, and their community contributions.

Benefactor
Your participation assists AWRT SoCal to provide honors beyond the Genii salute.
Your support benefits tomorrow's leaders. Proceeds from the Genii’s support AWRT SoCal’s College Scholarship Fund and professional educational programs. Your alliance with AWRT SoCal makes it possible to continue the tradition of educational programming and mentorship.

View the complete list of past Genii recipients.
and 2004 Radio Genii Photos