Carol Miller, once a rock and roll DJ in Philadelphia has written a memoir called “Up All Night - My Life and Times in Rock Radio” published by Harper Collins.
Currently one of New York’s longest running on-air personalities, Carol gives a detailed account of how she got started in radio broadcasting at Philadelphia’s highly popular rock station, 93.3 FM WMMR while still in college at the University of Pennsylvania. Fellow DJs Michael Tearson and the late Ed Sciaky were both pivotal to her success in the early days. She was first bitten by the radio bug at UPenn’s then student run WXPN in 1971.
As part of her indoctrination into the world of rock, Carol attended a club in Philly called Artemis where a bartender named Rick Nielson worked. He later became the lead guitarist in Cheap Trick, while future bassist for the band, Tom Peterson, dated a friend of hers who owned the clothing boutique Asta de Blue.
Carol’s idea of getting into radio was to turn people on to music, and back in the early ‘70s when she landed her on air position at the now legendary WMMR, the format was free-form whereby the DJs chose every song they played during their show.
These days, radio formats are dictated by consultants and research, but Carol remains passionate about communicating with her audience. She continues to be a strong daily presence in New York as the nighttime DJ at Q104.3. Nationwide, she can be heard on Classic Rewind on Sirius/XM radio, and is host of “Get the Led Out” a syndicated program produced by Denny Somach that airs on Classic Rock stations nationwide (but not in Philly, oddly enough).
The book shows that Carol has the gift of storytelling, recounting her life experiences one story at a time whether personal or professional, giving great attention to her feelings at the time, granting the reader a glimpse into her humanity.
It’s not all fun and games, this glamorous life of being a DJ in the music business. Carol shares about her struggles with sexism, a marriage that didn’t work out, and a very private long struggle with cancer.
This is not a kiss and tell book about a list of rock stars she’s been wooed by (although some detail is included about that). Instead, it’s a very personal account of how a career started and the challenges and rewards encountered along the way.
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