Life after Football 

By MATT REVTAI
[email protected]

Josh Miller didn’t take the normal route of most retired athletes, who are usually happy to get away from the daily grind of the media.  Instead Josh, who was a punter for the Pittsburgh Steelers the majority of his career in the National Football League, decided to work in the media post-retirement. 

He now gets to ask the questions and offer his opinion and analysis on a variety of sports.  As part of the Seibel, Starkey, and Miller show that is airs weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. 

He also can be heard on the station before Steelers games during the football season doing the pregame show for The Fan.  Josh loves talking X’s and O’s with the passionate Steelers fans before the games. 

When asked why he decided to work in sports talk radio Josh said, “There are few things in life that I feel I can go to the courtroom and put my hand on the Bible and they have to listen to me.”  

Josh earned a degree in communications from the University of Arizona in 1992, which he claims got him first interested in sports talk radio.  He also had some prior experience doing sports talk radio when he was a player.  Josh hosted his own weekly show when he was still in the NFL.

Josh has made the transition from former athlete to host appear effortless.  Since his first day at The Fan, he has come off as a natural.

“I have to know a lot of things.  A four-minute conversation about something in sports is about an hour and a half to two hours of prepping,” he said.

The prepping also includes having to learn the ins and outs of new sports for Josh.  Josh has had to start from scratch about knowing the finer details of Penguins’ hockey, Pitt basketball, and Pirates baseball. 

Josh’s producer, Kraig Riley, attests that Josh has come tremendously far in a short amount of time since his first day.

Riley added, “Josh brings a completely different perspective than neither guy can give being a former player.   This allows us to open ourselves to a whole new audience “

Josh says he is having a blast and learning a lot so far.   His favorite part of working on sports radio is sharing his real-life experiences with listeners.

“Anybody can go online, look up stats and facts, but to actually have someone that actually knows what happens behind closed doors is pretty cool,” Josh shared.

His co-hosts, John Seibel and Joe Starkey, think Josh brings a fun factor along with a sense of humor, compassion, liveliness, intelligence, and good looks to the show.

“He was good when he came in and is even better now,” said Seibel.

Josh has a number of strengths that he has brought to the show.  For Starkey, it’s about his experience as a player.

“He knows what it is really like inside the locker room going into certain situations,” said Starkey.

This is an invaluable resource to The Fan, especially during the football season and the current NFL lockout.  Josh lived this lifestyle for a while and can share with the listeners what the players are going through on day-to-day basis, something not many other sports shows can offer. 

Josh also does a good job of keeping the listeners on their toes. 

“He gets you off guard.  You never get what you expect from him because once you become predictable you become boring, which he is anything but boring,” Seibel noted.

Even though he is a former professional athlete, Seibel feels Josh does not come off as one.  This is a great advantage to their show because the listeners can relate to what he is saying.

“Josh Miller is the anti-diva.  He’s just a regular guy and an absolute blast,” Seibel reaffirmed.

For Josh, his new career on the radio is a chance to share some new memories with his kids.

“They love it.  I wish my kids were old enough to see me play football.  Their memories aren’t ‘Dad was a football player.’  When I go to career day my son tells them I’m a host of a show,” he shared.

Josh has many future aspirations for his career in radio.  Even though he is not entirely sure how long he wants to do be in radio, he is certain about one thing and that is reaching those goals.

“My goal is to work in a booth doing a game or hosting my own radio show that talks about real-life events and sprinkles sports into it,” he said.

As Josh continues his work for The Fan it would not be a surprise to see this become a reality.  The Fan right now owns the broadcast rights to Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League, and they are the flagship station for football games of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. 

As for hosting his own show Josh would be bring a nice added addition to the current shows on The Fan.  His show would bring a nice audience of casual sports fans and get away from talking about the main stories everyone else is talking about along with talking about the little things that most shows miss.

So if the Pittsburgh fan wants to hear sports from a player that has been there, done that tune into the Seibel, Starkey, and Miller show.