If Wayne Box Miller of the Bengals Radio Network played for Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, he would find himself lining up in more packages than Amazon.

Miller, a vicar of versatility as the network's gregarious and gifted host of the pre- and post-game shows, celebrates his 69^th birthday Friday sifting through interviews to tag and intros to write as he preps for Sunday's game (4:25 p.m.-Cincinnati's Local 12 and ESPN 1530-AM) in Kansas City. He kicks it off in a Cincinnati studio 90 minutes before Evan McPherson or Harrison Butker puts the ball on the tee in Arrowhead Stadium.

On Monday night, the man who looks 50 with a sophomore's energy who has hosted Cincinnati's first black sports radio talk show, watched Spike Lee shoot a commercial with his sports marketing client and Reds great Eric Davis and earned a writing credit for a song by the R&B powerhouse group Midnight Star, goes into the Greater Cincinnati Society of Professional Journalism Hall of Fame.

When it comes to thrills, though, his current gig is hard to top for a Woodward High School grad who grew up in Avondale on Paul Brown's Bengals and came of age during Riverfront Stadium's Super Bowl '80s.

"To be part of an NFL team is something that many people dream of, and to be part of not only an NFL team, but an organization like the Bengals … it's just surreal at times," Miller says. "You think about it. There are 32 of the jobs available. A small group and to be able to do that and then to experience a Super Bowl as a broadcaster with them is at the very top of my list."

Miller needs another line on his resume like Joe Burrow needs more magazine covers, but this one is special.

In the largest class during the 34 years of the Hall, nine sportswriters and broadcasters are to be inducted in what has turned out to be a nostalgic blitz for anyone who cared about sports in turn-of-the-century Cincinnati.

TV icons Dennis Janson and John Popovich of Channel 9, George Vogel of Channel 5, Ken Broo of everywhere and Besty Ross of the glass ceiling, bring back the videotape memories.

For those who recall when newspapers were thick with daily info and wit, Paul Daugherty's selection is a pleasant reminder of his elegant, edged prose as sports columnist for The Cincinnati Post and then The Cincinnati Enquirer. The induction of the late John Fay, the Elder grad who covered the Reds at The Cincinnati Enquirer from Tom Seaver through Tommy Thrall, is a reminder even sportswriters can be hometown heroes.

Miller has also written a sports column during his days at The Cincinnati Herald. He's written three books and his last one, You Wake-Up You Win, reflects his relentless optimism and sunny disposition that never seems to find an eclipse.

"Box is a Swiss Army Knife broadcaster. You can put him in any role, and he will do a terrific job," says Dan Hoard, the Bengals' play-by-play voice. "And in an era where everybody seems to be competing over who can make the snarkiest comment about anything and everything, Box chooses to emphasize the positive. I am grateful to have him as a colleague and a friend."

Hoard is one of two Pro Bowlers Miller works with in the booth. Next to Hoard's network-smooth calls that purr with a semester of homework is analyst Dave Lapham's vat of enthusiasm surpassed only by his football intellect.

"I have the best seat in the house. I mean, there are times I am left in amazement by both of them," Miller says. "Whether Dan is pulling out the most beautiful stat for symmetry in the moment or Lap has one of his classic Dave Laphamisms. I think he should do a book because he's got a million of them."

As opposed to the post-game show, which is more off-the-cuff reaction, the pregame is pretty much what you get. During the week, Miller scripts an action-packed 90 minutes stitched together by venerable producer Dave "Yid," Armbruster, and his combined 69 years with the Reds and Bengals.

Lapham's weekly sit-down with head coach Zac Taylor, Hoard's nugget-filled "Fun Facts," with a player and Miller's own interviews with coaches and players are interspersed with segments from media personalities. Miller, with his upbeat Wake-Up, is a rock in the middle of a fast-flowing river.

"The toughest part of the pregame is when we get out of sorts with time. Whether there's a technical glitch, or an interview goes long," Miller says. "The toughest challenge for me is to make sure our affiliates on other stations can stay in sync. I'm kind of like the quarterback."

If Miller is Joe Burrow during the pregame, he has to be Boomer Esiason with his no huddle offense in the postgame.

That's also set for 90 minutes, but hardly scripted. First of all, no one knows when the game ends, and it's a show anchored by what Lapham and Hoard can get in locker room interviews, another unknown because of a loss, or maybe just plain logistics.

Plus, if it's a road game, there's always the possibility of losing connections from the locker room to the press box, where engineer Dave Abbott pushes the buttons.

Usually, Miller puts together the biggest plays of the game, and he'll come out on the other side of a Hoard replay with context, or his own take.

"It can be ad-libbing at its finest, so you've got to be ready to shift on the fly in the post-game show. Lap may get one player. He may get three. He definitely gets Zac, which is contractual," says Miller, who knows Lapham could lose a couple of players while he's doing the interview with Taylor. "We run those highlights back and put the commentary in between. Plus, we make sure we hit all the breaks so that the advertisers are satisfied as well."

Miller has the institutional knowledge to fill any gap on the air. When he began his own sports marketing company, his first major clients were the bulk of the Bengals' 1988 Super Bowl secondary, otherwise known as the S.W.A.T. team.

That spawned his relationship with cornerback Eric Thomas. From 2000 to 2008, they were the city's first black sports radio talk show hosts Monday through Friday in prime time on "The Buzz," WDBZ Radio. During the same stretch, they were recurring guests on "Sports Rock," Channel 5's Sunday night's show.

In 1994, when Bengals third-string quarterback Jeff Blake floated his long ball out of nowhere and shot to fame, Miller was at the helm of Blakemania as his marketing rep. At about the same time, he was also Deion Sanders' man in Cincinnati as the world's most famous athlete playing with the Reds and 49ers.

"He was a very quiet guy behind the scenes, very focused. Always thinking and always about giving back," Miller says. "I can remember we went to a rec center in Over-the-Rhine. We were just driving around, and Deion said, I want to go talk to some kids.' We walked in the door, and the first thing he said was, 'If you tell anybody I'm here, I'm leaving because I want to spend time with the kids, and I don't want the media around.'

"And I just appreciated the sincerity he had about wanting to connect with those kids. Same thing with Eric Davis."

Miller has moved on from his marketing firm and is now director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at St. Xavier High School. He says there's one constant tying him to Prime Time Deion Sanders and today's St. X community.

"It was really something that became like a natural fit for me in terms of being able to communicate with people, and I credit that to being in communications," Miller says. "Because the whole thing of being able to communicate with people is very critical in that space. I've always considered myself just a natural communicator."

But he won't communicate how he got the nickname that became his name. Box.

"It was in junior high," is all he'll say.

He did have another name when he was breaking into radio right out of Morehead State in the late '70s. He was hosting the midnight show on the old WCIN and needed a name.

"Champagne Wayne."

In that case, here's a toast to Cincinnati's Radio Renaissance Man.

Just before kickoff.