About Heidi
Radio veteran Heidi Harris was born and raised in Las Vegas, and is still working because her parents didn’t buy more Las Vegas land in the 60’s! Her dad was a showroom musician, and her mom had been a singer, so she literally grew up backstage in the Las Vegas casinos.
From the time she was a teenager, she wanted to be able to do many things, so she’d never have to say, “all I’ve ever done is….”. She worked in a variety of industries, including gaming (about which she recently published a book), and even HR recruiting. After many years of working in industries where she was often told to “shut up and calm down”, she saw her life passing by, and finally escaped the office atmosphere to explore a more interesting career.
She had started singing in her high chair, so she took a stab at singing for a living in 1995, which she did full time for six years. In 1999, she was privileged to be sent by the Department of Defense to entertain the U.S. Troops in Bosnia. Singing is fun, but not exactly mentally stimulating, and Cher is the only chick singer without an expiration date, so she started to look beyond the cocktail dresses for a career that actually had a future – and more comfortable shoes.
An avid reader with an interest in everything, she had been listening to talk radio for years, never imagining she would ever be behind the mic herself. Heidi’s friends encouraged her to give it a try, so she’d stop annoying them with her opinions.
In 1998, in the midst of Monica-gate, she cut her talk radio teeth working late nightsat KDWN for free, and she was worth every cent! Breaking into the business, there were even nights when she would sing all night in a local lounge, then stay up, rhinestones and all, to fill in for the morning show. Gotta pay your dues, baby!
She went to KXNT in 1999, initially hosting a weekend show, and then co-hosting an award winning morning drive show for five years. Looking for a new challenge, and wanting to return to solo hosting, she opted not to extend her contract with CBS and left KXNT in October 2006. In April 2007, The Heidi Harris Show returned to KDWN. She left KDWN in March 2012 and accepted an offer she couldn’t refuse from Salem Communications. She left LA in March 2013, after a long year of commuting back and forth.
Heidi has been repeatedly named by Talker’s Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Talk Hosts in America, and has won two Electronic Media Awards for “Best Radio Talk Show,Locally Produced”. Her columns have appeared in Liberty Watch Magazine, Humanevents.com and Townhall.com, and she appears regularly as a commentator on cable news channels, including the Fox News Channel and MSNBC.
A huge supporter of the military, Heidi is an Honorary Commander for the A-10 Division at Nellis Air Force Base, where the guys gave her the call sign “Cougar” (don’t ask). She’s a graduate of the LVMPD Citizens’ Police Academy and the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Citizens’ Fire Academy.
She recently published her first book, “Cocktail Waitress Wisdom: Life Lessons Learned While Carrying a Tray in Las Vegas”. Heidi and her husband Brian have been married for over ten years, and have a house full of rescued dogs.
