“Major” Dan Miller began his career at KOOK radio in Billings in 1958, shortly after graduating from the Don Martin School of Radio Arts in Hollywood, California. Dan loved Billings and Billings loved Dan. He spent his entire career in Billings working as an announcer, in radio sales and as a General Manager. He also piloted KOOK radio’s hot air balloon for more than a decade and was the first to do a commercial radio broadcast from a hot air balloon in Montana on July 4, 1976. In 1971, Dan received Billboard Magazine’s “Radio Personality of the Year Award” and has received numerous awards from the MBA. He was inducted into the Montana Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2004.
Dan served in the US Army for two years at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri during the Korean War which is where he first became acquainted with Route 66. In 1955, he married Donna Mandella. They have three children; Daniel, Darrin and Dawn Holly, 5 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
Now retired, the “Major” continues to do his weekly “Miller’s Gold” show on MoJo 92.5 and hosts “Great Gold” on the community television station. He is active in numerous community and civic groups and is a lay reader at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
Known to all as “Major” Dan, an honorary title he earned during the Sputnik era when listeners voted him to “go into orbit.” He jokes that the title came “in lieu of a pay raise.”
The Greater Montana Foundation thanks Scripps and their Television stations throughout Montana for providing studio, production and edit facilities for the Legacy Broadcasters Initiative interviews. Without their generous support, this project would not have been possible.
The Legacy Project of the Greater Montana Foundation is produced in coordination with the Montana Historical Society. Many thanks to all who work and donate to MHS and its great work.