Chronicle: Longtime WWVA/Wheeling, WV OM/PD Tom Miller passed away August 2 at age 73. He served at WWVA for 26 years across multiple stints, including handling middays from 1973-1975 and returning as PD in 1977 before being elevated to OM in 1979. Miller’s stops also included WEIR/Weston, WV and WCAW/Charleston, WV. He spent two decades in rotation as staff announcer of the weekly Saturday Jamboree shows and Jamboree in the Hills as part of the Wheeling Jamboree.

“I’m only here because of Tom Miller,” Brad Paisley tells Country Aircheck. “My junior high assistant principal asked me to perform at a Wheeling Rotary Club meeting. Tom was there and saw me sing the first song I ever wrote, a Christmas song. He took a chance on a kid and invited me to play the Wheeling Jamboree USA [radio show, where Paisley became a Saturday night regular] when I was 13. You can hear Tom’s voice on my Christmas album when he introduces me for the first time. Life is going too fast. Cherish it all.”

Following his departure from radio, Miller served on Wheeling Jamboree’s board of directors. A receiving of friends will be held Aug. 6 from 6-8pm ET at Altmeyer Funeral Home, Elm Grove Chapel (154 Kruger Street, Wheeling, WV 26003). Funeral services are scheduled for Aug. 7 at 11am ET at First Baptist Church (1470 National Road, Wheeling, WV 26003) with interment following in Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling. See Miller’s complete obituary here. Memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church here.