Dottie Moe Miller, radio host during World War II

By GREG WILLIAMS

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 21, 2000

Dorothy M."Dottie" Moe Miller, who played popular wartime tunes of the early 1940s that helped call bay area servicemen to reveille, died Sept. 26 at her home in Springfield, Va., of cancer, her brother Robert Moe said. She was 80.

Mrs. Miller was host of Bugle Call, a half-hour morning radio program that played the popular requests of the day for military personnel training in the Tampa Bay area. The program aired at 7 and helped roust the men from their beds. She also was a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times and wrote a column, "The Bugle Call," that gave readers news about local men fighting abroad.

Bugle Call aired on Times-owned radio station WTSP-AM 1380, and Mrs. Miller was the program's host until she moved to Springfield in 1944. In addition to her column, she wrote about local war efforts for the newspaper.

For the newspaper, Mrs. Miller compiled a list of the 10 most-requested tunes from one week in 1942. In order of popularity, they were:

Miss You

White Christmas

Always in My Heart

At Last

My Devotion

Stardust

This Is the Army, Mr. Jones

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

Army Air Corps Song

I Had the Craziest Dream

Mrs. Miller worked for the Automobile Association of America in Washington, D.C., from 1944 to 1956 and wrote articles and travel books, including Guide to America, a countrywide listing of attractions, parks and historical points of interest, with 31 pages devoted to Florida.

Mrs. Miller was born in Galeton, Pa. She graduated with honors from Florida State College for Women, now Florida State University, and began working as a schoolteacher.

Her late brother, Ogden R. Moe, was a St. Petersburg City Council member from April 1963 to May 1964, when he died of a heart attack.

Survivors include her husband of 50 years, David W. Miller; a daughter, Leslee M. Eldard, and a son, Christopher R. Miller, both of Burke, Va.; a brother, Robert M. Moe, Laurel, Md.; and three grandchildren.

Demaine Funeral Homes, Springfield, was in charge of arrangements.

- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.

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