Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 23, 1992 TAG: 9201230066
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
AN AIR OF ZANINESS
Sam Giles is goofy.Goofy enough to host WROV-FM's morning show in taupe panty hose to raise money for the United Way. "Yes, I really did wear them. And yes, my butt really did sweat," he says.
Listeners of the classic-rock station have met him at the rocket ship in Wasena Park to play the Vulcan Death Ring Toss, throwing old CDs at Captain Kirk action figures to celebrate the anniversary of "Star Trek."
Listeners have joined him at Salem's Municipal Field to celebrate the anniversary of the electric toaster's invention. Giles had them compete to see who could toss pieces of toast the farthest.
"It's tough because it has a tendency to flip like a Frisbee then drop suddenly," he explains. "One man actually managed to sail a piece into center field."
At 30, Giles is old enough to know all the words to Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" - and goofy enough to do an impression of Stevie Nicks singing it.
A Richmond native, Giles spent the summers of his boyhood with a great aunt in Morehead City, N.C., where he recalls first "playing radio." He and a buddy would take turns introducing and spinning 45s on an old record player.
Back then, he wanted to be Jacques Cousteau when he grew up. "Not just a marine biologist," he adds. "I wanted to be Jacques Cousteau."
Of course, that called for chemistry and math and biology. And what Giles has always been best at is running his mouth.
Voted high-school class wit his senior year, Giles ended up majoring in communications at James Madison University, where he got his first set of headphones and his first chance to communicate with the masses. It was contagious.
"It just beats the hell outta working," he says, with a big thank you to his wife, Carol, for making bigger bucks as an insurance manager. "I never think of this as being laborious; I'm just really fortunate to be able to do something that suits my personality."
His was the first voice to air on 96.3-FM when the station premiered in 1989. Giles landed the job after working stints at Blacksburg's Rock 105 and at Q-99 and WROV-AM in Roanoke.
Now with more than 31,000 listeners, he runs his 6 to 9 a.m. show like Kirk runs the Starship Enterprise, his hands moving constantly among the levers and knobs, his chair scooting from one side of the control board to the other.
He does this, arriving at 5 a.m. weekdays, without even a single cup of coffee. And he looks just as bouncy as he sounds, drumming his hands during songs, gesturing freely as he works a joke.
Giles is on so often, that sometimes it's hard for him to be off.
Even at the most inopportune times, like when he's reciting a passage from the Bible at St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church, where he serves as a lay reader. "Sometimes something strikes me funny, and I just have to tell myself, `Don't do it; just keep reading. Three people will laugh, and the rest will run your butt outta here.' "
One of the area's top-rated morning deejays, Giles isn't out to shock or offend. Making listeners smile is his meat and potatoes; making them laugh, gravy.
People like him because he's a regular guy in his scuffed-up Wilson tennis shoes and Levis. Because he talks gladly on the air about his wife and their 3-year-old son, Will.
And, perhaps even more importantly, because he knows listeners are brushing their teeth, or putting on socks - not hanging onto his every word.
"I don't see them staring at the radio thinking, `Wow! This is great!' " Giles says. "By and large, there are a lot of people who take themselves way too seriously. If I can make them lighten up a little and smile, I'm happy."
The station's baby-boomer audience relates well to Giles because he's the model yuppie with his four-door Audi, his Roanoke Athletic Club membership and his home-repair projects.
"Basically he's the Pillsbury Doughboy in a button down," says deejay Cheryl Ann Robinson, Giles' former co-host. "People like him because he automatically endears himself to everyone he meets. My mother met him and fell in love with him on the spot."
Not that there's much to dislike. Giles has chaired the Toys for Tots charity drive the past three Christmases and often turns publicity stunts like the Toast Toss into fund-raising projects.
In fact, the worst thing we could dig up about the guy is that he's a closet John Denver fan - a running source of on-air banter for both Giles and his boss, Mike Bell.
"Part of his humor is his willingness to explore his own foibles," says Bell, the station's operations manager/program director, who also reads news during the morning show.
Giles spent his first vacation of the new year at home, stripping paint off the baseboard of his former guest room - preparing for his second baby, due March 29.
"I hate to admit it, but I'm really Bob Vila," he jokes. "Look, I'm wearing a fuzzy coat!"
It's typical Giles humor - sarcastic, self-deprecating and just a little bit hip . . . like WDBJ-TV weatherman Robin Reed and talk-show host Dennis Miller rolled into one.
Reed, who double-dips as WROV's weather reporter in addition to his duties at Channel 7, says Giles has taught him not to be so serious in front of the TV cameras and radio mikes.
"It's helped me professionally," Reed says of working with Giles. "And no, he hasn't bashed me yet, but I think it's coming.
"The next time I forecast weather that doesn't happen, all bets are off."
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