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Epilogue: Martin Giles a man of few, but strong, words for WFLA-AM 970

 
A native of Hillsborough County, Martin Giles died at home on Aug. 14 at age 80.
A native of Hillsborough County, Martin Giles died at home on Aug. 14 at age 80.
Published Aug. 23, 2017

As the story goes, his higher-ups at Misawa Air Base in Japan were clear in their edict to Martin Giles: If he married the Japanese woman with whom he'd fallen in love, he would lose the security clearance needed for his job intercepting Soviet messages.

It was the mid 1950s — for many, not far enough away from World War II for the Japanese to be completely trusted.

Giles married his love anyway, said his daughter Susan Giles Wantuck, and indeed had his clearance taken away.

But his new wife, Maki Giles, babysat for a base commander and used that pull to get Giles a radio broadcasting job with the military's Far East Network.

"It was serendipitous," Wantuck said. "That's how it started."

Giles, who would go on to become one of Tampa's most recognizable radio voices as news anchor for Clear Channel's WFLA-AM 970 for nearly three decades, died at home Aug. 14. He was 80.

His daughter said Giles died in his sleep.

"Like everyone, I'll miss hearing his booming voice," Wantuck said. "I'll miss hearing him sing. I'll miss hearing him call me Susie."

Besides Wantuck, Giles leaves behind four other children, including 8-year-old daughter Meryl Jo Giles, born to his second wife, Ping Chen.

"He was so crazy about her," Wantuck said. "She was his baby."

Former colleagues praised Giles' ability to take a complicated story and sum it up as a "bumper sticker" — a short narrative that had all the needed details.

"No one could tell more with less words than he could," said Tedd Webb, who worked alongside Giles for much of his time at WFLA.

And Giles could masterfully add a subtle joke into broadcasts when appropriate.

"A favorite is when a man accidentally lit himself on fire, (Giles) reported he'd made a 'real ash of himself,' " longtime colleague Jack Harris said.

The burn victim, Harris said, was okay.

Wantuck said her father, a native of Durant in east Hillsborough, was always considered a showman — a member of the Plant City High glee club who also played the sousaphone in the school marching band.

"He weighed no more than 155 pounds then, and I have no idea how he didn't fall over while playing the instrument," she said with a chuckle. "But he was considered a big man on campus."

After graduating in 1955, Giles enlisted in the Air Force.

Given the choice of serving in Alaska or Japan, he chose the latter, despite not speaking one word of Japanese.

"He was an adventurer," Wantuck said. "He had a curiosity about people."

When his service was complete, Giles became a correspondent for the ABC Contemporary Network in New York. He returned to the Tampa Bay area in the early 1980s to work as a reporter for WTSP-Ch. 10.

He joined WFLA in 1985. That same year, as Hurricane Elena lashed the Tampa Bay area, Wantuck said Giles stayed on the air for 22 straight hours.

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During a January 2011 broadcast, the usually unflappable Giles struggled so badly to pronounce simple words that listeners feared he'd suffered an on-air stroke.

It turned out to be a bad case of pneumonia compounded by a brain infection. The illness left him unconscious for four days and hospitalized for 10.

He returned to work just a few months later.

Giles retired in 2013 when he was asked to begin providing news reports for Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and other cities.

At 76, he was already starting his workday at 3:30 a.m. and thought the increased workload was too much, he told the Tampa Bay Times.

His newsman legacy lives on through his daughter Wantuck, now a midday host for WUSF-FM 89.7. And she credits her father for inspiring her career.

Before taking your daughter to work was an official day, Giles would let Wantuck accompany him, and on one occasion even read the news.

"He was simply the best dad ever," Wantuck said. "He truly was."

Contact Paul Guzzo at pguzzo@tampabay.com. Follow @PGuzzoTimes.