Tuesday, August 15, 2017

R.I.P.: Longtime Tampa Radio News Anchor Martin Giles

Martin Giles
Martin Giles, a news anchor at WFLA 970 AM for decades, has died.

He was 81, according to WFLA radio.

Giles, a native of Plant City, started in broadcasting with Armed Forces Radio in the mid-1950s. He then served as a correspondent for the ABC Contemporary Network in New York before returning to the Tampa Bay area in the early 1980s to work as a reporter for TV station WTSP-Channel 10.

He became a news anchor at WFLA in 1985, and stayed there for 28 years, retiring in the winter of 2013.

Giles is survived by his wife, artist Ping Chen, and his daughter, Susan Giles Wantuck, who serves as midday news host, producer and reporter for WUSF 89.7 FM. She also serves as a music host on Classical WSMR 89.1 and 103.9.

Current WFLA Morning News Anchor Steve Hall remembers Giles as a great writer.  "He liked to push the envelope with his stories.  Sometimes they bordered on the obscene, but they were always entertaining.  I learned a lot from Martin.

"Martin decided to walk away from news a few years back.  He wanted to spend more time with his family, but I know he really missed the news biz. "

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