Ronald D. Giles, born 1942 in

New Boston, Ohio New Boston is a village (United States)#Ohio, village in Scioto County, Ohio, Scioto County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 2,272 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Apart from its southern boundary on the ...

, is an American television executive and an author.

Background

Ron Giles graduated from Glenwood High School in New Boston in 1960. Earning degrees at

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

(BS, History Education) and The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

(Masters, Television and Film), Giles began his career teaching American History in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. After three years, he changed direction and joined the television broadcasting field.

Television career

In 1967, Giles became a

television studio A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...

director and producer at

WBNS-TV WBNS-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside the company's sole radio properties, WBNS (1460 AM) and WBNS-FM (97.1). The stations share studios on Twin R ...

channel 10 in Columbus. He then moved in 1974 to

WCPO-TV WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...

channel 9 in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, where he was executive producer of the station, producer and director of ''IN PERSON'', and produced programs on

quarter horses The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at ...

, amateur boxing, and specials such as a 25th anniversary of

The Uncle Al Show ''The Uncle Al Show'' was a children's television program originating in Cincinnati. The show was hosted by Cleveland native Al Lewis (1924–2009) (not to be confused with the actor who played Grandpa on ''The Munsters''), and later was co-hos ...

, which at the time was the longest-running children's television program in the United States. Giles won a regional 1976

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

and the Golden Iris Award from the

National Association of Television Program Executives The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) is a professional association of television and emerging media executives. The organization was established in 1963. NATPE implements its mission by providing members with educati ...

for his "Music for the Seasons" Christmas special. He directed a three-camera television interview with President Gerald Ford, conducted at the White House by news director

Al Schottelkotte Albert Joseph "Al" Schottelkotte ( ; March 19, 1927 – December 25, 1996) was an American news anchor and reporter for Cincinnati's WCPO-TV for 27 years, rising through the executive ranks at WCPO and later the Scripps Howard Foundation until ...

. In 1977, Giles returned to Columbus to help launch the

QUBE QUBE was an experimental two-way, multi-programmed cable television system that played a significant role in the history of American interactive television. It was launched in Columbus, Ohio, on December 1, 1977. Highly publicized as a revolution ...

interactive cable television service for

Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...

, where as one of the program executives he hosted a daily talk show (''Columbus Alive'') and worked as a producer. Between 1979 and 1980, Giles was executive producer of programming at

WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WSBK-TV (channe ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. When QUBE expanded to Pittsburgh, Giles returned to head broadcasting and supervised community access production and the design and construction of six television studios. Giles joined John B. Mullin and

Diamond P Sports Heartland is an American country music-oriented digital broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media and broadcast out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Launched on April 16, 2012, the network began as a revival of The Nashville Network (TNN) ...

in 1984, to work on their productions for the

National Hot Rod Association The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorspo ...

and

The Nashville Network The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, game shows, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows. On September ...

. Among these productions was ''One Lap of America'', created by

Brock Yates Brock Wendel Yates (October 21, 1933 – October 5, 2016) was an American print and TV journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was longtime executive editing, editor of ''Car and Driver'', an American automotive industry, automotive magazine. In ...

, a one-hour special of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

airing on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. Giles was then a part of the 1986 start-up team at

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Penn ...

, a cable television shopping channel envisioned by entrepreneur and founder of

The Franklin Mint The Franklin Mint is a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The building is in Middletown Township. The brand name was previously owned by Sequential Brands Group headquartered in New York City, New York. It is ...

Joseph Segel Joseph Myron Segel (January 9, 1931 – December 21, 2019) was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of over 20 American companies, most notably QVC, an American television network, and the Franklin Mint, a producer of mail-order collectib ...

. Giles got the fledgling television operation on the air in less than three months, and by the early 1990s, Giles would rise to executive vice president at QVC. With the advent of

Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American businessman. He is Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting. Diller was inducted into the Television Hall of ...

as the new chairman of QVC, Giles would become the Executive Vice President of QVC International with responsibilities for the expansion of the QVC television shopping concept into the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Germany. Subsequently, he worked as a televised-shopping consultant in Australia, Brazil, and South Korea.

Author

Giles has published several books of fiction and a memoir. * ''On Harrisonville Avenue'', 2008 -

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

* ''Cottonwood Pass'', 2009 -

suspense Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it aff ...

* ''Great Heats'', 2011 -

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

* ''Locusts and Wild Honey'', 2013 -

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

* ''The Porter Curse'', 2020, supernatural,

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giles, Ron Living people American television executives 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American male writers American male novelists American male non-fiction writers 1942 births