Celebrating RI radio legend: Giovanni is signing off from his 92 PRO-FM morning show

Wrapping up his 50-year career on the radio this month, 92 PRO-FM morning host Giovanni will probably pick a special song to close his final show, but how does somebody find just the right message to mark the end of such a unique journey?

"I don't know what that last song is going to be," Giovanni said in a recent interview, acknowledging that he'd probably turn to his listeners for suggestions.

Giovanni has thought about going full circle and choosing the first song he ever played on air, but he cringes when he thinks of that tune, "My Maria," by B.W. Stevenson.

A lot has changed since he dropped that song onto a turntable in 1974, but Giovanni, 68, has remained a constant for WPRO listeners across Southern New England. For the last 25 years, he has hosted the "Giovanni in the Morning" show.

Three generations of listeners have tuned in

"Gio has been an anomaly in that business. He's been in the same place, doing almost the same thing" for five decades, said his friend Dante Bellini, a filmmaker and retired advertising executive.

Giovanni is a member of the Rhode Island Television and Radio Hall of Fame whose on-air career has touched the lives of three generations; the grandchildren of listeners who first heard him back in the 1970s are tuning in now, Bellini said.

"Gio has been part of the ups and downs of the business," he said. "It's really a testament to his fortitude. He keeps moving forward."

"He has done something that's incredible," Bellini said. "And he has stayed the same old Gio."

As a kid growing up in Johnston, Giovanni became fascinated with the radio business. His father would turn on WPRO-AM in the morning, broadcasting it throughout the house on an intercom to get the day started.

"I always felt like I needed to know what was going on behind the scenes," Giovanni said.

Behind the scenes, working in production, is exactly where Giovanni thought his radio career would take him, but his first on-air opportunity came filling in for a colleague, and he's done both types of work ever since.

"I really don't like the spotlight," he said.

The youthful, upbeat voice that greets listeners at 6 a.m. every weekday morning belongs to somebody who is actually a bit shy, Bellini said.

"He comes alive on the radio," he said.

Not long after he started on air, Giovanni and his bosses agreed he needed a handle with more pizazz. Daniel Centofanti became Giovanni, after his grandfather.

Giovanni's approach to work has served him well

Asked how he has lasted so long in such a tumultuous business, Giovanni doesn't mention his flashy nom de plume or his connection with listeners, but rather his approach to work and people.

"I go in every day. I try to ruffle as few feathers as possible. I do speak my mind," he said. "When I'm asked to do something, I do the best job I can. I try not to be a diva."

"I try to treat people the way I want to be treated," he said.

Co-host Beka Berger believes Giovanni's sincerity and decency come across on the air. He's himself, she says. If he weren't, she says, Rhode Islanders would see through it.

"What I love about Gio," she said, "is the guy you hear on the air and the guy you talk to behind the scenes is the same person."

Well, maybe not always. There was that one time Giovanni pretended to be Billy Joel. It happened many years ago when Joel was playing at the Providence Civic Center.

What was it like to be Billy Joel?

WPRO ran a promotion where Giovanni and some listeners were brought to the concert in a limousine and met Joel backstage. After the concert, a big group of Joel fans gathered behind the Civic Center in the hopes of seeing the Piano Man.

As a limousine carrying Giovanni and the listeners emerged from inside the Civic Center, they could see the crowd and hear people screaming Joel's name. The fans thought it was Joel's limousine and, as the crowd swarmed the car, Giovanni covered his face. A few seconds later, he pulled his hands back and heard a woman shouting, "That's not Billy Joel."

"I was Billy Joel for about five seconds," Giovanni said. "It was kind of terrifying."

When Giovanni announced his retirement in February, he heard from friends all over the country and, wanting to respond to all the well wishers, he had trouble keeping up.

He's been busy lately, not just on the air, but also working behind the scenes to promote the new show as Berger and show producer Jay Buff take over. Berger says they will work hard to continue the show and the station's legacy.

Giovanni's retirement coincides with WPRO-FM's 50th anniversary celebration. After his last day on Monday, April 29, he will no longer have to get up at 4 a.m. so he can go on air at 6 a.m. He might start volunteering at an animal shelter and would like to take a trip to Italy with his grown son, Nicholas.

So far, Giovanni has been too busy to get emotional about his final days on the show.

"I've kind of been mentally prepared for this for a while," he said. "I think the emotion will be coming the last few days."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 92PRO-FM morning show host Giovanni turns off the mic for the last time