He received his First Class Radiotelephone (with Radar) and Extra Class ham (amateur radio) licenses in 1958. Besides being an avid collector of vintage electronics, he has been a passionate motorcyclist for over 50 years. Dr. Staples is a principal of the California Historical Radio Society (CHRS, Alameda, California), and a Fellow in Preservation (2011); and as a lead author, shared in the Antique Wireless Association (N.Y.) Taylor Award for 2020 for the CHRS Special Edition “Television” (2019) edited by Richard Watts. “The Taylor Award was presented to the California Historical Radio Society *** The Taylor Award … is given in memory of John P. Taylor, TV developer at RCA and editor of the RCA Broadcast News, for documentation or preservation of the history of television technology.” The several articles by Dr. Staples in "Television" resulted in an outstanding review.