Living in a car is uncomfortable.

Your sleeping quarters are cramped, particularly behind the steering wheel. Passers-by might scold you with "Get a job" or "Get out of that car." And when nature calls, there may be no comfortable answer nearby.

But three contestants -- who are living in a car in the hopes they will win a car -- have lasted through a week of life on wheels, parked in the food court of Roanoke's Valley View Mall.

The car-sit began May 27 with five adults in a Chevy Malibu. When the contest, put on by the pop radio station K92 (92.3 FM), moved to a Jeep Liberty for its second week, only three remained. (In the opening days, Ron Arbaugh and Windi Dowdy were disqualified after breaking minor rules.)

How does one survive in a car? These challengers offered some tips earlier this week.

Tip 1: Sleep creatively

"Be short," advised Jonathan Fore, 34, an out-of-work auto worker from Dublin, to anyone considering vehicle-dwelling. Fore, you should know, is 6 feet 6 inches tall.

So he has developed some special maneuvers for sleeping. These include sleeping on his side, or a more complicated yoga-style position he called "toes in the window."

Under contest rules, the crew is awoken every hour for breaks. And at night, ongoing construction at the mall sometimes employs a jackhammer, contestants said.

"You have to give up comfort," said Cassandra Kirby, 24, a blue-haired exotic dancer from Roanoke.

Tip 2: Invite guests

Megan Tyree, a 19-year-old sophomore at Radford University, said that visits from friends and family help sustain the contestants through difficult stretches.

Nearby, Fore's mother, who happened to be visiting, passed a bag full of salads through the open window to her son.

"That's what keeps us going," Tyree said.

Tip 3: Eat a balanced diet

"My body was wanting vegetables," Fore said as he worked on a salad.

Local restaurants have provided the car-sitters with meals, but contestants noted that a lot of sandwiches and meat had been consumed.

The end is in sight. If by June 20 more than one contestant remains, K92 listeners will select a winner.

From TV to 'Terminator'

Local boy Chris Ashworth has landed a role in next summer's "Terminator 4."

The Bedford-raised actor will play Richter, who -- though confidentiality agreements had him biting his tongue -- is "not somebody you want your daughter bringing home."

It's a small part, Ashworth said in a phone call from New Mexico, but he hoped it would help bridge a career in film.

And is Richter friend or foe to John Connor, the "Terminator" franchise's long-running lead? "I don't think Richter has any friends," Ashworth said with a chuckle.

"Terminator 4" is scheduled for release in May 2009, and stars Christian Bale as Connor.

Recent TV roles for Ashworth include the part of Sergei the Russian thug on HBO's "The Wire" and on CBS' "Without a Trace."

New face on storm team

Roanoke's NBC station, WSLS (Channel 10), has hired a new meteorologist to forecast the weekends.

Sandra Brogan started at the station on May 26, replacing Ros Runner, who left May 11, according to Melissa Preas, news director for WSLS.

Brogan, who is from Bassett, previously worked at a station in Panama City, Fla., Preas said.

"It's great to have a hometown girl who knows how to pronounce all the weird place names," Preas said.

In recent months, Runner had moved from working weekday evenings to weekends. The meteorologist, who joined WSLS in March 2007, has "found another opportunity," Preas said.

'History Guys' on RadioIQ

A trio of Virginian historians have taken to public radio to consider current events with an eye toward the past.

Call it "BackStory with the American History Guys," a new call-in show that airs at 3 p.m. on Sundays on Roanoke's RadioIQ (89.7 FM).

The program examines the country's history to provide perspective on the present, explained Andrew Wyndham, executive producer of "BackStory."

The "History Guys" are Ed Ayers, president of the University of Richmond and a scholar of 19th-century U.S. history; Brian Balogh, a professor of history at the University of Virginia and a 20th-century specialist; and Peter Onuf, also a history professor at UVA who has studied the Federalist period.

Do the degree-heavy hosts make for a lecture-heavy show? "It's actually very accessible and entertaining," Wyndham said. "But they also deal with serious topics."

Sunday's program looks at when America goes to war, and if previous wars have united the country as much as the national memory may think, with author Nicholson Baker.