WUSA traffic reporter Shari Elliker, watching different feeds from hundreds of traffic cameras throughout the Washington metro area, prepares to broadcast an update.

Jerry Edwards waits for a cue from WRC-TV in his office at the Metro Networks operating center in Silver Spring, Md.

News producer and traffic reporter Jacqueline Farkas (center) talks with WTOP traffic reporter Lisa Baden in the main room of the Metro Networks/Shadow Broadcast Services operating center in Silver Spring, Md.

They're heard in different communities all across the capital region, but radio/TV traffic reporters all fit into one studio

Date published: 7/18/2005

byNATASHA ALTAMIRANO

The Free Lance-Star

S ILVER SPRING, Md.--At 6 a.m., Fredericksburg-area commuters hear a radio traffic reporter talk of bottlenecks on northbound Interstate 95.

Minutes later, listeners in Frederick, Md., hear the same voice on an AM station there, this time warning about clogged areas on Interstate 270.

To those listeners of western Maryland station WTRI-AM, known as Vegas radio, the reporter is Chip Bets. But to listeners of WBQB-FM in Fredericksburg, he's Robert Workman.

Workman juggles traffic reports in the Washington area for several radio and TV stations every few minutes during the morning rush hour.

"It's hard--a little stressful," Workman says of his work. After a moment's pause to jot down some notes, he adds with a chuckle, "I used to have hair when I started this job."

Room with many views

Workman, who seems to be in many places at one time, is one of a dozen Silver Spring-based traffic reporters heard and/or seen every weekday morning on 44 radio stations and six TV stations. They all work from the same studio in a high-rise office building in the Washington suburbs.

The studio is one of 75 traffic centers across the nation operated by Metro Networks/Shadow Broadcast Services.

Two Cessna airplanes, one helicopter, two mobile-unit vans and five traffic cameras, plus hundreds of other cameras provided by the transportation departments in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, put detailed data on the entire region at the reporters' fingertips.

"My office has the most beautiful view in the world," says Metro Networks airborne reporter Bill Michaels.

Flying a thousand feet above the capital area in a Robinson R-44 helicopter, he reports traffic and breaking news for WUSA-TV and radio station WTOP. He's also the airborne videographer for WUSA.

"I get to watch the sunrise over the nation's capital and the sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains," Michaels says.

Allison Oakley, Michaels' wife, is a part-time traffic reporter for Metro Networks, joining her husband on Sundays in its Silver Spring office. Her reports are broadcast on WMAL and the Sirius Satellite radio network.

Date published: 7/18/2005