Veteran D.C. Traffic Reporter Dies

Walt Starling, 52, longtime Washington broadcast traffic reporter and later assignment editor at WRC-TV Washington, died of colon cancer Tuesday morning at his home in Montgomery County, Md.

Starling reportedly parlayed a pilot's license and a term paper on traffic reporting into a career that saw him report for a variety of area stations for more than 20 years, including logging more than 2 million air miles. Most of those were spent circling the Beltway in a small plane, helping commuters avoid snarls on one of the nation's most crowded roadways.

Survivors include by his wife, Sharon, a son, Brent, and daughter, Joanna.

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.