Stacey Binn [Williams], Radio traffic reporter, 61

[radioacti...@gmail.com]

Just read in the Washington Post obits of the recent cancer hospice death of Stacey Binn Williams, 61, who I knew as Stacey Binn. She died Friday, November 1st in Virginia. (I learned this while doing a routine search of her name to see if she was still on the air somewhere.)

Stacey trained me in December 1982 for my first paying job in radio (meaning my first gig that mattered in the medium), as a Metro Traffic Control reporter in Los Angeles. I regularly worked under her anchorship during the summers of 1983 and 1984, when she and I comprised a weekend team for the summer beach activity.

I always looked up to Binn, no matter how tough she was on me, and for that I'm grateful. I was surprised and delighted to hear a staged Binn report for Metro as a part of some late-80s feature film I was watching last year on cable. I hope she was paid handsomely for the bit; I'm sure Metro was.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[omeg...@yahoo.com]

I had the chance to work with Stacey during the same time. She was a great person and wonderful friend while I was at Metro. A few years ago I learned about her marriage...now 2 1/2 years later the learning of her passing is sad.

Omeganuz
Southern Ca.
Metro L.A. 82-83

[Bryan Styble]

Thanks for your remembrance of Stacey Binn, Sir or Madam "Omeganuz"!

By the way, the film which featured that Binn traffic report for Metro is "To Live and Die in L.A.", although not having seen it for years, I can't swear that Binn's snippet had identified her report as a "Metro Traffic Control" dispatch, or just a generic one.

In any event, Binn was part of the Metro team for many years before she eventually landed in the District of Columbia area in the '90s, where I gather she had even more success than over the Southern California airwaves.

Oh, and Mr. or Ms. "Omeganuz"--you and I MUST have known each other, as I was a Metro voice 1982-85 and Metro/L.A. just wasn't that big an operation. As you might imagine, I'm quite curious as to who you are; care to divulge your identity here, or even privately (at Radioacti...@hotmail.com) ?

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[pauly...@gmail.com]

I can honestly say that one of the reasons I wanted to be a traffic reporter was from listening to Stacy Binn On what was at the time a pretty big local talkshow station WRC AM 980... I started working at Metro Traffic Control in July 1990, I wouldn't say that I was "stalking" Stacey, But as I said I was already such a big fan of hers and soon enough we became friends and I actually had the pleasure of taking her to a performance at the National Theater in Washington DC ... The original cast of the Phantom of the Opera was there singing songs from that play and it was just great .
Stacey had moved on to working over at WRQX With Jack Diamond by the time I left Metro in about 1998 , and I never got a chance to speak to her again .
I was very sad when I heard that she had passed away and I still think about her . I'm not surprised to see she had so many fans inside and outside the business ... she had an over-the-top personality and was such a "natural " at what she did.
RIP.