Friday was bittersweet in the WTOP newsroom as our very own traffic reporter Bob Immler celebrated his last day before retiring after over four decades in the traffic business.
Immler celebrated the day surrounded by his WTOP colleagues, anchoring traffic reports and with his favorite bribe — pizza!
Immler started reporting in 1982 in Baltimore as a mobile unit. This was long before the days of traffic cameras, Google Maps and other digital tools. His work was hands-on, intuitive and deeply rooted in understanding the D.C. region’s roadways.
WTOP Traffic reporter Dave Dildine called Immler “a world of expertise and an encyclopedia of highway history.”
When he joined WTOP in 2010, the station had just brought its traffic team in-house. Immler worked alongside another Bob in the form of traffic guru Bob Marbourg.
Immler’s opening salvo was during the infamous “Carmageddon Snowstorm” on Jan. 26, 2011, when traffic degenerated into gridlock on a sheet of ice and half a foot of snow. It was a night when countless numbers of commuters slept in their cars.
“It’s been a privilege working with someone who, with his vast understanding and reservoir of D.C. and Baltimore highway history, can effortlessly sift through all the noise and misinformation and instinctively arrive at accurate conclusions with ease,” Dildine said. “He’s definitely been my rock here for the 15 years that we’ve been in-house and prior when we worked at other gigs.”
Immler is described by his colleagues as laid back, knowledgeable, reliable, funny and a good friend.
In his second-to-last live traffic report on the 8s, Immler said, “Things have come a long way. I think it’s time to pass the torch.”
He signed off the air for the last time by saying, “One more time, I’m Bob Immler.”
WTOP’s Ciara Wells and Dave Dildine contributed to this report.
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