Having been interested in radio while growing up, WTOP Traffic Reporter Bob Immler, always wanted to be one of those “Boss Jocks” from ’60s top 40 radio.

When he grew up, the boss jocks were all but gone, however he was still interested in radio. So he joined the college radio stations at Catonsville Community College near Baltimore where he was a student, and Johns Hopkins University, where he was not. Bob also studied at the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland in Baltimore when he landed an internship that became his first paying radio job, at WJRO in Glen Burnie, Maryland. There is where he learned to jock, program music, produce commercials, and some newscasts as well. Bob credits small stations as being the best places to learn.

His traffic career began in 1982 at Metro Traffic Control in Baltimore as a mobile unit. He went on to work at Traffic Team with Chuck Whitaker for a few years, where he became an on air reporter, then back to Metro Traffic, this time in Washington, D.C., as a reporter/anchor.

Bob spent almost the next 13 years at Metro, doing traffic for nearly every radio and TV station over the years, including WTOP. He then spent five years at XM Satellite Radio doing traffic for several cities, including Washington. After that, back to Metro for a year, where he reported traffic for Norfolk and D.C.. Bob also did some jock work at both WLIF in Baltimore and WGAY in Washington, and now proud to be a part of WTOP.

If you see more than he says, call Bob on the WTOP Traffic Hotline at 202-895-5048 or email him at bimmler@wtop.com.