Angela Stribling, the BET host and jazz vocalist who became the first woman to host WHUR’s Original Quiet Storm, has died after a two-year battle with brain cancer. Her husband, Ken Washington, said she died at home on Saturday, Sept. 26, WHUR 96.3 FM reported. Washington said in the family statement that he and her sister, Darlene, were by her side. Stribling built a career that ran from a news internship to BET’s jazz programming to the late-night Quiet Storm.
Husband and WHUR Announce Stribling’s Death
Washington said his wife, Angela Marie Stribling, passed away peacefully at home after a “courageous two-year battle with brain cancer.” WHUR General Manager Sean Plater paid tribute in the station’s announcement. “Her voice was beautiful, her presence was calming, and her spirit was genuine,” Plater said.
Reports differ on when she died and how old she was. WHUR carried the family statement giving Sept. 26. Rolling Out and Daily Voice gave Sept. 27. Cox Media Group stations and TheGrio reported that she was 58. NBC Washington said she was in her 60s. The WHUR announcement does not give her age. The station said a celebration of life will be held in Washington, D.C.
Colleagues and Friends Remember Her
Donnie Simpson, the radio veteran who knew Stribling for about 40 years, called her “just the sweetest person ever,” NBC Washington reported. Former BET colleague Ed Gordon called her “a sweet soul,” TheGrio reported. Gordon also told Daily Voice that her voice made her a staple on DC radio and on SiriusXM, and that she did countless voiceovers and had parts in movies.
Skip Dillard, a radio executive who hired her in 2009 to do imaging voice work for “The Quiet Storm” on WBLS in New York, said her work is still heard there, according to Rolling Out. Jerome Allen Bell recalled a 45-year friendship that began when the two worked together at WYCB, the outlet reported.
From Buffalo to Washington Radio
Stribling was born in Buffalo, New York, and attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City before moving to Washington, Cox Media Group reported. Her on-air career started with a news internship at WTTG. She worked at WOL before joining WHUR.
Radio Facts reported that she discovered her love of singing at age 4 and earned a bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising and buying from the Fashion Institute of Technology. At WOL-AM, the trade site said, she worked in programming, sales and on-air broadcasting. Her voice work later earned national advertising credits that included Mercedes-Benz.
In Baltimore, Radio Facts said, she reported for “Evening Magazine” on WJZ-TV and co-hosted “On Time,” a program focused on Baltimore’s African American community.
BET Years: Screen Scene and Jazz Programming
At BET, Stribling hosted “Screen Scene,” an entertainment news program, for four years, TheGrio reported. Daily Voice and Rolling Out both reported that she co-hosted it with Melvin Lindsey. She also co-hosted “Jazz Central” with Ramsey Lewis and Lou Rawls and hosted “BET Jazz Discovery” and “BET Jazz Scene.” Radio Facts added that she was a relief host on “Video Soul.”
She had a cameo in Eddie Murphy’s 1992 film “The Distinguished Gentleman,” which came out 34 years before her death. She was a classically trained jazz vocalist who performed internationally, and the reports name Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan among the artists she shared stages with. Radio Facts said she performed across Europe, Asia and Africa and for President Bill Clinton. Cox Media Group added that she was the voice of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards.
Melvin Lindsey Started the Format She Later Hosted
The Quiet Storm began on a Sunday night in May 1976 on WHUR, when Melvin Lindsey, then a Howard University junior, launched a late-night show of slow-jam music, NBC Washington reported. General manager Cathy Hughes named the show. The show grew to a five-hour nightly format in November 1977. In 1985 Lindsey moved to competitor WKYS for a $1 million contract and later hosted programming on BET.
That makes the co-host of “Screen Scene” the same person who created the show Stribling would later be the first woman to host. Lindsey died March 26, 1992, at 36. The Radio Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 2021, says he spent nine years at WHUR and five at WKYS. His death came the same year as her film cameo.
Stribling died about 50 years and four months after the first Quiet Storm broadcast, using the Sept. 26 date in the family statement. The format turned 50 this May. WHUR said she was the first woman to host the Original Quiet Storm, and the show remains on the station under host John Monds, NBC Washington reported.
Pillow Talk and the Later Years
Stribling’s late-night show on WHUR was “Pillow Talk with Angela.” Radio Facts said it aired from midnight to 2 a.m. and focused on relationships and personal connection. Daily Voice reported that it began in 2014. Cox Media Group reported that it also aired on SiriusXM. Two hours is 40% of the five-hour block Lindsey built for the Quiet Storm in 1977. Her program was shorter than his original block.
From 2014 to 2019 she was also a segment host on “Let’s Talk Live!” on WJLA-TV, Daily Voice and Radio Facts reported. Those years overlap with the start of “Pillow Talk,” so she worked on both a television program and a late-night radio show at the same time. Daily Voice added that her imaging voice work extended to WHUR, WBLS and SiriusXM’s “Watercolors.”
