Key Takeaways
- Angela Stribling, a pioneering BET host and Washington, D.C. radio personality, died at 58 after a two-year battle with brain cancer.
- Stribling co-hosted BET’s Screen Scene, appeared on Video Soul and Jazz Central, and became the first woman to host WHUR’s original Quiet Storm.
- Her husband, Ken Washington, said she died peacefully at home with family by her side and announced plans for a celebration of life in D.C.
Angela Stribling, the pioneering BET host who brought entertainment news and jazz to television audiences and became a familiar late-night voice in Washington, D.C., has died at 58. Her husband, Ken Washington, confirmed that she died at home on Sept. 26 following a two-year battle with brain cancer.
Across a career spanning television, radio, music and film, Stribling hosted BET’s Screen Scene, helped lead its jazz programming and became the first woman to host WHUR’s original Quiet Storm.
“It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved wife, Angela Marie Stribling, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, September 26, after a courageous two-year battle with brain cancer,” Washington wrote in a statement shared Sept. 27 on her Instagram account and with USA Today. “Her sister Darlene and I were by her side.”
His announcement confirmed the illness behind her death after initial reports offered no cause. Washington said a celebration of life would take place in D.C., with the date and venue to be announced.
For BET viewers, Stribling was a familiar presence across several of the network’s programs. An audition arranged through a Video Soul producer led to her hiring as a relief host; within two months, she was co-hosting Screen Scene alongside Melvin Lindsey.
She also substituted for Donnie Simpson on Video Soul and co-hosted Jazz Central with Ramsey Lewis and Lou Rawls.
Her work extended beyond music programming: She appeared as a television anchor in Eddie Murphy’s 1992 comedy The Distinguished Gentleman and later appeared on The Real Housewives of Potomac in 2020.
Off camera, Stribling built a radio career that reached listeners beyond Washington. Her late-night show, Pillow Talk with Angela, launched on WHUR in 2014 and also aired on SiriusXM.
New York audiences heard her on WBLS, where radio executive Skip Dillard said he hired her in 2009 as the imaging voice for The Quiet Storm.
Born in Buffalo, New York, Stribling attended the Fashion Institute of Technology before pursuing broadcasting in D.C. She began as a news intern at WTTG and WOL, eventually building a career around the voice that mentors had encouraged her to use professionally.
