Pioneer radio, TV traffic reporter ‘007’ Emery dies at 68

Friday, March 30, 2001 | 10:56 a.m.

On Nov. 21, 1980, while many Las Vegas news reporters were being dispatched to the MGM Grand blaze, radio traffic reporter Chuck "007" Emery already was there filing some of the first accounts of the worst tragedy in Southern Nevada history.

Known for his keen eye for detail and for being a stickler for the facts, Emery's concise reports and deep, steady voice over KDWN radio alerted thousands of Las Vegas motorists to stay away from the early-morning tragedy that took 87 lives.

Charles H. "007" Emery, a civic-minded newsman who co-founded the Metro Police Secret Witness program and was honored with "007 Day" in Las Vegas on May 19, 1979, died Monday at a local hospital from Parkinson's disease. He was 68.

Emery, a Las Vegas resident of 35 years, was a longtime Alarmco vice president.

"Because he worked for the alarm company, Chuck was up early every day, so doing the early-morning commuter traffic report was natural for him," said KDWN official Buzz Jones, who initially worked with Emery at KORK radio in the 1970s.

"What made Chuck so good at what he did was that he was particular about details, and he was using a car phone long before many people even heard of car phones."

Inside Emery's car was the most sophisticated communications devices available at the time.

During the 1980s, when the population boomed, snarling the valley in widespread gridlock, Emery's traffic reports became must-listening for early-morning commuters.

Emery averaged about 2,500 miles a month driving around the valley, with the specialized license plate "IM 007." The state also issued him a permit to place a red emergency light on his car.

Emery often was asked if his hero was James "007" Bond. Actually, Emery's nickname came from his Alarmco employee payroll number. After the Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever" was shot in Las Vegas, Alarmco issued its employee numbers starting with 001. Emery drew the famous digits.

Born Jan. 8, 1933, in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Emery was a Korean War Navy veteran. He came to Las Vegas in the mid-1960s.

In May 1969 Emery was appointed comprehensive health planner for the Clark County Health Department. In 1972 he was director for Anti-Crime of America and was first vice president of the Fremont Junior High School Parents and Teachers Association.

He later helped form Secret Witness, a program in which people anonymously submit tips about crimes and receive cash awards. Emery led efforts to get the initial Secret Witness number changed from 386-3213 to the easier-to-remember 385-5555.

At 6 feet, 4 inches and more than 200 pounds, Emery often got a kick out of listeners who would meet him and say he sounded shorter on the radio. And although Emery will be most remembered as a traffic reporter at KDWN and later KTNV Channel 13, he never got paid for his work -- it was done strictly on a voluntary basis.

Emery even purchased his own expensive communications equipment to do his amateur job in a professional manner, and he took journalism classes at Community College of Southern Nevada to improve his reporting skills.

Emery was a member of the Southern Nevada Council on Alcoholism, an honorary member of the Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital (today University Medical Center) Association, a member of the Drug Abuse Fact Finding Committee and a board member of the Family Planning Council for the Office of Economic Opportunity.

He is survived by four daughters, Debra Rae Burns of Granite Falls, Wash., Cindy Lee Brooke of Port Orchard, Wash., Susan Marie Conant of Lake Stevens, Wash., and Linda Ann Hall of Fairfield, Calif.; two sons, Shane Lewis Watson of Everett, Wash., and Clayton Lewis Watson of Arlington, Wash.; 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Services were Thursday at Palm Mortuary downtown. Burial was in Palm Valley View Memorial Park.

The family requests donations to the National Parkinson Foundation Inc., 1501 Northwest Ninth Ave., Miami, FL 33136-1494.

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