R.I.P.: Barry Farber, Talk Radio Pioneer

Barry Farber 1930 - 2020

One of America’s talk-radio pioneers, Barry Farber has died.  His death was announced by his daughter on Twitter.

Farber was born in Baltimore in 1930 and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. His radio career began in the ’50s when he joined WRCA 660 AM New York City as a producer for Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenburg’s interview show from the Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

In 1960 he debuted Barry Farber’s Open Mike on WINS/New York. Two years later he began a 15-year association with WOR/New York as an evening and overnight host, leaving in 1977 to run for mayor, but he returned to radio the following year for a decadelong run at WMCA/New York.

In 1990 Farber’s show went national as part of the ABC Radio network, and he later tried his hand at syndication behind the scenes as a co-founder of the independent network Daynet.

Since 2008 The Barry Farber Show has been heard on CRN Digital Talk Radio and Talk Radio Network.

A Russian translator for the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Farber has been known to incorporate his fascination with language into his shows. Additionally, he founded the Language Club in New
York City in 1984 and wrote the best-selling book How to Learn Any Language (1991).

My father Barry Farber, beloved, died this evening, at 6:25 pm. He was home, in bed, and we were all with him. He turned 90 just yesterday. He told me recently that his concept of death was "going somewhere I've never been before, like Finland or Estonia." May God rest his soul. pic.twitter.com/5ocWK84gva

— Celia Ingrid Farber (@CeliaFarber) May 7, 2020

Barry Farber was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2014.