Barry Farber, a conservative radio host, died on Wednesday in New York City, according to his daughter and news reports.
Farber died one day after his 90th birthday, said Celia Farber in a Twitter post
“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,” his daughter wrote.
Farber began broadcasting his own radio talk show in 1960 on WINS 1010 in New York and often commented on politics. His following grew as his show was broadcast on major radio networks across the United States, paving the way for the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Michael Savage.
“I would rather burn out than rust out,” Farber said before he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2014. “I am one of those who will not retire.”
Farber has been described as the pioneer of talk radio.
In 1977, he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of New York City as a Conservative Party candidate, ultimately losing to Democrat Ed Koch.
“Barry Farber was one of the founding fathers of talk radio whose influential career spanned both the modern and pre-modern eras of the format,” said Talkers publisher Michael Harrison, reported the New York Daily News. “He was among the finest public speakers of his time and a true wordsmith who served as an inspiration for generations of broadcasters who strived to be artists as well as communicators.”
According to The Associated Press, Farber spoke more than 20 languages, including Albanian, Swedish, Finnish and Yiddish, French, German, Spanish, and Chinese.
Farber was also known for ending his show with the saying, “To be continued.”
