While working as a schoolteacher in Utah, Floyd Farr discovered that a radio announcer’s job during the Great Depression could earn him a much better living than he could hope for on a teacher’s salary. That revelation eventually led him to San Francisco, where he rose to chief announcer for KPO and the NBC Red Network on the West Coast in the mid 1930’s.
A historical note: once a week, Farr was taken by boat to Treasure Island to serve as a shortwave newscaster for overseas listeners.
On Sunday, December 7, 1941, he was the network lead-in announcer, transmitting vital information from Pearl Harbor, which then aired to New York and the East Coast from KPO and the NBC radio network during the critical early morning hours after the Japanese attack on Hawaii. I
n 1947, Farr formed a partnership with his good friends George Snell (a fellow Utah native who Farr had hired to work at KPO) and restaurateur George Mardikian to launch KEEN in San Jose,
Farr served as KEEN’s first general manager while helping the Golden Pacific group launch new stations in Lodi, Fresno and Hawaii.
Floyd Farr passed away in 1984 at age 75.