Barry Farber dies; conservative radio host ran for NYC mayor

Pioneering radio host Barry Farber, who hosted a conservative talk show for decades in New York City and ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1977, has died.

Farber died of natural causes Wednesday at home in New York, a day after his 90th birthday, his daughter, Celia Farber, said.

Raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, Farber worked in New York City for his entire career and was still doing a regular digital talk show for CRN up until last week. Injuries from a fall hastened his demise, his daughter said.

FILE - This Nov. 8, 1977 file photo shows New York mayoral Conservative candidate Barry Farber, second left, gesturing as he makes a statement during a televised debate with other mayoral candidates, in New York. Others pictured are, from left: Democratic candidate, Edward Koch; moderator Gabe Pressman; Mario Cuomo, running as a Liberal; and Republican candidate Roy Goodman. Farber died of natural causes Wednesday, May 6, 2020, at home in New York, a day after his 90th birthday, his daughter, Celia Farber, said. (AP PhotoRon Frehm, File)

He began on the air at WINS-AM, the only talk host on a rock ’n’ roll station. Farber moved to WOR-AM in 1962 and worked in the evening and through the night. He left the station for his mayoral run and, after losing as a Conservative Party candidate to Democrat Ed Koch with 4% of the vote, went to work for WMCA-AM for 11 years.

He was a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Farber was a traditional conservative working in one of the nation's most liberal cities. He was a wordsmith and extraordinary orator, said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine.

FILE - This Nov. 8, 1977 file photo shows New York mayoral Conservative candidate Barry Farber, second left, gesturing as he makes a statement during a televised debate with other mayoral candidates, in New York. Others pictured are, from left: Democratic candidate, Edward Koch; moderator Gabe Pressman; Mario Cuomo, running as a Liberal; and Republican candidate Roy Goodman. Farber died of natural causes Wednesday, May 6, 2020, at home in New York, a day after his 90th birthday, his daughter, Celia Farber, said. (AP PhotoRon Frehm, File)

“He spoke as if he was writing an essay,” Harrison said.

He spoke more than 20 languages, including Albanian, Swedish, Finnish and Yiddish, along with the more standard French, German, Spanish and Chinese, according to an obituary.

Farber was past his peak of influence by the time conservative talk radio became an industry that made national stars of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. He would joke about "being big in the old days and old in the big days," Harrison said.

“I just wish we had started it in my generation,” Farber told Talkers in a 2012 interview. “It never occurred to us.”

Farber was known for ending his show with the phrase, “To be continued."

LONDON (AP) — David Bowie’s bedroom could soon be London’s newest tourist attraction.

The house where the musician grew from suburban schoolboy to rock ‘n’ roll starman has been bought by a charity that plans to open it to the public.

The Heritage of London Trust said Thursday that the 19th-century railway worker’s cottage in the south London suburb of Bromley will be restored to its 1960s decor and open to the public next year.

Visitors will be able to visit the 9-foot by 10-foot (2.7-meter by 3-meter) bedroom, “where a spark became a flame,” the charity said. The trust hasn't said how much it paid for the house.

Bowie, born David Jones, lived in the house from 1955, when he was 8, until 1967, when he was a 20-year-old working musician hungry for fame.

Geoffrey Marsh, co-curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s hit 2013 exhibition “David Bowie Is," said the house is where "Bowie evolved from an ordinary suburban schoolboy to the beginnings of an extraordinary international stardom.

“As he said, ‘I spent so much time in my bedroom, it really was my entire world. I had books up there, my music up there, my record player.'"

From Bromley, Bowie went on a creative journey that took him to Philadelphia, Berlin and New York, through eye-popping style changes and musical genres from folk-rock to glam, soul, electronica and new wave. His songbook includes classics such as “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Life on Mars,” “Starman,” “Young Americans” and “Heroes.”

The house project, backed by Bowie’s estate, has received a 500,000 pound ($670,000) charity grant and is seeking donations from the public. The heritage trust aims to open the house in late 2027 for public visits and creative workshops for children.

The announcement came as fans mark a decade since Bowie’s death at age 69 on Jan. 10, 2016, two days after the release of his final album, “Blackstar.”

A decade on, Bowie’s cultural legacy in music, style and design continues to inspire. His 90,000-item archive opened to the public last year at the V&A Museum's David Bowie Centre in east London.

George Underwood, a childhood friend, said that the house was where “we spent so much time together, listening to and playing music.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say David’s music saved them or changed their life,” he said in a statement. “It’s amazing that he could do that and even more amazing that it all started here, from such small beginnings, in this house. We were dreamers, and look what he became.”

FILE - Rock star David Bowie attends a press conference in Los Angeles, C.A. on March 16, 1990. (AP Photo/Marilyn Weiss, File)