Ferdinand A. Facey (October 19, 1930 – April 13, 2003), known as Fred Facey, was an American

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

and television announcer.

Career

Facey joined the announcing staff of NBC in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1967, and remained with the network for the rest of his life. In time, he would join the likes of Don Pardo and Howard Reig in holding lifetime contracts with the network. Prior to joining NBC, he had been a freelance announcer in Washington, D.C., the

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

area and New York City. In his early years with NBC, Facey mainly did radio work, mostly with its New York flagship station WNBC (AM), and was heard occasionally on live remotes that were heard on the network's annual New Year's Eve radio broadcasts. By the mid-1970s or so, Facey began working on the television side, first as a booth announcer on promotional spots and bumpers. Starting in 1979, he introduced WNBC-TV's nightly ''NewsCenter4''. He would remain the announcer for the station's newscasts for much of its 1980-1995 run as '' News 4 New York''. In addition, he announced for '' Live at Five'' for its first two years on the air, before Don Pardo took over the duties for that show. It was also in that period that Facey and Howard Reig became the main voices of

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

, following the retirement of another longtime staff announcer, Bill Hanrahan. Over the next two decades, Facey's distinctive baritone voice would be heard on '' The Today Show'', '' Meet the Press'', '' The News with Brian Williams'' and weekend editions of ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...

'', as well as the network's coverage of political conventions and

space shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

launches and landings. Besides his news work, his voice was also heard on promos for such programs as ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' and '' Last Call with Carson Daly''.

Death

Facey died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in New York at age 72.

References and sources

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

(via Highbeam.com), April 28, 2003.
Obituary
in the St. Petersburg Times, April 29, 2003. {{DEFAULTSORT:Facey, Fred 1930 births 2003 deaths African-American television personalities Television personalities from New York City American male voice actors Radio and television announcers Radio personalities from New York City NBC network announcers NBC News people Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people

Career

Death

References and sources

External links