Ralph Louis Barbieri (October 28, 1945August 3, 2020) was an American

sports radio Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

personality Personality is the characteristic sets of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that are formed from biological and environmental factors, and which change over time. While there is no generally agreed-upon definition of personality, mos ...

from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California. Along with former NBA player

Tom Tolbert Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, Barbieri hosted the afternoon sports radio show ''The Razor and Mr. T'' on

KNBR (AM) KNBR (680 kHz) is a San Francisco, California AM radio station, broadcasting on a clear channel from transmitting facilities in Redwood City, California. KNBR's non-directional 50,000-watt class-A signal can be heard throughout much of the we ...

from 1996 to 2012. With Barbieri, the show was the highest-rated show in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

for the 25–54 male

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

since 2000.

Early life and education

Barbieri was born in San Francisco to Louis J. and Gloria Barbieri. He grew up in

Millbrae, California Millbrae is a city located in northern San Mateo County, California, United States. To its northeast is San Francisco International Airport, San Bruno is on its northwest, and Burlingame on its southeast. It is bordered by San Andreas Lake to ...

. Barbieri earned a bachelor's degree in 1967 from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

, having studied political science with a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

in philosophy. He proceeded to obtain

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. After completing his studies, he spent one-and-a-half years in New York, where he found employment in advertising. He subsequently returned to San Francisco.

Career

Barbieri was a

stringer Stringer may refer to: Structural elements * Stringer (aircraft), or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened * Stringer (slag), an inclusion, possibly leading to a defect, in cast metal * Stringer (stairs), ...

for ''Sport'' magazine before he joined KNBR in 1984 at the sports news desk. He was later given his own sports talk show and transferred to the prime afternoon-time slot. In 1996, he was teamed with Tolbert, a former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

player. Barbieri's nickname was "The Razor" because of his raspy voice, thought by some listeners to resemble a barber's electric razor, and his "no-nonsense" approach to interviews. The nickname, which may have also been inspired by his surname's resemblance to "barber", was given to him by longtime ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' columnist

Herb Caen Herbert Eugene Caen (; April 3, 1916 February 1, 1997) was a San Francisco humorist and journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, and offbeat puns and anecdotes—"A continuous love let ...

. Barbieri was described as a "bulldog of an interviewer" who exuded an "opinionated" and "abrasive" interviewing style. At the same time, his critics took the view that his questions were long-winded and restrained, which he said enabled listeners to get a better grasp of the people he was interviewing. In 2007, Barbieri renewed his four-year contract with KNBR through November 2011. Barbieri was known to end his show with, "Angels fly because they take themselves lightly", a quote from

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

. In 2011, Barbieri disclosed to KNBR and the public that he was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in 2005. On April 11, 2012, the 66-year-old Barbieri was let go by KNBR. KNBR's parent company,

Cumulus Media Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States behind Audacy and iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 ...

, said he "refused to honor some of the most basic terms of his contract." Barbieri's legal team cited

age discrimination Ageism, also spelled agism, is discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Butler def ...

and

disability discrimination Ableism (; also known as ablism, disablism (British English), anapirophobia, anapirism, and disability discrimination) is discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities or who are perceived to be disabled. Ableism characteri ...

in the termination. In 2013, he settled with Cumulus for an undisclosed amount, reportedly over $1 million.

Personal life

Barbieri was a vegetarian, a believer in animal rights and a follower of eastern religious philosophies. In 1995, he avoided jail time by pleading

no contest ' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. In criminal Trial (law), trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the def ...

to a third-offense drunk driving charge; he spent 120 days in a residential treatment program. Following the incident, Barbieri settled down, giving up what he called "25 years of sex, drugs and rock and roll." In 2000, Barbieri fathered a son, Tayte Ali, via

in-vitro fertilization In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

, using an egg donor and a surrogate mother. In 2004, the

American Diabetes Association The American Diabetes Association (ADA) is a United States-based nonprofit that seeks to educate the public about diabetes and to help those affected by it through funding research to manage, cure and prevent diabetes (including type 1 diabetes, ...

named Ralph Barbieri one of five "Bay Area Father of the Year" award winners. Barbieri died on August 3, 2020, at his home in

Novato, California Novato (Spanish for "Novatus") is a city in Marin County, California, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. At the 2020 census, Novato had a population of 53,225. History What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok ...

. He was 74, and suffered from Parkinson's disease since he was diagnosed in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbieri, Ralph 1945 births 2020 deaths American sports announcers American sports radio personalities People with Parkinson's disease Radio personalities from San Francisco Sportswriters from California University of San Francisco alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni