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

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

and

television announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

Career

Facey joined the announcing staff of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1967, and remained with the network for the rest of his life. In time, he would join the likes of

Don Pardo Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with ...

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 island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

area and New York City. In his early years with NBC, Facey mainly did radio work, mostly with its New York

flagship station In broadcasting, a flagship (also known as a flagship station or key station) is the broadcast station which originates a television network, or a particular radio or television program that plays a key role in the branding of and consumer loyalt ...

WNBC (AM) WFAN (660 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York, New York, carrying a sports radio format known as "Sports Radio 66 AM and 101.9 FM" or "The Fan". Owned by Audacy, Inc., the station serves the New York metropolitan area while ...

, and was heard occasionally on live remotes that were heard on the network's annual

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

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 WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo statio ...

'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 WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station ...

''. 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 Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's v ...

, 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 ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk shows, news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though the curr ...

'', ''

The News with Brian Williams ''The News with Brian Williams'' (later known as ''The News on CNBC'') was an American news program that premiered on July 15, 1996, MSNBC's first day on the air. It was the first flagship signature news broadcast on both MSNBC and CNBC. The show ...

'' and weekend editions of ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...

'', as well as the network's coverage of

political convention The terms party conference (UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membe ...

s and

space shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially 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. Its official program n ...

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

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' and ''

Last Call with Carson Daly ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' is an American late-night television series that was broadcast by NBC from 2002 to 2019. Hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly, the series was initially formatted as a late-night talk show in line with ''T ...

''.

Death

Facey died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in New York at age 72.

References and sources

External links

*
Obituary
in

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, April 29, 2003.
Obituary
from MethodShop.com
Obituary
from Richard Prince's Journal-ism site, April 18, 2003.

from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

(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