Farber's Road to NBA Started in Foggy Bottom

Amid the chaos, Sam Farber managed to keep going. Somehow.

Farber was a senior calling the action for WRGW on that unforgettable day back in 2006 when Carl Elliott's tip-in beat Charlotte at the Charles E. Smith Center to close out a perfect Atlantic 10 regular season.

As the home crowd piled onto the court to celebrate, the young broadcaster was ready to meet the moment, detailing the jubilant scene for the student radio station with the poise of a seasoned pro.

"Listening back to it, I felt really good about that call and got a lot of good feedback about it," Farber said. "I remember thinking 'Yeah OK, maybe I'm not just interested in this. Maybe I'm actually pretty good at this and have a chance to hopefully make something out of it.'"

Fifteen years later, that call remains meaningful for Farber, even as he's progressed to the biggest stages in sports media.

From his start calling Buff and Blue hoops, soccer, volleyball and more, Farber has put in the work to build a successful broadcasting career that included air time on ESPN and Fox Sports before he was hired as the new radio play-by-play voice of the Charlotte Hornets.

Farber recalls a conversation with veteran broadcaster and WRGW alum Mike Patrick at a celebration of the station's 75^th anniversary that still sticks with him.

"The long and short of (his message) was if you could see yourself being happy doing something else, you probably should, but if you can't imagine yourself being happy doing anything else, it's the best job in the world," said Farber, who graduated with honors with a Journalism degree from the School of Media & Public Affairs in 2006. "All of that advice has definitely proven to be true. I'm just very thankful that I've been lucky to be on the right path and get some breaks and have these opportunities."

A native of California, Farber got involved with WRGW early in his time in Foggy Bottom and kept finding ways to push the station forward.

He was fortunate to be surrounded by a group of similarly motivated peers who have gone on to find success in the industry, including Brett Kaplan (Major League Baseball), Charlie Beattie (Fox Sports Minnesota) and Maggie Gray (WFAN in New York).

"It's really amazing to think this little, tiny radio station in the basement of the student center has produced a lot of people working at a high level now," Farber said.

Farber was a fine intramural athlete himself, helping the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity to a Pikus Cup title, but he realized that his future was behind the mic.

Over four years, he broadcast whatever was in season, covering just about every sport in the athletic department, plus two summers of Bowie Baysox minor league baseball, on WRGW.

"I was hooked," Farber said. "It was a great way to help you fall in love with it."

The environment, especially the support of hoops coaches Joe McKeown and Karl Hobbs as well as GW broadcaster Byron Kerr, made for invaluable on-the-job training.

"It was just huge," Farber said. "We had so much support from the athletic department in terms of giving us access and the ability to be real broadcasters. We weren't treated with kid gloves. We were given the same kinds of access and opportunities that the flagship station had."

No doubt, it also helped that Farber's time coincided with one of the greatest men's basketball runs in program history. He was there every step of the way as the 2005-06 squad, led by Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Mike Hall, J.R. Pinnock and Elliott, roared to a top-10 national ranking and a berth in the NCAA Tournament, where they landed a stirring comeback win over UNCW before being stopped by top-seeded Duke.

Most notably, Farber's call of Elliott's game-winning putback at the overtime buzzer vs. Charlotte and the blissful aftermath was a staple of his personal demo reel early in his career.

"That's a moment I'll never forget," Farber said. "I can still see it. I remember where I was sitting and the game-winner, that tip-in and then the fans rushing the court. It was the signature moment of a special season."

Farber's path to the Hornets included graduate school, a couple of minor league baseball stops and a variety of regional and national assignments covering everything from G League hoops to high school football to competitive CrossFit.

"I always have felt like I had my dream job all along," Farber said. "Because I just love sports and I love being a part of it, so being able to call games for a living, whether that living was in the NBA or calling high school games, didn't matter as much to me."

In December, Farber's career reached the next step when he was hired in Charlotte to handle broadcasting every game on the team's flagship station WFNZ and also contribute to team content, including a podcast.

It's a dream reaching the professional ranks, and even better to do it in a sport that means so much to him.

"Picking between sports for me is like someone asking you which one's your favorite kid – I love them all," said Farber, who is settled in North Carolina after making the move from California with his wife Lauren and two children. "I love the process of calling a game, but basketball, in particular, is just special to me. I love the action, the pace of it. There's just nothing like it."

Of course, this has been a season unlike any other in the NBA. Due to COVID-19 protocols, he's not traveling with the team right now, instead broadcasting the road contests remotely from Charlotte's Spectrum Arena.

If you stand in the right spot in the arena on road game nights, you can hear both the radio and TV calls going simultaneously.

"It's very odd, but it's what we've got and we're thankful for it," Farber said.

More than anything, Farber's new opportunity is a testament to the work that he has put into his craft dating back to his days at WRGW. Ultimately, his experience covering anything and everything Buff and Blue helped pave the way to the NBA.

"For anyone who wants to do this as a profession, I would encourage them to call as many different sports as often as possible," Farber said. "Just get used to being on air. At the end of the day, the differences between a basketball game and a soccer game are not as much as you'd think. Whether it's basketball or lacrosse or volleyball, the concepts are kind of similar, so take any opportunity, any rep you can."

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