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Saying Farewell to Farrar

Farrar Hudkins.
WWNO
Farrar Hudkins.

Longtime WWNO announcer and classical music programmer Farrar Hudkins has only one more public radio membership drive on his calendar! The sixteen-year veteran broadcaster will depart New Orleans’ NPR-member station by the end of October as he and his wife Ally Halperin move to Long Island, New York, where she has accepted the role of Development Director for Stony Brook University’s College of Arts and Sciences. Farrar is looking forward to finding a new role for himself among metropolitan New York’s numerous broadcasters and classical music organizations.

“Farrar Hudkins shaped our classical music programming for the last nine years, and is one of the most versatile radio announcers I have ever met,” said WWNO General Manager Paul Maassen. “Not every classical music programmer is a great announcer on the air,” he continued, “and fewer classical music announcers can also flawlessly host fast-paced news programs like Morning Edition and All Things Considered. And fewer still can also restore classic cars like his DeLorean DMC-12! We wish him the best in his new life on the East Coast.”

Cars are indeed one of Farrar’s passions, but music has been primary throughout his life. Farrar has been a musician since the age of four, playing the piano, singing in his church choir, performing in musical theatre, and playing the trumpet in such ensembles as the North Carolina Symphony and the Louisiana Philharmonic. A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, he moved to New Orleans to attend Loyola University. He joined WWNO in 2000 as a part-time announcer, and over his sixteen years at the station he has been classical music producer, chief classical announcer, music manager, and now All Things Considered host.

Reflecting on his impending move, Farrar said, “It's been a great sixteen years. New Orleans, unique among the cities of the world, breeds unique listenership -- people as dedicated to their radio listening as they are to their school, their neighborhood, their sports team, their opera company, or their symphony orchestra. New Orleans' people are simply amazing. I'll come back and visit as often as I can, to keep my soul refreshed and my faith in humanity strong. Je t'aime, Nouvelle-Orléans. A bientôt.

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