10 Questions with ... Dave Farra

NAME:Dave Farra TITLE:Afternoons STATION:KXTE MARKET:Las Vegas, NV COMPANY:CBS Radio BORN:St. Paul, MN RAISED:Columbia, SC

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

APD/MD/afternoons at WARQ/Columbia, SC (#90) from 2000-2005. Afternoon show host KXTE/Las Vegas, NV (#33) from 2005-present.

1. What do you like best about Vegas? Least?

I love Vegas. It's fast moving, it's progressive, and there is always a ton to do here. By comparison it is a much bigger market than just the 2 million people that live here. My only complaint about the city is there are a lot of fly by night business and people that are here today gone tomorrow, so you have to be a bit more guarded when getting into a business relationship with someone.

2. How would you explain your Xtreme Disorder afternoon show?

Xtreme Disorder is a 3-man music intensive show that is full of focused, funny, content. We do a lot of interviews, original comedy bits, phone prank bits, and parody songs. We also have a very loyal fan base of "Ninjas" that we interact with on a daily basis.

3. What are the benchmarks of your show?

We have a lot of the regular stuff like the Sports Report with a local news guy, and a Movie Preview feature with a critic, but we also have a lot of market/demo specific features like "In the Cage with Attention Deficit Dave" where we feature the best UFC fighters in the country, since a lot of them are based here. We also do "Brian Black Is Smarter Than You," and "Random Moments with Lemmy The Gopher." We create features that are based on and highlight our interests and strengths.

4. What makes your show successful?

We make Xtreme Disorder easy to listen to. We don't try too hard to be funny, and we don't talk and talk for no reason. We understand the importance of the music that we play, and Chris Ripley (PD) and Homie (MD) do a great job of making sure that aspect of the program is always dead on. We also have great station promotions and artist interaction. Most importantly, we put our ninjas on the air, everyday.

5. What makes the show unique?

Xtreme Disorder is a full production show in the afternoon on a music station. We have been very careful to find the right balance to super serving the music fans, as well as the guys who tune in for the comedy.

6. What is your show prep routine?

I will look through sites like fark.com, cnn.com and perezhilton.com and local sites for the latest news. I also go through interview requests and coordinate with our promotions department how we can creatively give away prizes and what games we can play with the listeners. Brian will focus on the comedy bits and production of the show and Lemmy drinks...he's funnier when he's drunk.

7. What part of your show do you like best?

I like being on a station that I am really in to, and I like being able to do promotions around what my hobbies. I love Mixed Martial Arts and poker. We do broadcasts from the big UFC fights here in Vegas and every month Xtreme Disorder puts on a poker tournament.

8. What do you find most amusing about your audience? Most annoying?

The audience, generally, is awesome. Our NINJAS go on missions for us, crash news broadcasts and are willing to take a bullet for the show. Sometimes they are a little over eager to hang out and have to be told the don't always have to do something "Xtreme," they can just hang. They are a blast though, and truly the stars of the show.

9. What's the highlight of your radio career to date?

Being given this HUGE opportunity by Chris Ripley. He took a gamble on us, and not only gave us a primetime slot on his station, but also a TON of creative freedom. We have been in Vegas for just over two years now, and it has been a great learning experience. I can't wait to see where we can take the show from here!

10. What are you most passionate about?

I love my wife, and I love radio, in that order. I have been doing some TV work on the side, and it's great, but I really enjoy being on the air everyday and interacting with the audience. Oh, and I really like poker too.

Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?

A cup of Starbucks, and some Muay Thai kickboxing.