Broadcasters mourn loss of Furr
posted on 8.22.2012Pioneer Texas Broadcaster John Furr passed away last night following a brief illness. He was 68.
Memorial Service
- Saturday, Aug. 25, at 10 a.m.
- Oak Hills Church-South Room (19595 West I-10, San Antonio, TX 78256)
In lieu of flowers, family suggests contributions to Furr’s foundation which he founded in 1999 to help people in Haiti and El Salvador:
- Hand-in-Hand Foundation – San Antonio, Texas
- 2313 Lockhill-Selma, Pmb 238, San Antonio, TX 78230-3007
John Raymond Furr
Native Texan John Furr began his broadcast engineering career as an intern with legendary John Mayberry at KUNO while attending Del Mar College in Corpus Christi.
After graduation from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Furr worked at KXII-TV Sherman. He moved to KOKE in Austin in 1967 where he did his first FM allocations work at Ron Rogers’ request.
Assignments at KTSA and KITE in San Antonio led to his affiliation in 1978 with Clear Channel Communications. As group chief of engineering, Furr was responsible for upgrading nearly all of the company’s initial facilities. His engineering mentor was Charles I. Gallagher of Maryland.
After 10 years with Clear Channel, Furr opened his own engineering firm and went on to upgrade the facilities of more than 100 broadcast stations in Texas. The proprietary software he developed has since become a standard for the broadcast engineering industry.
Furr later partnered with John Barger as owner/operator of several San Antonio radio stations, while independently developing a network of Christian music stations serving the Texas Hill Country.
His radio partnership interests included KONO, KBBT, KCOR-FM and KRIO in San Antonio, and at the time of his death he was licensee of KBNU-FM in Uvalde, and KBLT-FM in Leakey.
In 1992, Furr was selected Associate of the Year by the Texas Association of Broadcasters for his longtime dedication to the Texas broadcast industry.
His peers inducted him into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame in 2011.
He is survived by his wife, Paula, his daughter Amanda, and grandson Benjamin.
View John and Paula's bio from the Oak Hills church website
Furr's daughter Amanda shares more information on her father, as well as some of her personal memories.
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