My chat with the Dave Farra…

Before I headed down to the Palms to meet up with Dave Farra, I had a pretty good idea of who he was and what he did.  However, I am trying to be as professional as possible and become a better interviewer.  So, I jumped on his website www.davefarra.com to learn a little more about him.  This is what his site has to say in the “about” section…

“Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dave got into media at a young age. On air with his own radio show at just 19, Dave was destined to make an impact early on. He worked at the South Carolina radio cluster that gave him his break for five years before promotion after promotion moved him out West in 2005 to a prominent radio station in Las Vegas, NV.” 

This is where I first heard of Dave Farra, on his morning show on X107.5 Las Vegas.  I quickly became a fan of the show and a fan of Dave’s.  The show is great!  As if having an amazing morning show in a major market weren’t enough, his website goes on to tell of awards and recognitions earned for the show, additional projects and accomplishments.  Here is what it has to say,   

“While continuing to host his award winning radio show for KXTE-FM (winner of ‘Best Radio Personality’ twice, and a nomination for ‘Best Alternative Radio Show In The Country’), Dave began doing work as a TV host for Raw Vegas TV on red carpets around Las Vegas. This valuable experience led to high profile jobs doing commentary and hosting for Red Bull, Ring Of Fire MMA, The International Poker League, and more. Throughout his career Dave’s work has been seen by millions on Versus, Direct TV, ESPN, Sun Sports Network, Sport South, The Dish Network, Vegas TV, FSN and CNBC.

Somehow Dave manages to find time to also executive produce television programming. In 2009 Dave developed the fast paced half hour mixed martial arts program MMA:30 that had a home on DirecTV and FSN South before the first episode even completed filming. January of 2010 marked another big moment in Dave’s career as another show he executive produced, The 2009 World MMA Awards, aired on the Versus Network to critical acclaim.”

Wow, this is a guy who is making things happen and that is exactly why I wanted to talk with him.  I was super happy when he agreed to meet with me. 

As I sat down to come up with a list of questions to ask, my excitement turned to worry.  I hadn’t thought about it before, but I was about to interview a professional interviewer.  What in the world was i going to do?  Question number one:  “Any tips on interviewing?”  And that’s no joke!

After Dave offered me some great advice and we talked about a few other things, I did my best with the rest of the interview.  At the risk of asking the obvious questions, I couldn’t help myself.  I asked, “What is your dream match-up?”  With barely a hesitation, Dave answered, “GSP vs. Anderson Silva!”  To my surprise, he threw in a “Roy Nelson vs. Brock Lesnar”.  That’s awesome!

Then I asked about his predictions for UFC 121 coming up this Saturday.  Here are his picks… Sanchez over Thiago, Ortiz over Hamill, Lesnar over Velasquez.  The only one he wasn’t sure of was Shields and Kampmann.  He said that he couldn’t believe the odds on this fight (3 to 1 for Shields) and he thought Kampmann was going to “give Shields some trouble”.  I agree and hope Kampmann pulls it out!

My last question was whether or not he was excited about any other upcoming fights.  He mentioned two.   The Maynard vs. Edgar fight, to which a Maynard victory predictionwas added and the Roy Nelson vs. Shane Carwin fight.

It may not have been the greatest interview, but I thought it was a pretty good talk.  Dave Farra is a super nice guy and I am thankful for the time he set aside for this.