Richard Factor was born in 1945 and missed being a baby boomer by only weeks. He lived and was schooled in Manhattan and the Bronx, NYC, until he moved to New Jersey at age 40 and then to Sedona, Arizona in his 60s. He obtained a degree in Economics but preferred to pursue broadcasting and professional audio, claiming that he never let his classwork interfere with his education.
Factor had only two real jobs: One was a stint at WABC, where he created a digital jingle machine called the Hern, and the other was at Federal Scientific. Federal, which made realtime spectrum analysis equipment using nascent digital technology and integrated circuits, provided much of the inspiration for his future career.
Factor was one of the founders of Eventide Clockworks in 1970. At Eventide, he designed its early, now-classic products - a series of digital delay lines, the Instant Phaser, the Omnipressor®, and the first of a line of profanity delays. The term “serial entrepreneur” not having been coined in the ‘70s, Factor added to Eventide’s product line memory and peripheral hardware for Hewlett Packard computers and the first test and measurement instrument to be integrated inside a commercial computer. In the ‘80s, after getting a pilot’s license, he initiated the development of a line of moving map displays for general aviation aircraft. In the ‘90s he formed a division of Eventide to exploit digital recording. That division’s products are now widely used in public safety, aviation, and the military.
When NASA discontinued the SETI program in 1993, Factor started a non-profit organization, The SETI League, to look for extraterrestrial intelligence. (He is both pleased and sad to report that The League has thus far been just as successful and unsuccessful as have all the much larger organizations currently working on that project.) When the Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid car became available, he undertook a project to allow a Prius to provide emergency power for his house.
Factor remains Chairman at Eventide while his long-time colleague and partner Tony Agnello runs the company. He often covers “Chairman” on his AES badge with his preferred title: “Prime Fossil.” He, along with Agnello, received a Grammy Technical award and the AES Gold Medal.