Background
Born in Avon, Illinois, Carpenter was the son of Barlow Carpenter, a Universalist minister, and Clara Carpenter (1874 – 1971).
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Ken Carpenter
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He graduated from Lombard College in Galesburg, Illinois in 1921, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
Career
Lombard College also is where Carpenter met his future lifelong wife, Betty. Carpenter moved to Hollywood in 1929, one year after resolving to move there after listening to radio legend Graham McNamee call the Rose Bowl. Not long afterward, he became a staff announcer for KFI radio.
As part of that job, Carpenter announced University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles football games for the Pacific Coast and the National Broadcasting Company radio networks from 1932 until 1935.
In 1935, Carpenter announced the Rose Bowl for National Broadcasting Company radio. Carpenter became the color man for Bill Stern for all National Broadcasting Company-originated radio programming from Los Angeles from 1938 until 1942, which included the Rose Bowl.
"Those Rose Bowl games were a big break for me, as they made me known to clients and advertising agencies in the East, so I had a jump on other local men when the big commercial shows started originating in Los Angeles in the mid-1930s," Carpenter later said. In 1936, Carpenter became Crosby"s announcer after Crosby began hosting the Kraft Music Hall radio variety program
Carpenter continued to announce for Crosby on various programs for the next 27 years.
Crosby famously once called Carpenter "the man with the golden voice." Carpenter also was known for ringing the chimes on many of Crosby"s shows. In his final years, Carpenter lived in the Brentwood area of Los Los Angeles He died at Saint John"s Health Center in Santa Monica, California on October 16, 1984 after suffering a brief illness.
He also was survived by four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
