New voice guy on PRO-AM?

[someplacesomewhere]

What happened to the old guy? New one sounds good, same guy who does BCN, and I assume will do WBZ-FM.

More power behind the new guys voice, but the old guy was quite good as well.

 

[Skynet74]

New guy is a nice change. I recognized him right away from WBCN

 

[Holland Cooke]

OK, so he's yet-another growler...

...but he can pronounce "W."

 

[alvincater]

Sounds very Phoney! Old guy was better.

 

[Holland Cooke]

Whenever you audition voice talent demos, ask yourself...

"...would I want to be seated next to this person on a long flight?"

 

[Skynet74]

Re: Whenever you audition voice talent demos, ask yourself...

"...would I want to be seated next to this person on a long flight?"

So in other words you don't like the new guy? It's ok.. Comon say it. You know that you want to. lol

 

[Holland Cooke]

RE "So in other words you don't like the new guy?"

Comon say it. You know that you want to.

No!
That's NOT what I'm saying.
Nothing personal.
The only people who can tell the-old-voice-guy from the-new-voice-guy are people-who-work-in-radio.
And they're not [supposed to be] sampled by Arbitron.

This hokey, growling style isn't a local problem.
It's a RADIO problem...everywhere.
It's a caricature, and it works-against Time Spent Listening.
People are barked-at all day. They feel like Dilbert.

DISCLAIMER: He's a pal of mine, and we were doing some DARN-outside-the-box-stuff in his Miami studio last week.
But listen to http://www.nickmichaels.com/radiostation.html

Several years ago, Nick and I were working on an imaging campaign for a station in Minneapolis.
We argued for TWENTY FIVE minutes...about two words.

I'd written something-akin-to the typical stuff you hear on most stations:
"SET A BUTTON FOR..."
He was adamant. "Don't 'bark' at people. Make them an offer."
25 minutes later, the gentler re-write was "YOU COULD SET A BUTTON RIGHT NOW," and he was right.
It sounded politer, and more useful and supportive.

 

[Skynet74]

Re: RE "So in other words you don't like the new guy?"

The only people who can tell the-old-voice-guy from the-new-voice-guy are people-who-work-in-radio.

If that were true, than it would make no sense for a station to pay more money to get someone good, correct? Afterall what's the sense? Nobody will be able to tell the difference.

Just want to make sure that I am understanding you correctly.

 

[Holland Cooke]

"After all what's the sense?"

What's the sense in sounding like a cliche?

Get someone who sounds human, someone who sounds different-than other stations' same-old-same-old Voice-O-God.

Hear how that Nick Michaels stuff doesn't talk-down-to you?
At several stations, I'm using a woman.
Got the idea when I was living in Washington and heard a woman in NBC4's booth.
I've used versatile, poised Kim Snyder (http://www.kimsnydermedia.com/main.html) at several stations.

 

[Skynet74]

Re: "After all what's the sense?"

What's the sense in sounding like a cliche?

Get someone who sounds human, someone who sounds different-than other stations' same-old-same-old Voice-O-God.

Hear how that Nick Michaels stuff doesn't talk-down-to you?
At several stations, I'm using a woman.
Got the idea when I was living in Washington and heard a woman in NBC4's booth.
I've used versatile, poised Kim Snyder (http://www.kimsnydermedia.com/main.html) at several stations.

Oh. NOW I finally get what you are saying. You think WPRO's old voice guy and their new voice guy have a similar style! For GOD's sake why didn't you just say that. Sometimes I get lost as I travel through all your detours. lol

 

[Holland Cooke]

I'll clarify.

Oh. NOW I finally get what you are saying. You think WPRO's old voice guy and their new voice guy have a similar style! For GOD's sake why didn't you just say that.

You're halfway there.

Yes, the old voice and new voice sound-alike (to "real people"); AND...

Both are doing the typical non-conversational radio imaging style, talking-AT people.

 

[Skynet74]

No.. it's not that you are unclear. I'm just slow. ;-) But I do have to ask why all the announcers that people seem to remember are the ones with the overbearing in your face voices? Isn't it because they were the gold standard and considered to be the best? Don LaFontaine, Ernie Anderson, Don Pardo to name just a few. If Ernie Anderson were alive today would you recommend that a station hire him? I've got to believe that even you see the value in a deep voice. If your answer is NO, please explain why you don't think the old style voice applies anymore. I'm very interested.

 

[wknd92]

Jim Cutler is an excellent example....he is so good at his craft that you can ask for any type of read/image style you want and he can do it (Jim Orban is another excellent example). If you are LOOKING for the over the top, smack you in the face reader, they can do it; but both are very adept to sounding more like a friend talking to you than someone (like Billy Mays) trying to get you to buy (or buy into) something...For a period back in the 90's, Pro-FM had both Mitch Craig and Jim Cutler doing imaging stuff for us. At that time, I liked Jim's stuff better

 

[Holland Cooke]

I'm wishing THIS was a 900 number...

I do have to ask why all the announcers that people seem to remember are the ones with the overbearing in your face voices?

You say "people seem to remember" based on...what?

Because that's-what-too-many-stations-do doesn't mean that's what listener prefer.
I'm saying the opposite.
Arbitron diaries are "a memory test," which disadvantages sound-alike.
And not just recorded imaging work.
One of the enduring ironies of radio is that many conform, while the-standard-of-measurement rewards nonconformity (Salty Brine).
More typically, radio treats listeners like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws58s9wzYsA

Don LaFontaine, Ernie Anderson, Don Pardo to name just a few.

You make my point.
Certainly you're not suggesting that those three sound alike.

I sure wouldn't call elegant Pardo a growler.
Fox had LaFontaine in bark mode, but his best work was the near-whisper delivery in those umpteen movie trailers.
"In a world where..."
Hunt for his work on YouTube, and you'll hear him lower his voice more-often-than raise it.

Ernie Anderson

VERY 70s/early-80s. Disco. After he died, his estate tried selling new radio imaging voicework, cobbled-together from every-letter-and-number-permutation-you-can-imagine, which they had in-the-can from earlier work...and it didn't catch-on.

I've got to believe that even you see the value in a deep voice.

"Even you?"
Would you not call thishttp://www.nickmichaels.com/radiostation.html "a deep voice?"

There is no evidence that people like being-barked-at.
If you're skeptical, talk-like-a-typical-radio-imaging-voice to everyone you interact with today.
Heck, as you'll see in that YouTube video, THE DOG doesn't like it either.

 

[Skynet74]

Re: I'm wishing THIS was a 900 number... Me Too!

You say "people seem to remember" based on...what?

Go to youtube. Type in any of the BIG announcer names. Read the comments. People do seem to REMEMBER. They are voices that had a definite impact. You can't be much more Booming in your face than Don Pardo on Saturday Night Live (or) Ernie Anderson with his famous words THE LOVE BOAT! Even Joe Cipriano with his hyper intensive style on FOX and also on many radio stations throughout the land. These are the voices that pull in the big bucks and are clearly the most successful in the land of voices. Why is that the case if people don't like to be barked at?

Certain formats sound better with barking IN YOUR FACE imaging. A voice that pops off the page and makes you pay attention. I don't see a nagative in that. Afterall I think that is the whole point! To have a voice that doesn't blend in to the point where it just sounds like a commercial. Even in those cases where I don't know the announcers name, I can still definitely recognize the voice. The guy on 94 HJY for instance. I've heard him all over the country. Sounds good to me. I can't be the ONLY one.

Perhaps the big booming voices are not your style. However I think you are describing your own personal preference and tastes more than anything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vofa5EboHzY

 

[Holland Cooke]

"I think you are describing your own personal preference"

Talk-like-a-typical-radio-imaging-voice to everyone you interact with today.

RE "Ernie Anderson on PM Magazine:" circa 1980-something?

RE "hyper intensive style...pull in the big bucks and are clearly the most successful"

Talk to ANY of those guys -- many-of-whom work for scale -- and THE FIRST thing they'll crab about is how ACTORS are scarfing-up all the plumb voiceover gigs. Think Gene Hackman and Robert Redford and Linda Hunt and Demi Moore and Stanley Tucci -- all voicing national TV and radio spots -- are working for scale? They get these (unidentified) gigs because they're not pukers.

I WISH I COULD DO THAT, but after 10,000 on-air hours as a DJ, I'm locked-into puke mode.

 

[Skynet74]

We finally agree

Talk to ANY of those guys -- many-of-whom work for scale -- and THE FIRST thing they'll crab about is how ACTORS are scarfing-up all the plumb voiceover gigs. Think Gene Hackman and Robert Redford and Linda Hunt and Demi Moore and Stanley Tucci -- all voicing national TV and radio spots -- are working for scale? They get these (unidentified) gigs because they're not pukers.

I WISH I COULD DO THAT, but after 10,000 on-air hours as a DJ, I'm locked-into puke mode.

You are 100 percent correct. Actors ARE scarfing-up all the plumb voiceover gigs. I've heard many complaints and the complaints are valid. I'm not busy polishing up my entrepreneurial skills for nothing. The voiceover business has become increasingly competitive. There comes a time when you need to try something new. I still do voiceovers when the opportunity is there. But I've had to combine that with other things lately. Most people in broadcasting have needed to come up with a new strategy to succeed. Things arn't as clear and cut dry as they once were.

 

[wknd92]

I've heard it all....

 

[Skynet74]

I've heard it all....

Yes.. but we haven't heard enough from you. So what is your opinion of the new Voiceover guy on WPRO? Good or bad?

 

[wknd92]

It doesn't matter one way or another...it is someone to tell the call letters, frequency and city of license and do some promo/imaging voicing. It doesn't phase me one way or another and I'm guessing it doesn't phase the listeners either