Voice over announcers that you hear in multiple places, but do not know the name

[roadman65]

For years I remember listening to the Public Address systems in either trains stations, bus depots, supermarkets back in the day as the daily specials were announced to the shoppers during business hours, and even in airports.  Some I would spot in multiple places like here in Florida, I remember the man who had the nickname "The voice of Disney" would do the safety announcements on the WDW monorails inside WDW, as well as the Orlando International Airport Shuttle between the Landside and Airside buildings, and for a brief while was the announcer for Jimmy Bryant Honda, a local Central Florida auto dealer that used his voice on local radio ads.

Then for those of you who have been around for years and remember the "Sears is a wonderful place to shop" jingle most likely remember the NBC Nightly News announcer for Tom Brokaw and previous John Chancellor do the voice over ads for Sears and Roebuck commercials on both TV and Radio.

Of course Casey Casem used to announce TV programs right at the start of interrupting the old closing credit theme sequences on television shows until later Don Pardo began doing them.  When American Top 40 would start running shows in syndication on WNBC in New York I remember him as the announcer for NBC TV.  Of course I later learned that he was Shaggy on the Scooby Doo cartoons as well as Chicken Alex on Josie and the Pussycats, and Robin on the Batman cartoons.  Plus for a brief moment in the 1980's he did the Ford commercials in voice overs.  Of course I was not aware of Casey Casem then, so he was just another voice, but everywhere at the time.

Some may  not even be aware of James Earl Jones or who he is when he used to be the official spokesperson for Bell Atlantic before Verizon took them over, so that would count as he is the CNN announcer at commercial breaks.

Any other voices you do not know but heard around your area on local ads or stations?

[jeffandnicole]

Harry Kalas was an announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies until he passed away 6 years ago.  He did a number of voiceovers and commercials especially in the Philadelphia area, including narrating a number of NFL Films programs, as well as the Superbowl's halftime show rival, the Puppybowl.

[Stratuscaster]

Dick Orkin is a personal favorite for voiceovers and radio work. Older folks may know him as the voice of Chickenman.

[KEVIN_224]

I've heard the same announcer do voice overs for a car dealer in southern Maine, several years ago for a dealer in Wallingford, CT and presently for a long-time dealer here in central Connecticut.

An annoying woman's voice is constantly looped at South Station (bus terminal) in Boston. I want to say her name is Caroline Hopkins? I'm almost positive it's the same person who warns us about the moving walkway at Midway Airport (MDW) in Chicago.

[txstateends]

There is an announcer for WFAA/8 (Dallas-Fort Worth)'s news and promos that also does voiceovers for local Ford ads, plus he was hired to do the recorded PA announcements for DFW Airport's Skylink in-airport train ( https://youtu.be/T1_Pzxne14s ... this is a sample from an unofficial tour a traveler did; you can hear the voiceovers in the background ).

[Pete from Boston]

The drop-ins on WZLX in Boston are done by Space Ghost.

[empirestate]

I haven't heard her on any media, but I would like to know who is the voice in all of the airports with what I'd call the old-school LA accent (most noticeable in the pronunciation of "baggage")?


iPhone

[triplemultiplex]

Half the cast of Futurama seems to do commercial voice over.

Voice over in Lexus commercials as been Maurice LaMarche for years now.  Everytime I see one, all I can picture is Calculon in a recording booth reading copy.

Booking.com started running lots of TV spots this year and John Dimaggio is the guy going on about how "booking awesome" it is.

Can't forget Billy West.  Original voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios bee and both of those anthropomorphic M&M's we've seen for years.

[Pete from Boston]

For years I remember listening to the Public Address systems in either trains stations, bus depots, supermarkets back in the day as the daily specials were announced to the shoppers during business hours

Our simpler-times-style supermarket Market Basket has this still.  It is such a familiar sound that I still worry about the announcer whose voice started sounding unwell before he was finally replaced a couple of years ago.

Some may  not even be aware of James Earl Jones or who he is when he used to be the official spokesperson for Bell Atlantic before Verizon took them over, so that would count as he is the CNN announcer at commercial breaks.

Those are minor compared to his biggest voice-over role, the one that made him a household name: when he was the voice of Bell Atlantic even before the Nynex merger, I used to love telling friends outside the Mid-Atlantic that Darth Vaderanswered when we called 411!

[Takumi]

The drop-ins on WZLX in Boston are done by Space Ghost.

George Lowe?

[Pete from Boston]

The drop-ins on WZLX in Boston are done by Space Ghost.

George Lowe?

That's him.  Couldn't remember his name but I prefer imagining it's a hard-up-for-work Space Ghost.

[Stratuscaster]

For fans of voice-over work...
http://www.iknowthatvoice.com/

This never fails to amuse me...Star Wars as done in other character voices...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBzRmWeC6Ds

Voice over in Lexus commercials as been Maurice LaMarche for years now.  Everytime I see one, all I can picture is Calculon in a recording booth reading copy.

Or The Brain.

[bandit957]

I think there was a guy named Mitch Craig who used to do a lot of spoken radio ID's in the '80s. Not sure, but I think he was the voice that a lot of pop stations all across the country used back then.

[Pete from Boston]

The voice telling the pharmacists at CVS to pick up the phone is the same voice that tells me it can't hear me on the phone at Bank of America.*


* Fun use of one idle minute: call a voice menu that really won't let you talk to a person, then call another on conference and listen to them duke it out.  Place bets on which one breaks down and gets an operator on first.

[lepidopteran]

If you watched The Wonderful World of Disney back in the '70s, the announcer (especially during the fireworks-behind-the-castle bumpers) was Dick Wesson.  He also did a lot of TV commercials for Disney movies.

The link below leads to a bunch of TV commercials from 1977, many of which have recognizable announcers.  But does anyone know who the guy with the nasal-like voice who comes on at this cue?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNLN-j5MH3E#t=09m09s

[golden eagle]

I think there was a guy named Mitch Craig who used to do a lot of spoken radio ID's in the '80s. Not sure, but I think he was the voice that a lot of pop stations all across the country used back then.

He was all over the place in the 80s and 90s.

Who's the guy that does the voiceovers for ESPN Radio and msnbc?

[cjk374]

For years I remember listening to the Public Address systems in either trains stations, bus depots, supermarkets back in the day as the daily specials were announced to the shoppers during business hours

Our simpler-times-style supermarket Market Basket has this still.  It is such a familiar sound that I still worry about the announcer whose voice started sounding unwell before he was finally replaced a couple of years ago.

Some may  not even be aware of James Earl Jones or who he is when he used to be the official spokesperson for Bell Atlantic before Verizon took them over, so that would count as he is the CNN announcer at commercial breaks.

Those are minor compared to his biggest voice-over role, the one that made him a household name: when he was the voice of Bell Atlantic even before the Nynex merger, I used to love telling friends outside the Mid-Atlantic that Darth Vaderanswered when we called 411!

Now James Earl Jones is the voice for Arby's proclaiming, "We have the meats!!"

[Stratuscaster]

That's not James Earl Jones. I believe that is Ving Rhames.

[rawmustard]

Can't forget Billy West.  Original voice of the Honey Nut Cheerios bee and both of those anthropomorphic M&M's we've seen for years.

The original voice of the bee is Arnold Stang. And Billy West is only the red M&M; the yellow M&M is currently voiced by J.K. Simmons.

It's probably well-known, but Kevin Michael Richardson and Keith David voice a number of commercials (the latter voicing Navy recruitment ads).

[briantroutman]

The link below leads to a bunch of TV commercials from 1977, many of which have recognizable announcers.  But does anyone know who the guy with the nasal-like voice who comes on at this cue?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNLN-j5MH3E#t=09m09s

You're talking about the Carrier heat pump commercial? That's John Bartholomew Tucker. I remember him best from the '80s and '90s as the voice of Dirt Devil and Owens Corning commercials. He was on NBC radio for many years and had a very long career.

A couple of other familiar voices that come to mind:

Peter Thomas - Immensely talented and the voice of Nova in the '80s...plus countless commercials before and since. He's still on today–and still recording at age 91–as the voice of Forensic Files.

Mason Adams - I always new him as the unmistakable voice of Smuckers (and Cadbury Creme Eggs in America), but I didn't realize he was a character actor on TV for years and a cast member of Lou Grant.

[Pete from Boston]

The link below leads to a bunch of TV commercials from 1977, many of which have recognizable announcers.  But does anyone know who the guy with the nasal-like voice who comes on at this cue?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNLN-j5MH3E#t=09m09s

You're talking about the Carrier heat pump commercial? That's John Bartholomew Tucker. I remember him best from the '80s and '90s as the voice of Dirt Devil and Owens Corning commercials. He was on NBC radio for many years and had a very long career.

A couple of other familiar voices that come to mind:

Peter Thomas - Immensely talented and the voice of Nova in the '80s...plus countless commercials before and since. He's still on today–and still recording at age 91–as the voice of Forensic Files.

Mason Adams - I always new him as the unmistakable voice of Smuckers (and Cadbury Creme Eggs in America), but I didn't realize he was a character actor on TV for years and a cast member of Lou Grant.

He was also notably the voice of a lot of HBO promotion in the early 1980s.

[briantroutman]

He was also notably the voice of a lot of HBO promotion in the early 1980s.

Also an on-camera turn for that channel on HBO Mailbox.

[texaskdog]

What I always HATE HATE HATE is that rather than use good cartoon voicers like Billy West how these movies always pay big money to these celebrities that have nothing distinctive about their voices. 

[bandit957]

It is widely believed that Emilio Delgado - who plays Luis on 'Sesame Street' - used to read the disclaimer before 'Beavis & Butthead'...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAcrIU5IPnE

[cjk374]

For years I remember listening to the Public Address systems in either trains stations, bus depots, supermarkets back in the day as the daily specials were announced to the shoppers during business hours

Our simpler-times-style supermarket Market Basket has this still.  It is such a familiar sound that I still worry about the announcer whose voice started sounding unwell before he was finally replaced a couple of years ago.

Some may  not even be aware of James Earl Jones or who he is when he used to be the official spokesperson for Bell Atlantic before Verizon took them over, so that would count as he is the CNN announcer at commercial breaks.

Those are minor compared to his biggest voice-over role, the one that made him a household name: when he was the voice of Bell Atlantic even before the Nynex merger, I used to love telling friends outside the Mid-Atlantic that Darth Vaderanswered when we called 411!

Now James Earl Jones is the voice for Arby's proclaiming, "We have the meats!!"

That's not James Earl Jones. I believe that is Ving Rhames.

In case anyone was wondering...like I was...about how wrong I could be about my guess of James Earl Jones vs. Ving Rhames:   

http://wkdq.com/find-out-the-man-behind-the-deep-voice-in-the-arbys-commercials-hint-its-not-james-earl-jones/