Announcers are still out there!!

We voice-over types are regularly directed to sound natural, as if we're talking to one person, a friend, a neighbor. "Not announcery" is often part of the written description I see on auditions (even though the roles may often be broken down something like this: Woman. Man. Announcer).

I can't help but notice, however, that newscasters on television and on the radio sound anything but natural these days. Random words are emphasized and almost always the last word in a sentence is stressed, but if you were to speak that way to a friend or neighbor they would wonder what in the world you were playing at. Newscasters don't appear to be paying much attention to what they're saying, they're simply reading the teleprompter without comprehension. Have you noticed this? Is it a trend?

I miss Peter Jennings.

MCM News

a few highlights...

New York PSA on the hit parade! After last month's newsletter went out I heard from a New York City reader that that PSA has been playing about every 5 minutes down there (and that reader hadn't realised it was my voice!). If you haven't seen the arresting imagery in that piece - take a look.