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MEDIA RELEASE – “Better Not Bigger” Evans Bank Secures O’Connell

Evans Bank logoBUFFALO, NY, September 26, 2016 – – For its new “Better Not Bigger” radio advertising spot, Evans Bank secured a better (and maybe only a little bigger — with age) voice talent as the radio campaign’s signature voice. In the radio ad, national voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell shares the inviting message for customers inadvertently swept up in recent banking mergers to consider the financial strength and full banking services offered by Evans Bank.

LISTEN TO THE RADIO COMMERCIAL HERE

About Evans Bancorp, Inc.
Evans Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE MKT: EVBN) is a financial holding company and the parent company of Evans Bank, N.A., a commercial bank with $1.0 billion in assets and $870 million in deposits at June 30, 2016. Evans is a full-service community bank, with 14 branches, providing comprehensive financial services to consumer, business and municipal customers throughout Western New York.

About Peter K. O’Connell
From Fortune 500 companies to companies that think $500 is a fortune, multi-award winning male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell has shared his voiceover skills with a wide variety of companies globally. In addition to this radio campaign for Evans Bank, some of Peter’s other clients include General Electric, Kraft Foods, PBS Television Network, Bonefish Grill, Shell Oil, Pitney Bowes, Western Union, Bacardi Rum, Deloitte Canada, Rich Products, U.S. Army, Starz Cable Television Network, BlueCross BlueShield, SunSetter Awnings, and Fox Sports North.

Known as America’s Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent, Peter is a natural born storyteller whose voice-over work has been featured in radio and TV commercials, corporate narrations, political commercial voice-overs, TV network promos, e-learning narration projects and other media productions. Originally from Buffalo, NY, now living in Raleigh, NC, Peter owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent, a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. Peter can be reached via audioconnell.com.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

CONTACT:

Peter K. O’Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

audio’connell Voiceover Talent P.O. Box 5493 | Raleigh, NC 27512-5493

PH. +01 716-572-1800 EM. peter@audioconnell.com W. audioconnell.com

COMPANY MEDIA CENTER:

http://www.audioconnell.com/media

PETER K. O’CONNELL VO CREDITS:

http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/pdf/PDF%202016/OConnell_Peter_Voice_Over_Resume_160926.pdf

COMPANY NAME SPELLING:

Use lower case letters- audio’connell or audio’connell Voiceover Talent

COMPANY NAME PRONUNCIATION:

au·dio·o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-oh-kah-nel) or au·di-o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-kah-nel)

Requiescat in Pace Arnold Palmer

Arnold Palmer

I still have the autographed golf ball, the staff umbrella pin and a fair number of cashed paychecks.

But that still doesn’t help me to not feel sad tonight.

Internationally famous golfer Arnold Palmer died tonight, he was 87.

He was a respected golfer, businessman and aviator. The sport of golf owes so much of its success to him that they could never repay him. Men like Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods may have arguably been better golfers.

They could never be Palmer. They never were Arnie. He was one of kind.

I only have the audacity to write this, having met the man once in 1972 (no I don’t think he would remember me). Then, some 30 years later, I went to work for him (sort of) as Area Sales and Marketing Director for Arnold Palmer Golf Management.

But that connection (to which he was rightly oblivious) is oddly sincere for me. I can’t explain it better than that and maybe if you were a fan also, I don’t have to.

Many people thought I would have met him them, but circumstances didn’t avail themselves and I was always, truly all right with that.

History has shown he wasn’t a perfect guy and that made him, in an peculiar way, all the more popular.

He was a decent guy, a normal guy, one of us. Well, that’s what we all like to imagine anyway.

He lived a fairly terrific life, I think he would say…actually in all the interviews in the past decade or so, I think he did say that.

But I just feel like I wanted to write this brief note to say how sorry I was that he had died and how much I enjoyed watching him while he was around.

And when you think about that for a minute, coming from me — among the millions he didn’t know — that alone is a sign of a life pretty well lived.

Thanks Arnie, and please give my regards to Winnie.

 

doing voiceovers for political commercials

politics

You know what’s so funny to me, as a political voice talent?

It’s not the politicians or referendums or the political action committees. Those are just grown-ups trying to do that which they think is right.

Well, in a few cases, it is grown-ups behaving badly.

But what I find so terribly funny about being a voice talent for political spots is that I myself am so completely not political. I’m just not.

I am intentionally not affiliated with a political party. I don’t donate to political causes. I’m not a rally attender.

I do vote, every election without exception. I am amazed when I hear how many people do not vote. People died for me so I’d have that right in the democracy of my nation! What the heck?! Vote people!

Me being not very political doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions, I do. Every voice talent does. Every person does.

I just don’t blast it upon the world (as I hear and see others do) Plus I stay far away from mentioning any thing political on social media. To me that’s just professional suicide, no matter what your job is.

Nope, I just give the client the best and most appropriate read for the script. Work fast, be fun to work with and then get paid. It’s been a winning formula thus far.

So what happens if I get a political commercial script that I really have a problem with?

Likely what I’ll do is contact a fellow voice talent whose personal views maybe more in line with the script’s content and see if I can foster a connection. Why?

First of all, this is a business transaction, it’s not meant to be personal. Some people see it otherwise, but I don’t. It’s business.

Often times, also, the campaign managers or political consultants who send me scripts work on a wide range of campaigns. So while I may not work with them on one campaign, we may have no problem working together on another campaign.

Politics is about relationships. Voiceover is about relationships. So I guess in a sense, I am a little political. Here’s a link to my political demo, if you’d like to listen.

past radio glory in raleigh, nc

Former WPTF Studios, Raleigh, NCI have a strange habit when I am in a new area of checking out large radio towers to see where they lead.

This has something to do with my continued fascination with radio broadcasting. It’s a disease of sorts.

I am not the only person who suffers from it, though. Scott Fybush is but one radio person who loves radio towers so much, he has a calendar on them.

So as I learn my way around the Raleigh, Durham, Cary area in North Carolina, I was bound to find a radio tower that I had to investigate.

When I first saw the tower, I had other people with me and they wouldn’t go on a radio tower adventure (spoil sports!)

But this week, while at lunch I found it again and I went on the hunt. The hunt is not always as easy as you would think, because sometimes the overgrowth (sometimes intentional, sometimes not) makes getting near the tower tough.

This one was fenced off but to find the remains of the old radio station next to the tower was like Christmas in September! It was literally on the “other side” of a railroad track.

WPTF original radio station Raleigh NCWPTF was once an amazing station in this market. 50,000 watts back in 1941…just think about how far THAT signal travelled.

Programming changes in recent years evidently impacted it ratings in the market…but this building is NOT indicative of the station’s current status…it’s just the old building, which I think is really cool. The station still exists today, with its studios in a different location as part of a cluster of stations.

Now owned by Curtis Media Group, back in 1927 The Durham Life Insurance Company purchased the station (then called WRCO)  from the Wynne Company. They changed the call letters to WPTF for the company’s slogan “We Protect The Family” (oh, I also love radio call letter stories).

You can read about it’s history here

faffcon 8

FaffCon 8 2016 Minneapolis, Minnesota

FaffCon 8: The Happiest Voiceover Place On Earth

I’m not sure where to start.

Really, I feel like there are so many pre-event, in-event and post event stories that it would make your head spin to share them all or maybe even bore you or…if you wanted to go and didn’t then you might be envious or annoyed.

I don’t want any of that for you.

So I will just list some of my notes (in no special order) in the hopes that it will give you a taste of some of the moments that made FaffCon 8 special for me.

There are over a hundred stories just like this.

My story isn’t special. All of them are.

•   Maybe not to the point of jumping and singing (because that might cause the police to be notified) but I was so full of joy at how many first time Faffers were in attendance at FaffCon 8 — each of you deserved to be there

•   FaffCon simply does NOT happen for me without my wife taking up the parenting slack for a long weekend and my kids giving Da a weekend pass, thank you loves

Voiceover Talents Peter K. O'Connell, Kelly Brennan and Dan Hurst

Voiceover Talents Peter K. O’Connell, Kelly Brennan and Dan Hurst at FaffCon 8

•   I came into this FaffCon with the goal of listening — one of the people I always try and listen closely to is Dan Hurst; because I listened to Dan at his FaffCon 8 presentation, my professional life will get better…thank you Dan, yet again…I needed to hear your words, yet again (Kelly Brennan also understands this)

•   The purple FaffCon 8 t-shirt was my idea…totally

•   If you were at FaffCon 8 and did not meet Kelly Kelmolin, you missed a HUGE opportunity to meet someone who could have your golden nugget — I’ve lost track of how many I’ve received over the years —so you need to make a point to call her and introduce yourself in the next week

•   Frustration is the emotion I will share with you to describe my feeling as to why the world doesn’t understand that Natalie Stanfield is one of THE most talented improvisational actresses and teachers we have on our earth – wake up world, she’s right THERE!

•   Best audience member for my presentation: Jodi Krangle

Buffalo Voiceover Meet-up at FaffCon 8

The Buffalo Voice-Over Meet-up Group “Heard Around Buffalo” at FaffCon 8. Front Row: Natalie Stanfield, Fran McClellan, Maria Pendolino; Middle Row: Fred Filbrich, Dan Lenard, Peter K. O’Connell, Bev Standing; Back Row: Patrick Sweeney

•   I’m not going to brag but I will say only this: Maria Pendolino, I do not lie and now you know the truth of my words…do not miss FaffCon (Buffalo Voice Over Meet-up Group Represent!)

•   Energy and impact awards for F8: Celia Siegal, Brad Newman and Tracy Lindley – they make things happen

•   Two words: Dan Friedman

•   One word: Yeni

Voice Talents Bruce Miles and Peter K. O'Connell

Voice Talents Bruce Miles and Peter K. O’Connell at FaffCon 8

•   Most glad to see award (besides everyone): Fred Filbrich, Bruce Miles and Amy Taylor Fernandez (tie)

•   Melanie Murphy could take over the world with her charm and street smarts – you have been warned

•   Faffers are generous with their time, talent AND treasure as evidenced by the $8,000 donation to Breanna’s Gift — generous work done in support of the families and young children with cancer and other serious diseases…heartbreaking and soul crushing to imagine what these children and their families have, do and will go through

Peter K. O'Connell at FaffCon 8

FaffCon 8 Emcee and Voice Talent Peter K. O’Connell

•   So personally and unpredictably heartbreaking that on my final and unexpected appearance on the mic as emcee, after the Breanna’s gift check presentation, to end FaffCon 8, I could barely (and I mean quite. literally. barely.) speak: verklempt — critically sick children are my emotional kryptonite, even now – sorry about that Faffers

•   There are many valuable reasons for businesses to sponsor FaffCon and Edge Studio had good cause to be FaffCon 8’s Presenting Sponsor…but I hope they truly understand (beyond money) how genuinely valuable their sponsorship was to supporting the true mission of FaffCon for the voiceover community; thank you David and Graeme

Thank you EVERYONE who sponsored FaffCon 8

•   Best Church Buddy: Anthony Gettig

•   Mike Coon is a talented and underated voice talent – but sponsorship sales for FaffCon would simply not be successful without him, period

•   Amy Snively and Lauren McCullough had many unique and completely unnecessary challenges from those outside and inside the Faff Circle since the last FaffCon and leading into this one (adults behaving badly on a multitude of levels will be the broad brush stroke I shall use here) — it might have led less hardy souls to quit but they did not quit and for that I am grateful

•   To those who were at the Thursday meeting: thank you and thank you again

•   To everyone whose name is not on this post – you were only omitted here but not forgotten here

•   Note to self, there are only two FaffCons left: live these days like they are “the good old days”, because they are and they are slipping away

audio’connell in dallas

Peter K. O'Connell & Cliff Zellman Dallas, TX 2016It was a quick visit to Dallas but I gave my friend and audio producer extraordinaire Cliff Zellman a heads up at FaffCon that I would be in town this week.

Cliff produces some of the best and most effective (I suppose being most effective would make them the best, wouldn’t it) automotive commercials in the country (no I’m not a voice talent on those spots – those ladies and gentlemen have wonderfully particular talents that I do not). You likely have these car spots in your market and they are amazing, in large part because of Cliff meticulous production.

He also produces impressive voice-over demos as well.

I got to hang at Cliff’s studio for a while and then he took me to one of his favorite BBQ joints, which was awesome. We solved most of the voiceover world’s problems but then realized no one would listen to us anyway.

Thank you Cliff for being a good friend and an awesome host!

P.S. Don’t touch his guitars!