two quick and recent voice-over observations

I suppose if you’re passionate about your work, you can find examples of it everywhere. Like plumbers see good or bad plumbing when they’re just in a friend’s house or CPAs might see examples of good or bad financial reporting someplace other than their own offices.

Since my thing is voice-over, here are two things I’ve noticed since this past weekend.

1. Carnival Barkers Love Their Own Voice

I took the audio’connellettes to the big county fair this weekend, our first time going as a family (Mrs. audio’connell stayed home with baby audio’connellette because he naps and she hates fairs…a lot).

I hadn’t been to a big fair in a while but I noticed something unique when I attended the famous Pig Races that my neighbor told me I should attend. The owner/operator of the Pig Races (in which the winning swine wins an Oreo cookie — so I completely understood these oinkers desire to win) also served as MC.

He didn’t say his name was Ron Radio but there is no way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks this guy does not have a radio background. I’m talking full-on “but enough about how great I think I sound, tell me how great YOU think I sound” puke voice on a PA with volume loud enough to be heard for miles.

Now given it’s a busy and loud fair, I get the volume thing and the patter thing…it’s a business and I respect it; in no way do I mean to demean the hard work that goes into working traveling fairs. But I paid my fee to be entertained and I was, having a good chuckle listening to all the men and women who, in my opinion, found a way to use their old radio voice in a new way. More power to them.

2. Some pilots sound like an obscene phone caller on the in-flight PA

So you know I travel a fair amount and I hear lots of in-flight announcements. There are two distinct groups of pilots in this world, those who love the microphone and those who are still baffled by its purpose.

The ones who love the microphone thank passengers for flying with them incessantly, give passengers 30,000 foot tours of what’s on the left side of the plane and what’s on the right side of the plane (besides the wings and engines…hopefully) and they do all this on an overly loud PA while I and most of the other passengers are trying to rest. Oy, shut up already!

But at least you can understand them.

I was flying to Detroit this week and a pilot got on the PA a couple of times and each time it sounded like he grunted or exhaled briefly (there may have been a vowel mixed in there) and that was it. But I think he actually thought he said something that was understandable.

It was not.

I chuckled for a moment at his unintelligibility but then thought to myself ‘what if this plane ran into trouble and this guy had to give emergency instructions to the passengers?’ If he’s telling me something important but it sounds like grunts and heavy breathing, I’ve got problems…oh yeah and so do these other people.

It’s obviously most important that these pilots know how to fly well but can’t we spend an hour on public communication for these flyboys too?

I’d take Captain Chatty over First Officer Mumble Mouth any day.

2 Responses to “two quick and recent voice-over observations”

  1. Peter, I’m still laughing (and can relate) to the Pilot stuff.

    Whenever I go to visit my twin sis and my nephews, my sis and oldest nephew, before anything else after they pick me up at the airport, demand my impression of the Delta Captain I had. And, of course, that impression varies on which of your two aforementioned groups he fell in to.

    Great stuff! Thanks!

  2. Thanks Michael. On yet another flight this week, we pulled away from the gate and sat for 20 minutes before the pilot said anything. 20 minutes later we left and lots of folks missed a connection. I was lucky…I made mine.

    Thanks for visiting!!

    Best always,
    – Peter