The great thing about being asked “what do you do for a living?” is telling people that I am a voice over talent which often times is followed up by “what’s a voice over talent?” I get to tell them about my business because they asked me…I didn’t force explaination on them. That is a sales person’s dream!

The bad thing about that scenario is how often it happens and how monotonous the explaination can feel after a while.

Well leave it to voice talent and teacher Bettye Zoller to spend the time to define it for all of us so we can just send people to a web site after they back up the Brinks truck with the oodles of money they’re going to pay us for our voice over talent.

I really enjoyed the part where she rattled off examples of the type of work we do because I often forget a few:

Voiceover talents today are hired to narrate audio books, anime, cartoons, videos, films, and cable TV programs. They are the voices of toys, talking picture frames, cell phone messages, talking greeting cards, your car’s GPS navigation system, and everything else that’s manufactured with a computer chip inside of it on which a voice track can be stored and played. Voiceover talents greet you (and annoy you!) on thousands upon thousands of those pesky recorded telephone messages and IVR systems. They talk to you through ceiling speakers while you shop in stores. You hear voiceover talents trying to convince you to buy cosmetics at your department store on a video playing over and over (looping) next to those expensive cosmetic products! The military uses voiceovers in training projects and the educational field also uses voice actors for educational endeavors. Nearly every classroom today, kindergarten through post-graduate study in universities sports a large TV monitor in a corner on which educational videos are played. Sometimes, it seems that a teacher doesn’t talk very much anymore. Rather, schools teach a majority of the time with videos.

Thanks Bettye for taking the time to slap that together. You can read the whole article here if you like.

Tags: announcers, character voices, commentary, narrations, podcasting, radio, tv, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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TORONTO, Ontario, November 8, 2007 – – Canada’s most successful publisher and one of the country’s most international businesses has retained audio’connell Voice Over Talent to help produce its new series of podcasts.

Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a Toronto, Ontario-based company that is the world’s leading publisher of series of romance and women’s fiction; their production of a new series of podcasts will allow their devoted readers to learn more about the characters they follow and the authors who create them.

audio’connell Voice Over Talent will help the publishing company with scripting and production of the podcasts’ intros and outros.

Harlequin Enterprises Limited publishes approximately 120 new titles each month in 26 different languages in 109 international markets on six continents. In 2006. the company sold 131 million books –half overseas and a tremendous 96% outside of Canada.

audio’connell Voice Over Talent is a worldwide voice over talent service featuring professional male and female voice talents specializing in commercials, corporate narrations, voice imaging, podcasts and messaging on-hold (MOH) created for advertising agencies, media and broadcast production companies as well as both large and small businesses around the world.

The company also operates audio’connell’s Voice Over Workshop to provide professional voice over training to novice and experienced voice talent around the world.
– 30-

NOTES TO EDITORS

Company Media Releases ON LINE:
http://www.audioconnell.com/media

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)

Company Name Spelling:
Use lower case letters- audio’connell or audio’connell Voice Over Talent

Company Web:
http://www.audioconnell.com

Company Blog:
http://www.voxmarketising.com

O’Connell Voice-Over Resume:
See resume here

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Tags: media releases by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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The question has been buzzing around my brain because I wonder if I am writing too many words? Should I edit my posts more for length? These folks say maybe.

Editing is not a bad thing.

Are readers put off by long posts? Is just the shape and the length of the post enough to make somebody want to click off (and is “click off” a new kind of social media vulgarity that I just ignorantly/innocently spewed forth? Hope not, if yes, sorry.)

I have a short attention span sometimes, so does that mean that all content has to be boiled down to 10-20 words to be read, let alone understood by most readers?

Is there too much rambling in my posts? Am I writing with the voice inside my head, a voice which many readers (regardless of my demos) have never heard when maybe I should be writing with a more informational style, like a journalist?

Blogs serve a myriad of purposes: creative and emotional outlet, search engine optimization tool, community builder, credibility enhancer and on and on.

I want to build the on-line presence for audio’connell Voice Over Talent and SEO-wise, this blog is one tool that helps that happen. It’s also good that I have a great deal of experience and a great many contacts in the fields of voiceover, marketing and advertising so that I have many resources and topics about which I can write and podcast about.

And I think the posts are interesting (including the posts that have nothing to do with the above).

So while I write about topics that I think will be of interest to my friends (known and unknown) in those industries, I guess if I am honest, I am writing for me.

Well, and you, because you and I are really the only two people who read this stuff. And thanks for that 🙂

Let me know what you think (and I am not fishing for compliments either, just taking the reader’s “pulse”, if you will).

Tags: advertising, blogs, commentary, internet, marketing, podcast, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Two radio stations who were a part of my radio life both made news last week and since I read it in the same file on All Access, I thought I’d mention it here.

In Dayton, Ohio WGTZ-FM the now formerly Z-93 has changed its format from heritage Top 40/Mainstream to it’s a Jack-ish Adult Hits format. Now calling itself “FLY 92.9”.

I worked for four years in the Dayton radio market. WVUD (now WLQT) was an adult hits station when I worked there (it had been AOR for a time before that) known as “Hitradio 100” and later as “Today’s Music, 99.9 FM”. What made WVUD interesting was it was a 50,000 watt station owned at the time (no longer) by the University of Dayton. It was NOT a college station however. The management including the GM, Program Director and sales staff were all long time radio pros. But the on-air staff was students and that’s what sold me on the school. I was on the air there within my freshman year and never looked back.

At the height of our ratings success, a station that had been known as WING-FM (and the calls were really the most memorable thing about the station at that time) turned the wheel and came gunning right for us. Z-93 was balls to the wall top 40 and commercial free for 30 days, knocking WVUD and Hitradio down a notch or two. Licensed to the town of Eaton, Ohio someone came up with a tremendous script for their top of the hour ID: “Z-93, WGTZ-FM. Eaton, Dayton and Springfield…Alive!” Say it out loud with the right inflection and you’ll catch its brilliance. But now after more than 20 years, change has come and Z-93 is no more. Oh and they fired the entire air staff (crappy SOP). It’s not so much about mourning for me now but rather, the memories.

And to prove how much I am outta touch with the local radio market here, WECK-AM was sold by Regent Broadcasting (which bought WECK and a cluster of other station stations previous owned by CBS Radio) to Culver Communications. Culver Communications owns WLVL-AM in Lockport, New York and it’s the only local radio station I ever worked at — for one week.

Yes you read that correctly. I worked there for one week where I summarily quit and was fired at the same time. Why I’d be glad to tell you the story. I got the job to handle the afternoon drive show (which was quite an honor in what was primarily a one stop light town – kidding) and had been training there all week. The pay might have been a bit above minimum wage but I was fresh outta college and oh well.

But at the end of the week, my dear aunt who had been sick died AND my Mother broke her arm – like, within 24 hours. This was going to be a testy week, schedule-wise and I called my program director to explain and ask for some time off. He said no and that I was unprofessional and if I needed time off I didn’t need to show up for work and I advised him that the station’s transmitter might fit slightly snugly up his posterior cavity (or maybe I was nicer but its what I shoulda said and isn’t that one of the nice parts of blogging, to rewrite your history as you so choose?)

But in all sincerity I hold no malice towards the station because life unfolded and I did pretty well for myself and my family. I think it’s terrific that local ownership (a rarity these days) now runs two stations and I am oh so hopeful that Dick Greene (who owned the station when I was there but I never got to meet – I guess he waits until the second week to greet the new folks – good plan) really makes a go of them. WLVL has been doing OK for years – more power to him.

Tags: blogs, commentary, radio, university of dayton, WVUD by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Fully 90% of my voice over business comes from outside my local area. It’s a kind of strange, baseless colloquialism that affects other voice talents and other businesses in general sometimes…”the talent must be better elsewhere” goes the thinking. Not everyone locally thinks that way fortunately (usually it’s the more creative and talented local minds who gladly employ local talent). But it’s a wall I’ve faced and since there is easier and sometimes greater money to be made elsewhere, then off I go with no hurt feelings.

That’s not to say I ignore my local market, quite the opposite. I participate in many professional associations and have held leadership or at least committee positions with a many of them. While networking is always my priority, I know I am ultimately better served focusing on the educational tools that these groups can offer me. I also develop deeply valued friendships which sometimes evolve into direct business or referrals which are sincerely appreciated.

One of the groups I belong to is the Advertising Club of Buffalo (formerly know as Brainstorm, formerly known as Pro Com and…after that it just becomes logo soup). But name-a-liciousness aside, the group is a good one. Its part of the American Advertising Federation and its chalk full of ad agency and public relations pros at all stages of their careers. Last year I was honored to be asked to be the voice of the Addy Awards, which has been going on for a long time. I got to work with Rob Wynne at Wynne Creative Group and Shaun Mullins at Propellerhead Media ; it was a terrific experience.

Well, the Ad Club and another Upstate New York based group called Ad Hub started a cool trade show two years ago called the Freelancer’s Expo. I know for a fact it was two years ago because my daughter was to be born the week before the expo but she decided she was very “comfy cozy” and in no hurry to arrive (it was the last time she did anything at less than the speed of sound). She thought she should wait until the Expo to arrive, which meant Da was a no show at the show. But Walter Ketchum, who runs the Expo and Ad Hub, could not have been more understanding. Walter refunded my booth money and gave me the show list of attendees to allow me to market to them, post show. It is a kindness I have never nor will ever forget. He was the very definition of the word “gentleman”.

So this year, having no birthing conflicts, I attended the Freelancer’s Expo at the Center For The Arts – University at Buffalo. It’s a lovely facility with the only downside being it’s at UB on a weeknight. Parking is at a premium when classes at a major University are in session, which may have made some prospective attendees gun-shy. On the other hand it is such a challenge to find a facility with a high profile that has free and easy access parking for hundreds of people that is centrally located. Give and take.

Be that as it may, the show was well attended I think and I had made a ton of new contacts and became reacquainted with some old contacts. I am subtly amazed at people who have an epiphany right in front of me: “oh, I knew you did voice overs but I forgot!” I could send weekly direct mails to these folks and they’d still forget.

But that’s the value of these trade shows: face to face marketing. Its comfortable, its informal but it is very informational (transmitting and receiving). You obviously need to have a great product or service, a good display, strong collateral and a refined pitch but if you do, the sky’s the limit.

If you have a chance to do trade shows like this within a 50-100 mile radius of your studio or office…do it. While showing up is only 50% of the effort (the other 50% is the follow up) your closing rate will amaze you.

Congrats to everyone involved in pulling off this show. And thanks again, Walter.

Tags: advertising, commentary, commercials, marketing, peter o'connell, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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