Well color me surprised and perplexed.

I did not expect that with so many changes NOT being made (set, theme) that ABC News would replace Bill Rice with a new announcer for World News with Diane Sawyer.

I said so. I meant it!

This made me feel that we would be in good taste running our unofficial audition for the announcer job for World News with Diane Sawyer. It would be fun, harmless fun which is the point of the whole exercise.

I didn’t see the first show tonight but reports are coming in that indeed there IS a new announcer. No video yet as I think we have to wait for the west coast feed to be done at 9:30 PM ET. I’ll update it when I find it.

I am stunned and feel kind of bad about the whole thing.

Nobody and I mean NOBODY was gunning for Bill’s job with this silly event and in fact I think to a person we all respected his work. But somebody at ABC decided on a new voice and made that call.

So should we continue with the faux-ditions or is it now in bad taste? Is it a matter of ‘that’s the way our business goes’ or should we, as peers show more respect?

Kudos to the new person who got the gig. I hope it turns out to be one of my friends who has kept a great secret.

Were we merely being naively prescient with this new outcome or are we now dancing on a great announcer’s career if we keep this going?

Seriously, give me your thoughts!

P.S. 12/22/09: Here is the first video I could find of the new open.

Tags: ABC News, fauxdition, unofficial audition, video by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
16 Comments »

Nice news for my Arizona agent Dani Green of Dani’s Agency. She was elected by her peers on the Arizona Production Association (APA) board to be the new President for 2010.

Dani has been an APA Board member for the past 6 years, has operated Dani’s Agency for over 22 years and been my agent for I believe 3 years, most recently booking the O’Rielly Chevrolet campaigns for me.

The APA is in good hands for 2010.

Tags: commentary, voice casting by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Voice Over Talents Rowell Gorman, Debra Stamp & Peter K. O'Connell

The nice thing about travel (yes there are a few nice things) is heading in to warmer climates during the winter. Raleigh, NC isn’t Bermuda but it’s a very nice spot and it was my destination yesterday and today.

As always, I try and summon the voice over troops in the area, this time breakfasting with Rowell Gorman (the Imaginator) and Debra Stamp (who lived and worked in Buffalo for a long time and now lives in Raleigh).

Rowell is an in-demand character voice actor as well as announcer and Deb is a very well respected narration and commercial voice across the country. Both do terrific on-camera work as well.

It was an all too short visit but terrific to hear about the great work they are both doing including Rowell’s work on the North Carolina lottery as Mr. Monopoly and his voice work for the well known area drug chain Kerr Drug.

My thanks to both of them for spending part of their morning with me.

Tags: voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

What, did you think I forgot or sumpin’? It’s December and that means it’s time for voxmarketising’s annual fake audition or “faux-ditions”

This year we go back to the news division and our network of choice will be ABC as Charles Gibson is retiring and Diane Sawyer is taking over as the “World News” anchor. Obviously, they’ll need to re-do their opening announce.

That’s where YOU come in.

As you may or may not know, the great Bill Rice has been the announcer for ABC News for over three decades and does a marvelous job. I highly doubt someone of his great talent will be dropped so not only don’t get your hopes up via this unofficial audition…don’t even day dream. As always this is for fun (“this is not a competition, just an exhibition; please, no wagering.)

I’ll grab 3 judges and we’ll whittle all the contestants down to 10 finalists and then we will vote (but not until I call the vote).

You’re responsible for the mixing and audio quality (which has been a factor in past judging and voting); your audition needs to sound broadcast ready which means the mix should sound as great as your voice.

Here’s my demo – again just as an example – perform the announce in whatever way you think would be most likely accepted by ABC News producers if they were hiring a new announcer (which, as far as I know, they are not).

Peter K. O’Connell Demo Faux-dition:
[audio:http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/mp3/ABC_News_Sawyer_Auditions/OCONNELL_Unofficial_Sawyer_Audition.mp3]

You can download the music bed here. (Right click on the “here” and click “save link as…” on your computer to mix it within your own system.)

Your short script from which to prove your voice over brilliance is as follows:

“From ABC News headquarters…
This is World News with Diane Sawyer.”

If you need a reference for how they do it nightly, you can view that here but we will NOT be doing the story teases, focus on the part starting at about :15 seconds in for the purposes of your audition.

Email your audition to peter at audioconnell dot com. MP3 file only.

File name: YOURLASTNAME_Unofficial_Sawyer_Audition.

LISTEN TO ENTRIES HERE.

I’ll allow submissions until it becomes tedious or boring. Only one entry per voice talent, please.

Have fun and Merry Christmas from audio’connell Voice Over Talent.

BTW, if you haven’t already taken the time to SUBSCRIBE to this blog, I hope you will now.

Tags: commentary, fauxdition, unofficial audition, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
49 Comments »

MALDEN, Massachusetts, December 10, 2009 – – The manufacturer of America’s best selling awning, SunSetter Products, has signed professional voice talent Peter K. O’Connell to serve as the voice of its new 2010 national radio advertising campaign. The radio spots will promote the company’s famous SunSetter Retractable Awnings.

O’Connell Sample Audio:
[audio:http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/mp3/091214_Sunsetter_Annc_PETER_K_OCONNELL.mp3]

SunSetter Products is America’s largest manufacturer of deck and patio awnings. SunSetter Awnings are the #1 best-selling retractable awnings in America. Their retractable deck awnings and patio awnings offer sun and rain protection with the convenience of opening and closing automatically. SunSetter Products also offers SunSetter Screen Rooms which make decks or patios insect-free, Window Awnings, EasyShades, and a selection of awning, deck, and patio accessories.

A professional voice talent since 1982, some of Peter K. O’Connell’s professional voiceover credits include productions for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Shell Oil, Starz Cable Channel, New Jersey Alliance and New Jersey Tourism, J. Walter Thompson Advertising (JWT), 2K Games, Cleveland Browns, Tops Friendly Markets, Island Press Publishers, Harlequin Enterprises, First Choice Power, Bank of Tuscaloosa, Crosby Stills & Nash, Fashion Outlet Mall, Junior Chamber International, Peek N’ Peak Resort and Spa, Devaweb and The Advertising Club of Buffalo.

Peter is President of audio’connell Voice-Over Talent which provides English-speaking professional male and female voiceover services for national and international clients. The voice over needs of foreign language clients are served through another O’Connell-owned company, International Voice Talents. Mr. O’Connell also owns Voice Over Workshop, which provides professional voice over training to novice and experienced voice talent world-wide.

audio’connell Voice-Over Talent, International Voice Talents and Voice Over Workshop are all a part of O’Connell Communications, LLC.

-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

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn

Google+

Tags: media releases by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
3 Comments »

I don’t think I’ve ever met an aloof voice talent but I know a bunch that could come across that way; they hurt their businesses but they don’t know they are doing it.

My reference is because these voice talents don’t have a phone number on their web sites. Hard to believe when you digest that sentence – a voice talent with a web site that contains no phone number. They are unable to be easily communicated to via the most effective form of electronic communication (email isn’t the “most” effective).

I was on the phone today with a very talented, well-respected and experienced voice talent whom I’ve known on-line and off for some time. I wanted to follow up on an email he sent me via phone (because I’m a talker – a voice talker).

His email signature did NOT contain his phone number (another long standing no-no in my book). So I clicked on the web link that was in his sig (awesome!) to find his phone number.

The phone number wasn’t on the site and then I remembered it was in my phone’s contacts so when I buzzed him, I called him on the omitted phone number on the web site. The reason he gave for not having a phone number on the web was that didn’t want his home phone number (where his studio was) listed all over the web. He hadn’t seemed to consider the situation with the cell phone.

My thoughts on this to him were simple:

– Use a cell phone as your business phone – nobody can see WHERE you are answering your phone. It will always be with you and you’ll have less chance of missing an incoming job. The rules on phones have changed – cell phones are a priority over traditional business lines in many cases (your mileage may vary)

– If you follow this strategy, make sure you ALWAYS answer your phone in a professional manner and make sure you outgoing message sounds professional. No “It’s me, you know what to do, dude.”

– When you secure a cell phone contract, get them to give a good phone number. What constitutes a good phone number? One that is easily memorable and sounds like a business number. When I bought my phone a number of years ago, just after cell phone numbers became portable, I told my phone provider that I would buy a new phone and contract with a good phone number – without it, the deal was off. Quickly they found me 716-572-1800.

– Live near a big city? Sometimes you can get a phone with the big city area code (212/New York City for example). Suddenly, you’re a big city voice talent.

I hope this helps.

Tags: commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
8 Comments »