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change is hard but sometimes wise

MCA-I Logo

Yesterday I was going through my social media pages, checking to see if there were any new cat videos or Pokemon happenings (not!) when I saw a post from my friend and fellow voice talent Tom Dheere. He shared the information that on August 11th, the board of directors of Media Communications Association – International (MCA-I) voted to closed the national association. They’re shuttin’ her down.

My hand to God, this next part is true: I was just about to call Tom Morse of MCA-I Central Carolina to check in about joining before I read that, now that I am a Raleighite or Raleighinian or…something. Actually I’m in Cary, just outside of Raleigh, but being a Caryite sounds more like a disease state than a residence. I’ll figure it out.

So the first thing I did after I read this news was call my friend and fellow voice talent Connie Terwilliger, who also served as MCA-I Executive Director. I don’t think many other people in the history of that group were as dedicated to MCA-I as Connie.

She explained that memberships just didn’t grow and participation wasn’t growing either. Having a boat load of personal experience governing associations, I know the fight is real.

Not that anyone needs to hear from me but for those folks on the MCA-I National Board of Directors – I know what you decided on was not done easily and in fact was likely particularly draining mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. Trust that you had all the facts and acted in accordance with your best judgement. You tried…that’s all anyone could ask.

My greatest disappointment is that they just got this really cool new logo that is sooo awesome!

BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS. Many (but not all) of the MCA-I Chapters that have been successful will remain open as independent groups which, aside from some educational and operational facets, they really were anyway. I am told presently this at least includes Orange County, CA, Madison WI, Atlanta, GA, New Jersey and Central Carolinas (yea!). So they can use the cool new logo – alls right with the world.

Some years back, I joined MCA-I when I was in Buffalo – even though there wasn’t a chapter in Buffalo. Then I was promptly placed on the national board of directors, in charge of membership. I liked the people I interacted with but didn’t stay with it after a few years because when I reached out to anyone to introduce myself, they didn’t know me and the membership alone didn’t seem to mean anything without the personal interaction.

My hope is that, with time and participation in the Carolina chapter, I’ll get to know people and see if business relationships can be developed. You gotta out yourself out there. You gotta try or nothing ever gets done.

audio’connell in harrisburg, pa

Voice Talents Scott Fortney and Peter K. O'Connell in Harrisburg, PA 2016

I’ve not been to Harrisburg since FaffCon was in the area many years ago. I’ve been about an hour away but not here.

So naturally when I checked my voice-over rolodex, I looked up Scott Fortney to see if he was available to get together.

This afternoon we grabbed lunch at the Harrisburg International Airport. Scooter (as he’s known) was working on a bunch of cool voiceover projects including a series of very interesting audiobooks about World War II. And mostly we talked about our families, as proud Fathers are prone to do.

We earned the right! 🙂

Thanks Scott for coming out to meet me. It was great seeing you.

giving newbies a chance in broadcasting and voiceover

Susan Hunt Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame 2016This poor woman. She had no idea what she was about to unleash onto the world of broadcasting over 35 years ago.

This woman’s name is Susan Hunt. Yesterday it was announced that she is being inducted next month into the Buffalo Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame.

It is a deserving honor. Not because of the television work she has done for HGTV, PBS, Discovery, The Travel Channel, ESPN, HBO and the Golf Channel among others. That work is terrific and worthy of recognition.

However, Susan Hunt deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because she gave me Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame Class of 2016my first job in broadcasting. It was an internship but for me it was a start. Given what she had to work with when this high school junior walked through the radio station door back then, though, she should receive something more like a medal. With any luck and maybe some therapy, she’s long forgotten the experience.

The year was 1980 and my brother Michael knew Susan and her family. He also knew of my budding interest in broadcasting and he knew that she was making her own way in broadcasting, at that time as the morning radio news anchor at WFXZ-FM (Foxy 93….I know, it was the 80’s).

Anyway, one night my brother and Susan got to talking. He told her about me, his younger brother still in high school, who wanted to get into broadcasting. She needed an intern in the morning. A contact was made, a deal was struck: I’d intern at the station, the station wouldn’t pay me and that’s broadcasting in a nutshell.

I knew nothing about journalism, radio news or even broadcasting. If there was a way to measure “less than nothing”, that’s where my media knowledge at the time would’ve really ranked.

And my high school was barely any help in this internship matter. The media teacher there, who would go on to be my business partner for a time and a groomsman at my wedding, tried to put something together resembling an internship but the high school guidance office was used to “forming” doctors and lawyers, not broadcasters. At the time, school alumnus Tim Russert wasn’t “NBC’s Tim Russert” yet (and he was a lawyer by trade anyway).

But in I jumped, with both my inexperienced feet, getting up at 4:00 am to get dressed and get the bus and be at the station by 5:45 for 2 or 3 times a week (I think). It was my first time listening to the farm reports on the radio (that’s how early in the morning it was – only me, farmers and chickens were awake). To give you a sense of when all this took place, the night before my first day in the Foxy 93 newsroom was the night John Lennon was assassinated.

Newsroom is a rough term, almost as rough as the term “radio station”. This place was a run down 2 story house at Main and Summer streets in what was, at the time, not the nicest of neighborhoods.

I could not have cared less about the building or the high school course credits. I was working at a radio station – learning the hard way – from somebody willing to give a newbie a chance. And that made all the difference.

The chance that Susan Hunt gave an ignorant. 17-year-old kid in 1980 helped clarify for him what he wanted to do with his life. That’s a pretty cool gift.

A communicator, a broadcaster, a voice over talent – it would take time, trial and error. But the success I’ve enjoyed might not have come as quickly or at all without that chance.

We all need that chance in our careers.

Likewise, for every chance we are given, we each should remember to offer that chance to someone in return.

Thank you, Susan, for my chance.

MEDIA RELEASE – O’Connell Helps Celebrate Summer at Bonefish Grill

Bonefish GrillHOUSTON, TX, August 16, 2016 – – Well known and respected for their tantalizing fish entrees, Bonefish Grill customers also appreciate the restaurant’s big city bar atmosphere, including seasonal cocktails. To entice Houston customers to enjoy their Martinis throughout August, Bonefish acquired the big city voice of Peter K. O’Connell for their radio spot.

About Bonefish Grill

Bonefish Grill specializes in market-fresh fish from all over the world. Our fish is prepared over a wood-burning grill and then paired with original sauces or toppings made from only the freshest ingredients. Bonefish Grill offers a big city bar atmosphere serving regional craft beers and seasonal cocktails with hand-squeezed juices and fine herbs. From innovative recipes, to contemporary renditions of the classics, our chef-driven menu and bar fresh cocktails are designed to indulge your senses, regardless of the occasion.

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 Bonefish Grill, some of Peter’s other clients include General Electric, Kraft Foods, PBS Television Network, Shell Oil, Western Union, Bacardi Rum, Deloitte Canada, Rich Products, U.S. Army, Starz Cable Television Network, BlueCross BlueShield and SunSetter Awnings.

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)

giving the announcer his due

announcerOften times, I feel like a was born in the wrong era. When I think of the birth of radio and consequently, the birth of the announcer, well, that’s one of those times.

In 2016, most people don’t have a sincere understanding of what radio meant to their forefathers in the 1920’s. It would be unfathomable to a teen or twenty-something today to accept almost 100 years ago radio immediately became an indispensable necessity to every American (possibly every person in the then modern world – but I don’t know the rest of the world’s broadcast history as well as I know America’s).

At a given time back then, maybe 60% or more of the U.S. population would be tuned into a single radio broadcast or network. No broadcast or network enjoys that kind of broadcast influence today. Radio, the medium, and its performers were true and enormous stars of the first magnitude

At the center of it all was the radio announcer. The unique, often calming voice that offered direction, news, commercials and so much more to listeners throughout the radio broadcast day.

That must have been so cool to work in radio back then.

Folks today know about Don Pardo because of Saturday Night Live. But he wasn’t even among the most famous of the early days of radio. People in Pittsburgh know of KDKA radio and some folks in our country might know that station was America’s first commercial broadcast station. But Harold Arlin of KDKA was the first nationally recognized announcer in America. He was a really big deal!

What about Milton Cross who was the voice of the Metropolitan Opera, hosting its Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts for 43 years, from the time of their inception on December 25, 1931 until his death in 1975. That was a national program. Oh, and Cross actually started his radio announcing career in 1921! That’s AMAZING!

And then Fred Foy. Not sure who he was? He was the announcer for the Lone Ranger radio series. Yup, a bunch of you just experienced that light bulb: “Ahhhhhh!”

Nobody like that exists today. No one even close.

Since Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show left the air (his announcer Ed McMahon went with him), the closest thing modern media has is Conan O’Brien’s sidekick/announcer Andy Richter. Andy’s great (truly) but he doesn’t have the sway that guys like Arlin had in his day.

Change is a constant. Life and media evolve.

Though I still think it would be fun to “Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear…”

MEDIA RELEASE – audio’connell Voiceover Talent Moves to Raleigh, NC

audio'connell_logo_blue_raleigh, NCRALEIGH, NC, August 10, 2016 – – audio’connell Voiceover Talent has relocated its studios from Buffalo, NY to Raleigh, NC. Proudly born and raised in Buffalo, company owner and male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell made the announcement today citing family, rather than weather as the reason for the move.

“It figures that now that Buffalo is on the rebound and enjoying a well deserved resurgence in popularity from both a business and community perspective, I move away,” O’Connell joked. “It was a nice opportunity for my children to be closer to their grandparents and all the other benefits of the move just sort of presented themselves to make the choice easy,” said O’Connell.

The company’s voiceover studio is already up and running in Raleigh with some voiceover projects having already been completed there. O’Connell noted, “One of the great things about voiceover today is you can live darn near anywhere and as long as you have superior acoustics, excellent technology and great customer service, clients will find you.”

While the studio’s address changed, the phone, email and web addresses remain unchanged.

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. Some of Peter’s clients include General Electric, Kraft Foods, PBS Television Network, Shell Oil, Western Union, Bacardi Rum, Deloitte Canada, Rich Products, U.S. Army, Starz Cable Television Network, BlueCross BlueShield and SunSetter Awnings.

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)