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You’re going to ask “why”? I will answer “I dunno.”

You’re going to ask “how”? My answer is “Not entirely sure.”

You’re going to ask “gobsmacked“? I will respond “Completely!“

All I can tell you is that some days before the Buffalo Bills played the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte back on October 26th, I got a call from newspaper columnist Erik Brady.

If that name is familiar to you, that’s likely because you read one of his many great sports columns in USA Today.

I heard you gasp…because…me too!

What’s an award-winning sports columnist of 36 years from USA Today doing calling me…the MOST UNathletic voiceover actor on the planet???

Naturally he wanted all my professional insights and prognostications on the upcoming Bills-Panthers game (given “all my years playing in the NFL”), right? Right?!

Turns out, no.

Although, Erik’s call was Buffalo Bills–football-related.

Sidebar – Erik is from Buffalo (his family lives in Arlington, Virginia now). We both went to Canisius High School (about ten years apart – he’s older), and his family and mine both spent our summers in Ontario, Canada at Crescent Beach, but in different social circles, given the age difference.

Then he became a famous sportswriter (first in Buffalo at the Courier-Express and then on to USA Today) and I remained…the guy in the padded cell with the expensive microphone. 😀

Erik had retired a while back from the daily grind of sports reporting for USA Today (3+ decades…sheesh!) but is still keeping his hand in storytelling by writing as a contributing columnist for The Buffalo News. Turns out you can’t retire from being a good storyteller.

So back to this out-of-nowhere phone call from the famous USA Today sports reporter.

Erik calls me (I hear you asking “Where did he find your phone number? Was it your website? Did he have your business card?” Nope. He called my brother in Washington, D.C., where the herd of Buffalonians is very strong).

When Erik called, my mind raced and I quickly landed on the upcoming Buffalo-Charlotte football game. I was right.

He was going for the angle of a former Buffalonian, now in North Carolina, attending the Bills game in Charlotte.

Except…

I live three hours away from Charlotte in Raleigh AND I was not going to the game at all because taking five O’Connells to a National Football League game would cost $65,000 for the cheap seats.

Tickets are not cheap. But I am.

The living room TV would be just fine for us to watch that game (Bills won 40-9 and we experienced no traffic on the drive home). #gobillsfromthecomfortofmycouch

Anyway, I pretty much thought that would be the end of our nice conversation…but this guy is a reporter, he’s a digger, he asks questions.

Here’s the other fact…you ask an Irishman like me questions…I’ll give you answers.

I kept thinking (and I might have even said something like), “How is any of this stuff I’m telling you interesting?”

Eh, maybe he had some time to kill before his wife called him in for dinner.

Turns out we had a lovely conversation about our days at Crescent Beach, raising a family in Buffalo, moving to Raleigh, my voiceover business and of course the Buffalo Bills.

Then we had some more conversations a few days later.

I did not make it into the Bills–Panthers article but somehow got this profile article in The Buffalo News instead.

ME: Mind blown!

Publicity and public relations are, as I have often said here, the most awkward, uncomfortable and yet necessary parts of marketing my voiceover business.

If I were an egotastic marketer, I’d tell you that all my strategic marketing and PR efforts culminated in this fantastic profile piece in my hometown’s biggest newspaper.

Nope, not even close.

I didn’t pursue Erik or anyone at The Buffalo News for this story — yet here it is.

Speechless is probably not a good description for a voice actor like me…but it’s pretty much all I’ve got at the moment.

Erik had an idea that begat another idea and conversations gave birth to a feature article. Turns out my “great marketing strategy” merely involved answering the phone.

I am not new to the process of journalism…just new to journalism that shines such a bright spotlight on me.

Thank you, Erik.

I’m going back to the padded cell with the expensive microphone now.

######

ARTICLE: THE BUFFALO NEWS – NOVEMBER 18, 2025

Erik Brady: Even if you don’t know Peter K. O’Connell, you just might know his voice

Peter K. O’Connell is a voiceover talent with a baritone known in the industry as the “Voice of God.” And he has one of God’s emissaries to thank for showing him the way.

“Sister Donna Marie,” he said. “God bless her.”

She was the kindergarten teacher who escorted her class at Medaille School – a long-gone Buffalo elementary school – to visit the radio studio of WEBR-AM when O’Connell was 5, circa 1969.

“I came away from that day knowing that whatever I did in my life, it would involve a microphone,” he said. “I don’t know how, but I just knew it.”

Today, at 61, he owns a voiceover business in Raleigh, N.C. Chances are you’ve heard him, whether you know it or not.

O’Connell did voice work around Buffalo for decades and these days voices commercials for national brands including Disney, Crest, Duracell and iHeartRadio. Last month he emceed an annual convention for voiceover talents in New Orleans, where he was the voice of the voiced.

“It’s been an honor to be requested back to serve as emcee” at voiceover conventions over the years, he said, “but even more so, the unsolicited, exceedingly complimentary feedback from the people there who do live announcing and emceeing for a living, as I do.”

That weekend gig came during the Bills’ bye week. Good thing, too, as O’Connell doesn’t like to miss their games.

“The Bills are ingrained in my family,” he said. “I remember as a kid sitting in the kitchen at our house on Morris (Avenue) and listening to the games on TV. And my father would always say, ‘They’re making my palms sweat again.’ ”

O’Connell attended the third of the Bills’ four Super Bowls, the loss to the Dallas Cowboys at the Rose Bowl following the 1992 season. At the time he was director of marketing for Network, Jim Kelly’s nightclub. Before that, he was assistant general manager of the Buffalo Blizzard, the indoor soccer team.

He was born in Buffalo in 1964 on the night the Beatles appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Sixteen years later, on the day before O’Connell began an internship at WFXZ-FM Radio, John Lennon was murdered in New York.

“I was a junior at Canisius High School at the time,” O’Connell said. “I prepared a script about Lennon, which of course they didn’t need from some kid, but I was ready if they did.”

He interned under Susan Hunt, who would go on to a national broadcasting career, including stints with ABC Sports, PBS and HGTV. “I have always appreciated her patience with me,” he said.

Then he worked on radio at the University of Dayton, which had a 50,000-watt FM station serving three states. Its front office was manned by adult professionals, but students filled many of the on-air roles.

“I learned on the job,” O’Connell said. “I didn’t understand then that voiceover work could be a business. But I learned, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

It was at the university station that he voiced commercials for the first time. Some of those advertisers then asked him to do voice work directly for them, and some of those commercials played on other radio stations in the Dayton market.

That’s when he understood that this could be a career. He returned to Buffalo after college and got into local voice work, including radio spots for Burnham’s appliance stores and the Buffalo Bisons.

“We were still editing reel-to-reel tapes with razor blades and wax markers,” he said. “Now it’s all digital – copy and paste and delete. Sometimes I miss the old days, though the tech today is awesome.”

What was it about that kindergarten visit to a Buffalo radio station that he came away so sure he’d make his life behind a mic?

“I think genetically I was predisposed” to voice work, he said. “My dad once won a state oratory competition when he was at Canisius High School. And my mom always wanted to be in broadcasting, but she was told at the time women didn’t do that.”

O’Connell and his wife, Andrea, have three Buffalo-born children – Isabella, 20; Joseph, 17; and John, 15. They have grown up mostly in Raleigh, but they root for the Bills anyway.

“The Bills’ virus,” their father said, “has been passed on to my children.”

This makes them third-generation palm-sweaters.

-30-

Tags: commentary, newspapers, public relations, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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The following is an opinionated media observation, not a political statement, endorsement or position.

Media here, not politics; got it?

Here we go…

I fully understand the awful challenges of operating a newspaper today and how so many newspapers have gone under because of those obstacles.

I respect that the talented people working at newspapers and even owning newspapers are also frustrated by the operational constraints forced upon them by plunging readership and ad revenues.

However, the fact remains that a newspaper’s primary goal is to report the news of the day, without bias.

I’ll make that goal even shorter: report the news.

On the early evening of Saturday, July 13, former United States President (and current Republican nominee for President) Donald Trump was shot by an attempted assassin in Pennsylvania. Trump was hit by a bullet but has recovered from the wound.

It is a big story in America when anyone tries to assassinate a presidential candidate (or worse, succeeds)…but this candidate was also a former President. As far as news stories go…you really don’t get much bigger.

And for a Sunday newspaper edition – often a newspaper’s biggest circulation day- there will be a LOT of people who will be searching for the in-depth reporting that is the key point of difference a newspaper offers the media consuming public.

There was a time in the newspaper industry when publishers would have stopped the presses and redesigned the front page (even deliver the papers late) to make sure they got the FULL story into the hands of readers.

A political assassination attempt (regardless of political party) IS front page news…unless you are The Buffalo News in Buffalo, New York.

Not unlike some other newspapers in America, The Buffalo News seems to pre-set its Sunday edition front page section – well in advance of publication – to…save money, I suppose. If there is a breaking news story, I guess they could run it in an inner section?

As you can see from the graphic on this blog, The Buffalo News – the newspaper of my hometown – did not redesign the front page to carry the assassination story. They missed the story completely on their front page. There was not a story ANYWHERE in The Buffalo News Sunday, July 14th edition (that I saw) about the attempted murder of President Trump on July 13th.

An attempted presidential assassination omitted from the front page of a U.S. newspaper. Wow.

While all of what I have written here is opinion – what I am about to say is especially opinion, as I have no facts to back this up, save for having some personal knowledge about media professionals taking pride in their jobs: somebody or many somebodies on the Editorial side working Saturday at The Buffalo News very likely screamed their fool heads off to get that story in print for Sunday’s run. I have faith they tried but were foiled one way or another, probably by accountants.

And no, I don’t think this story’s omission was for any kind of political reason or bias. This was financial, all the way…in my opinion.

BTW, some years ago while I was inside The Buffalo News offices in downtown Buffalo, I saw the company proudly hung history making front pages of their newspaper on their walls – including, as I recall, the death of President John F. Kennedy by an assassin’s bullet.

There will not be a page hung on the wall for July 14, 2024.

If there hasn’t been already, there will be excuses proffered and reasons given by the newspaper as to why The Buffalo News omitted the story. They are just excuses and are, in fact, inexcusable if your primary purpose is to report the news.

The exclusion would be tragic if it wasn’t so pathetic. Or worse, maybe I am one of only a few who noticed or even cared.

Irresponsible omissions of professional journalism like this allow newspapers to prove their own irrelevance. Certainly The Buffalo News has done that here.

If the Buffalo Bills are more front page worthy in July, the day after some tried to kill a U.S. President, just reformat the News to a sports tabloid and call it a day. What about Digital? Local newspapers have already lost that space to more talented digital news services. For the most part, it seems local newspapers can’t win there. For the most part, local newspapers are not winning there.

While all of what I have written here is opinion – what I am about to say is especially opinion, as I have no facts to back this up, save for having some personal knowledge about media professionals taking pride in their jobs: somebody or many somebodies on the Editorial side working Saturday at The Buffalo News very likely screamed their fool heads off to get that story in print for Sunday’s run. I have faith they tried but were foiled one way or another, probably by accountants.

It’s over for newspapers and those involved in their publication.

It’s truly sad, heartbreaking, to witness the newspaper industry’s slow suicide.

Tags: commentary, newspapers by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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WHEN SOMEONE YOU NEVER MET emails you today and says that something you wrote in 1980 at the age of 15 is still making an impact in the life of his family right now, what do you say?

Well this weekend it happened to me and I am still not sure what to say…I started with thank you (and that feels woefully inadequate).

Let me tell you what happened.

In 1980, when I was a sophomore in high school, our English teacher had us write an essay on a topic that mattered to us…it was basically a creative writing exercise.

I wrote an article basically saying don’t always follow the pack, don’t be afraid to *not* conform sometimes and the cool kids really don’t know anything more than anyone else.

In essence. – ‘Don’t bother to try and keep up with the Joneses’.

My teacher liked it and asked me to submit it to our local newspaper, the Buffalo News. They published articles written by local high schoolers every month. For my efforts, I got a gift certificate from a local record store.

I’d long ago forgotten all of this.

What my younger self didn’t take into account was just how big that newspaper readership was…or that many people I never met would read my story.

Fast forward to this weekend when I got an email from a gentleman named Eric, whom I have never met or communicated with previous to this weekend.

In his email, he introduced himself and included a photo of my actual article, cut out from the Buffalo News by his Mother in 1980. His Mom gave my essay to him because she thought my high school words would resonate with him. It did.

He held on to the article all this time and has it posted in his house for his own children to read (that’s a picture of the article from his house).

Wow. This humbled me so greatly I was speechless.

But the greatest message for me, besides his compliment of keeping my article, was this: we just don’t know how what we say or write can help or hurt people who we’ve never met.

Conceptually we all understand this, but Eric’s email made it real in a way I could not know until I felt it.

I will share now that I will work to make my words more positive (in person, in emails and online) because when people experience what I say…it can have a bigger impact than I might have first considered. I will work (cause I’m not perfect) to lead with positivity in what I say, whenever possible.

Bring others up.

 

 

Tags: commentary, newspapers by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Why wouldn’t any business owner want the opportunity to place their brand in front of 154,748 pairs of eyes.

In essence, they are all potential customers.

It’s true that most of them might not be, depending on your business. But even when marketing to a specific market, you can’t always know who is and who is not a prospect. I believe the marketing term is “fudge factor”.

That’s especially true in voice-over.

Video producers, ad agency commercial producers, small business owners and probably about 50-75 other jobs titles make up the voice talent’s target audience. If you were to run some numbers on the cost of print, radio or on-line advertising to all of them, I’m not sure whether you’d feel more faint or nauseous but I’m pretty sure we can agree you couldn’t really afford it.

So where does the 50 cents come in?

Between the cost of a stamp, a piece of letterhead and logoed envelope, I reckon that’s the cost to mail a press release to a local newspaper touting your latest project.

And if the circulation numbers from Wikipedia are correct for my city’s local paper (and I have no idea if they are), 154,748 pairs of eyes represents the total number who will see my press release in my paper if they print it.

No, they won’t likely see the whole thing, maybe just a part of the release that an editor sees fit to print, but it will be out there.

Will all of the readers see it? Nope. How many will read it? Wanna guess with me?

Let’s say that circulation number is overblown by 50% and that actually only 77,374 people read the paper daily.

Of all those people, about 1/2 (or 38,687) read the business section where a voice over press release might get printed.

Of that, let’s say only 1/2 of them read the little press release blurb section that newspapers run (in my paper, it’s called “On The Record”).

That would mean that 19,343 and a 1/2 people in Western New York would read my press release if the Buffalo News printed it in its paper (not counting the on line version of the paper – which most cities now have).

So to get all those readers, all those pairs of eyes – none of whom I am guaranteed will be a target audience for me – I have to invest about an hour’s worth of time writing a press release, printing it and mailing it to the paper. Costing me in real hard dollars about 50 cents (ignoring my hourly fee – let’s say I did it on my lunch hour, N/C)

Will the newspaper print the press release?

YOU will never know unless you write it, print it and mail it in.

Tags: advertising, newspapers, public relations, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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The reason I ask this question is that I just enjoyed a nice three day weekend, pretty much away from the computer. This AM, opening up my Google reader, I see over 900 blog posts and over fifty of them are in the voiceover category.

What is it we think we all have to say? And I include me in there too.

It’s a vicious circle, mind you. You should have a blog to be an active participant in social media (and SEO/SEM) and everybody has the right to share whatever they like. Equally true, we can all subscribe and unsubscribe to any blog at any time (except this blog, you can check in anytime you like, but you can never leave).

With all this content, what are we all contributing to? And how many people are not just reading (Feedburner +) but understanding? Are we communicating or are we just spewing? Because more important to social media than the tool (a blog) is the content…saying something of relevance.

A blog writer has to assume that their posts resonate with someone if they have even one subscriber (and by the way, not for nothing, I mean it when I say thank you for subscribing). But when I think about 900 posts over three days multiplied times content on radio, television, newspaper, Facebook et al multiplied times international content….my head literally spins a bit.

Today I will hit “mark all as read” on my Google Reader very often and likely erase some quality content that I cannot make room for. I must move on.

Am I simply oversubscribed or overwhelmed? Have these thoughts ever occurred to you? How do you deal with all this communication, all this noise? Do you tune in more or totally tune out? Any tricks you care to share?

Tags: blogs, commentary, facebook, google, internet, newspapers, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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If your business in any way involves advertising, marketing or social media, this is worth a look.

Whether or not you agree or disagree with the plight of media portrayed in this clip, I was very impressed with the time, effort and talent put forth.

Just to save you a bit of time, after you hear the chorus once, you can zip past it cause its the same lyrics and graphics each time.

I’d tell you to enjoy it but some folks who are living this right now may not completely enjoy this as it may cut a bit close to home.

Tags: advertising, branding, commentary, commercials, facebook, google, marketing, media, newspapers, radio, social media, technology by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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