You are…to every man, woman and child that I know earning a living in the voice-over profession…all talented people of good heart.

If you’re not, well, you fooled me.

But with this sincere compliment offered, I pose this stinging, serious and direct critique that you are free to ignore:

Your Christmas and holiday messages to your clients and peers are NOT the time to wish us well AND let us know your holiday schedules and availabilities. When you do this cringe-worthy act, you unwittingly come off as insincere and desperate as well as seemingly ignorant about what this holiday season is all about for most of the world.

HINT: This holiday season is NOT about you getting more voice-over jobs.

In this one message to your clients at a time of year steeped in a variety of religious traditions for people of numerous faiths that most all people still hold sacred – be real.

Be human.

Be sincere.

Offer your wish, your hopes or just a simple message of good will. Then stop.

It’s not a marketing opportunity. It’s not a scheduling opportunity. If clients need you, they will find you and you will work.

A competitor won’t tell you about your very awkward yet not career-ending mistake.

But a friend will. 🙂

Tags: branding, commentary, kick in the pants, marketing, public relations, rants, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I’ve never started a pay to play voice-over web site for many reasons, the first of which is I think they each completely discredit the voice-over industry.

My second reason is I believe the only persons who truly profits from these sites are the owners. The overall crumbs that are intermittently handed out to some voice talents pale in comparison to the consistent fees these owners generally bring in from their sites.

Last but not least some (not all) of these owners strike me as crooks.

Again, these are just my personal opinions, your milage may vary and if you disagree with me you’re probably wrong ;).

Yet even though I have not myself started a pay to play voice-over web site and am therefore hardly an expert, I think I have found two surefire ways NOT to start a pay to play voice-over web site.

Note please that in the 30+ years of running this and other businesses, I have never made a mistake and my record for perfection has been recognized by Guinness World Records for it’s, um…perfection. So from from high atop Know It All Mountain, here goes:

Way #1 NOT to start a pay to play voice-over web site:

Recommend, in writing, a voice-over talent pay structure so disrespectful to voice-over talents and oblivious to real market factors and with pricing so biased towards bottom feeding clients that there is a near voice-over rebellion on-line when the talents (who are going to be the potential fuel for the pay to play web site’s engine) see the following:

No word yet on whether said site will be offering a buy-one-get-one (BOGO) coupon for voice talents in the near future. This site’s opening after Thanksgiving so they couldn’t offer any Black Friday voice-over specials, if in fact they wanted to.

Way #2 NOT to start a pay to play voice-over web site:

Name your pay to play voice-over web site with a moniker extremely similar to a well-respected, established site run by a well-spoken voice talent like Jonathan Tilley. Then watch your yet to be launched pay to play voice-over web site (and you as the owner) get your corporate ass publicly handed to you with fact after knock out fact showing that you, as the pay to play web site owner, have acted in what might be considered (at least by this observer) as thoughtless…to say the least.

The web video beating was so bad to my viewing I half expected to hear Howard Cosell again in his famous ringside boxing call.

So in summary, those are the two things I would NOT do if I were ever going to start up a pay to play web site.

Which I won’t, cause what do I know anyway.

Tags: commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Thirty days later…the above picture is the result of my Movember commitment (well, of course, I gave some money too).

Aside from Mrs. audio’connell’s complaints (not a whisker fan) my part in all this was pretty easy.

Your part (whether you’ve donated already or whether you will today – please) is a little bit more involved as you’re being asked to give a little money to support research into Men’s Cancers. Thank you for giving whatever you can TODAY!!!

Any amount will do….even $5. And yes, we would accept $5,000 if you’re so inclined. The point is we don’t judge.

As I’ve said in the past, whether you donate MY MOVEMBER PAGE or THE MO-VO TEAM PAGE makes no difference to me. When you donate to one, you donate to all. There is no competition in voice-over and there is no competition between MO-VO team members.

This event would not be a successful voice-over event without the generous support not only of the donors but of all the people on the MO-VO team (I think this is like our 2nd or 3rd year together) including: Jeffrey Kafer, Johnny Heller, Cliff Zellman, Paul Christy, Chris Mezzolesta, J Christopher, Homero Espinosa,Anthony Gettig, Graeme Spicer, Dustin Ebaugh, Matt Simmons, Ryan Calafato, Joey Pepin as well as MO SISTAS (yes, women CAN be a apart of the fund raising effort) Nancy German and Fran McClellan

Thank you ALL!

Tags: commentary, community, movember, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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On Saturday, November 16th I began reading Joe and Ann Cipriano’s Living On Air – Adventures In Broadcasting.

It’s now Sunday, November 17 at about 1:00 p.m. eastern time and I have finished reading it.

Some book reviews may rate the quality of the read based on the “star” system or some other measurement.

Here’s my rating: I read the book cover to cover in 24 hours and I’m sorry the story ended.

If you’re scoring at home that’s a five out of five star rating, a “must-read” and two big thumbs up.

If you have ever worked, now work or want to work as a voice-actor – you must read this book.

If you have ever worked, now work or want to work on-air in radio or television – you must read this book.

If you work (or have worked) both in voice-over and in broadcasting…you HAVE to read this book.

We’re not talkin’ “how to” or here’s “how I do voice-over” type book.

It’s the story of one man’s passion for broadcasting combined with how his talent and luck got him to the top of his profession. And maybe even more so how he worked to pay back the universe (and his friends) for their kindnesses to him over the years.

I don’t really know Joe at all having only met him a couple of times when I was in Hollywood at a voice-over conference years ago. He came across as a simple, good guy – which is something I suppose that shouldn’t be taken for granted in La-La land where egos could overflow the Grand Canyon.

I sensed no overflowing ego in this autobiography.

Like the man I spoke with at the voice-over conference, the story was simple and good- a kind of “here’s my life and yes, I fully understand how fortunate I have been combining my work ethic with the talent I have and my passion for this industry.”

A great true story- with anecdotes about many interesting people – told by one of our own about the business we all adore.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading Living On Air as much as I did.

You can (and should) buy the book here.

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

Is it actually considered taunting if I say nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-naaahhhh on social media? I think not.

I have received my copy of Joe and Ann Cipriano’s book Living On Air. I’m very excited.

It has a wonderful, personalized inscription from Joe that reads: “Dear Bob Souer, You’re my voice-over hero! Please don’t move to Los Angeles. Love Joe”.

If you want YOUR copy of Living On Air, you can buy it here.

Now all I have to do is learn how to read and I’ll be all set.

Where did I put my Hooked On Phonics cassettes?

Tags: advertising, commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on look what I got?

Today is the day, November 1, 2013. The release date for Living On Air by Joe and Ann Cipriano is today and you can buy the book here.

In the book, Joe details:

* The in-studio wrestling match Joe had with Orson Welles over the Gallo Wine commercial auditions. Orson wanted the line to be “We will sell no wine before it’s time.” Joe wanted the line to be “Taste Great, Less Filling”. Orson won the audition and the wrestling match and Joe still has a bad back from Orson sitting on him (voice-over is a very physical business).

* Joe’s longtime affair with Theda Bara, one of the most popular actresses of the silent film era, and one of cinema’s earliest sex symbols. It was a unique relationship because they never spoke to each other but, rather, had staffers hold up giant cards with comments for the other person to read. Tres romantic!

* How very, very early in his radio career, Joe was in the studio late one night, talking off air on the phone with a listener named Mary who had a very sexy voice. A few hours later, Mary came over to the station and rang the station door bell. Joe looked through the peep hole and saw “Mary” was actually a fella named “Murray”, a 32 year old unshaven midget wearing a sundress and stilettos. Joe never opened the station door that night nor did he even leave the radio station for the next 30 days. To this day, Joe won’t work with any client named Murray. Joe still has nightmares.

So these (not really) and other (real) stories will be featured in the book that I of course haven’t read because da book hasn’t been released yet. Cause it’s today…the day you can get the book.

Joe’s likely forgotten more interesting voice-over stories than any of us could collectively ever tell because of Joe’s amazing broadcasting and voice-over career.

So buy the book.

And don’t tell Cip that you heard about the book here. Tell him Courvo told you about it.

I only met Joe once but I think he had a weapon. He’s a tough cookie. Ask Orson. 😉

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