Posted on November 21st, 2019 by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Affiliate promo voiceover work is one of the best parts of this business for a voice actor…it’s always new, the evolution of it is fascinating if you ever study it (even over just the past few decades), new shows, new news teams…the change keeps it interesting, I think.
Match that constant change with some really smart Creative Services Directors, who always come up with new promotional ideas for shows and events, and the voiceover work doesn’t feel so much like work.
My new television affiliate show promo voiceover demo includes not just my voiceover work (which I think is pretty good) but it also includes some of those great promo concepts that I mentioned, including shows like Ellen and Family Feud. The concepts and my reads are show-friendly, advertiser-friendly and overall…very brand-friendly for the stations.
The television affiliate news demo that I recently produced has a different feel – still promotional, but news is often times more serious than entertainment programming and so news promos need to have a more serious edge.
Both types of promo are right within my wheelhouse. If you’re a CSD looking for a new show or news promo voice for your television station (no matter the market), listen to the demo BELOW, please get in touch with me and let’s talk. Thanks.
LISTEN TO THE NEW PETER K. O’CONNELL TELEVISION AFFILIATE SHOW PROMO DEMO:
Posted on November 6th, 2019 by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
There are a few brands that get a lot of attention when they change their logo.
The first one that comes to my mind is Pepsi. You may have other examples.
Some people think that when companies change a logo, it’s meaningless. We marketers call those people soulless. There’s nothing we can do to help them….or their pocket protectors. 😉
When the big TV networks’ logos change, it’s still a big deal. While the big 5 networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS) themselves seem to be losing the cultural influence they once had, due to the preponderance of programming choices from streaming sources…broadcast TV networks still get a ton of viewers.
So PBS (the Public Broadcasting Service) changing its logo this week on the eve of its 50th anniversary is worth noting from a branding and marketing perspective. PBS’s programming remains unique in many areas because it offers so much content not found on commercial or cable services. It is also a vital brand to over 300 PBS affiliates around the country.
So let’s take a look at what PBS did.
Right off the bat, the new PBS logo is blue. But not just ANY blue. That’s PBS Blue. Corporations, like PBS, love to stroke their corporate egos by creating a unique color and making up words about what that blue signifies.
You know what PBS Blue signifies? BLUE! Sheeesh! Next item.
For perspective purposes, I should let you know that the circles (aka “the shield”) on the old and new logos are pretty much the same size. That might give you some clues to the changes.
Within the circle (or shield) the heads in the new blue logo are bigger…not a bad move in the digital age. And while it may look like PBS didn’t really change the heads on the shield that much…they actually did.
The “neck” is shorter in the new logo, the noses are slightly less pointed and (in a part I find hysterical, given the brand) the noses are slightly raised.
Also bigger (quite obviously) is the PBS wordmark. I think bigger is better for this logo. It’s designed in a sans-serif font that was (here we go again) custom designed for PBS and is know as PBS Sans typeface.
If you’re thinking it looks very similar to about 3 or 4 fonts from your Microsoft Word font catalogue, you’ll get no argument from me. Those are your tax dollars at work, folks.
The final word? It’s a nice redesign and better than the old logo (although I thought the PBS logo of 1984 was pretty classic – see the video link below). I think if I was custom designing a font, I could have crafted something more visually interesting then what they ended up with…but they didn’t ask me now, did they? 🙂
WATCH THIS if you want to see a cool video on the history of the PBS logo.
Posted on November 1st, 2019 by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Voiceover Talent Peter K. O’Connell accepts the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network’s Crystal Microphone Award for the Best Top of the Hour ID on behalf of Catholic 540-AM • Divine Mercy Radio, Raleigh, NC
RALEIGH, NC – November 1, 2019 – – An affiliate radio promo that was written, produced and voiced by male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell was recently recognized with one of only three national radio production awards presented by the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network.
Nominated by the network from submitted affiliate radio productions and voted on by the network’s affiliates, O’Connell’s production won the Crystal Microphone for Best Top of The Hour ID. The project was produced for WETC-AM, known on-air as Catholic 540-AM • Divine Mercy Radio in Raleigh, North Carolina. The station went on the air in February, 2019.
The award was presented during the 20th Annual EWTN Catholic Radio Conference in Birmingham, AL. EWTN Catholic Radio has over 375 U.S. radio affiliates.
PLAY THE AWARD WINNING RADIO PROMO:
About EWTN Catholic Radio
EWTN Catholic Radio will always be a source of truth that allows Catholics to grow in their faith and recognize the true mission of the Catholic Church. From its humble beginnings, EWTN Catholic Radio continues to evangelize to listeners worldwide in concert with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. EWTN Catholic Radio is broadcast over 500 domestic and international radio affiliates as well as via shortwave and satellite.
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 and audio production skills with a wide variety of companies, world-wide. In addition to this EWTN honor, some of Peter’s broadcast promo clients have also included PBS, Fox Sports North, Starz Cable, WINK-TV, WKEF-TV and WLOF-FM.
O’Connell owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent, a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. He can be reached via audioconnell.com or peterkoconnell.com.
Posted on October 28th, 2019 by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Catholic 540-AM Divine Mercy Radio broadcasting live from St. Ann Catholic Church in Clayton, NC in October 2019 (l-r) Pastor of St. Ann’s Fr. Peter Grace; Catholic 540-AM Volunteer Director of Programming & Production Peter K. O’Connell and Divine Mercy Radio Chief Engineer Keith Flanary
We each have talents to share.
Hopefully, when our talents are good enough, people pay us and we make a living. I’ve been fortunate in that vein with my voiceover work since about 1982.
Maybe you believe, as I do, that when you have good fortune in life that many do not (making money, having a job etc.), we should try to give back to our communities in whatever ways we think can have the most positive impact.
I’m not taking just about our financial contributions…although those are great!
This kind of contribution is about that kind of community work where we are doing the work…whatever that means for each of us…based on the charity or organization we each support.
Wherever we exercise our extra efforts, our good works do not go unnoticed.
Founded in 1942, the highly respected Buffalo Niagara Sales and Marketing Executives gathered their active Past Presidents for this 2013 photo.
Maybe similar to your experience, my community work started after college, as a member or sometimes chairman of a volunteer board. My community work has supported professional, civic, educational and Catholic groups who requested my help. Looking back from today to about 1987, there have been a lot of groups.
Quality not quantity is the main thing, though, and my work helped each of those groups in some way; I certainly felt good doing the work. Yet I admit, as I got older and had a family, I cut back on my charity activities…the two main reasons being time and I was just tired, complete with a kind of “been there, done that” attitude. Decades can to that to a person.
In 2016, when I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina (having lived in Buffalo, NY since birth), I realized that I needed to start over in a number of ways, including my community work.
Live on the air during the Catholic 540-AM Divine Mercy Radio Pledge Drive in Spring 2019. (l-r) Divine Mercy Radio’s Volunteer Director of Programming & Production and Pledge Drive Host Peter K. O’Connell with co-host John Dornan, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Raleigh
Having done some volunteer voiceover work for a Catholic radio station in Buffalo, I decided to see if Raleigh had a Catholic radio station. I found Divine Mercy Radio. This was 2016 and Divine Mercy Radio was broadcasting on just a pair of low-powered FM’s at the time (WSHP and WFNE). They were broadcasting programming from two national radio networks: EWTN Global Catholic Radioand Ave Maria Radio. But my new Raleigh Catholic radio friends were on a mission to grow and I was up for the ride.
They needed voiceover and radio help…no one at the station had professional radio experience. But they had heart and a can-do, no-quit spirit. I began overseeing the on-air production work for the two stations. In February of this year, when the secured the AM-540 frequency they asked if I would also volunteer to oversee this 10,000 watt radio station’s programming too. WETC-AM became Catholic 540-AM • Divine Mercy Radio and our team was off to the races!
This radio station is 100% listener supported (by its own choice). Our friends at the Diocese of Raleigh have kindly endorsed us since we started but they do not fund us. We are an independent radio apostolate.
Divine Mercy Radio Chief Engineer Keith Flanary, Board Chair Betty Rogosich and Volunteer Director of Programming & Production Peter K. O’Connell during the Spring 2019 On-Air Pledge Drive
With a very dedicated group of my fellow volunteers (nobody is getting paid) the station has achieved a great deal in only 8 months. This includes successful live on-air pledge drives, on-site remotes at parishes and community events (I got to host both the drives and remotes, which is great fun) and many other events. All this with little more than duct tape and chewing gum (well, maybe a little more…but not much more).
Volunteering at the station selfishly allows me to achieve two things: participate in the greatest parts of radio without the corporate drama that can sometimes accompany such a gig (sans drama, radio is still one of the best gigs ever) and also to use my particular talents to grow a really worthy volunteer enterprise.
And as I said, our good works don’t go unnoticed.
The radio station board (I’m just a volunteer, not a board member) asked that I represent Catholic 540-AM at the 20th Annual EWTN Catholic Radio Conference in Alabama. EWTN Radio has over 375 radio network affiliates, many more established and significantly larger than Divine Mercy Radio.
In addition to insightful education and the sharing of best practices among attendees during the national conference, the EWTN Radio Network also recognizes the best work among their radio affiliates for on-air production. There are only three categories, winners take all.
Volunteer Director of Programming & Production Peter K. O’Connell accepts the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Crystal Microphone Award for Best Affiliate Top of the Hour ID for Catholic 540-AM Divine Mercy Radio
Catholic 540-AM • Divine Mercy Radio took home the Crystal Microphone for Best Affiliate Top of The Hour ID.
Think about that for just a moment.
375 EWTN U.S. Radio affiliates (many long established with very talented radio pros), only 3 possible awards to win and Divine Mercy Radio in Raleigh/Durham takes home the hardware.
We have been on the air for only EIGHT MONTHS and we snagged a very prestigious national award from the largest religious media network in the world.
We don’t do all this volunteer radio work for for awards or accolades.
But this national recognition IS encouraging, as well as humbling, for all of us.
PLAY THE AWARD WINNING TOP OF THE HOUR ID.
EWTN Foundress Mother Mary Angelica was famous for saying, “Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous.” I don’t know if this award is miraculous but given what has been accomplished by our team just since this past February, it feels a bit ridiculous in the best possible and most complimentary way for EVERYONE involved.
Each and every volunteer at Divine Mercy Radio won this award because without their work in so many areas, there can be no Top of The Hour ID and no award to win…because there would be no radio station.
WE ALL won.
OUR good works didn’t go unnoticed.
Neither will yours.
Tags: commentary, radio // Comments Off on good work(s) do NOT go unnoticed
Posted on October 10th, 2019 by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
RALEIGH, NC – October 10, 2019 – – Award-winning male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell has voiced a new national radio campaign for the nationwide prepaid wireless carrier brand, Metro by T-Mobile.
Metro by T-Mobile is a subsidiary of Bellevue, Washington- based T-Mobile US.
O’Connell served as the announcer for the series of humorous radio spots promoting new phone models and plans available through Metro by T-Mobile’s over 10,000 branded retail locations in the United States.
About Metro by T-Mobile
Metro by T-Mobile is a nationwide prepaid wireless carrier brand, covering more than 323 million people in the United States. It also offers more than 10,000 branded retail locations – larger than any other wireless brand. Metro by T-Mobile is a subsidiary of Bellevue, Washington- based T-Mobile US, whose other flagship brand includes T-Mobile.
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 and audio production skills with a wide variety of companies, world-wide. In addition to his most recent commercial voiceover work for Metro by T-Mobile, some of Peter’s commercial and narration clients also include brands like L.L.Bean, IBM, Duracell Batteries, General Electric, Massachusetts State Lottery and Kraft Foods.
O’Connell owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent, a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. He can be reached via audioconnell.com or peterkoconnell.com.
My new television affiliate show promo voiceover demo includes not just my voiceover work (which I think is pretty good) but it also includes some of those great promo concepts that I mentioned, including shows like Ellen and Family Feud. The concepts and my reads are show-friendly, advertiser-friendly and overall…very brand-friendly for the stations.
There are a few brands that get a lot of attention when they change their logo.
So PBS (the Public Broadcasting Service) changing its logo this week on the eve of its 50th anniversary is worth noting from a branding and marketing perspective. PBS’s programming remains unique in many areas because it offers so much content not found on commercial or cable services. It is also a vital brand to over 300 PBS affiliates around the country.
Right off the bat, the new PBS logo is blue. But not just ANY blue. That’s PBS Blue. Corporations, like PBS, love to stroke their corporate egos by creating a unique color and making up words about what that blue signifies.
Each and every volunteer at Divine Mercy Radio won this award
For the few poor souls that continue to read this blog, you are aware that I am on a quest – before I die – to stay overnight in all 50 states.
RALEIGH, NC – October 10, 2019 – – Award-winning male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell has voiced a new national radio campaign for the nationwide prepaid wireless carrier brand, Metro by T-Mobile.
