On Train & Railway Station Announcements

[STEVIEBOY1]

I had thought that most of the On Train & Railway Station Announcements were all computer generated and the voices heard were made artificially, but when I was listening to radio two last week, they had the lady who does these announcements in for an interview. Which was interesting.

It seems that she has been doing it for quite along time and was married or may still be, to a radio one DJ.

From what I gather, she makes stock phrases and platform numbers etc then these are edited together to make the announcements, I suppose with modern technology this is quite easy once the initial recordings are done.

It seems she does these voice productions for a number of firms, not just rail. I think there there are males doing the same thing. Recorded announcements I think have been around for quite along time.

 

[tellytype]

Yep, there are literally hundreds of Voiceovers around the world, thousands in fact. The UK VO scene is a bit smaller, but you generally hear the same voices on radio ads, TV ads, on hold etc etc etc etc.

I have to say that the information in the OP will come as no surprise to 90% of people here I would think.

Spent my early working life making radio ads, so bugging these lovely people every day with scripts & dialling them on the ISDN to make the ad. Still do a bit of it, so keep in touch with them all. Gets annoying when you go shopping though - Helena Breck, Claire Anderson, Andy Turvey etc I will confess to once calling Helena & venting my spleen from a Tescos automated till before now!!

 

[tsr]

At the opposite end of the spectrum, there are numerous passengers who think the automated announcements are in fact "live" and done by someone on the train or in a control room somewhere. I can understand infrequent travellers thinking this, but you'd be surprised how many commuters look at conductors strangely and go "...but I thought he / she was the guard", referring to whoever was recorded for the PIS...

 

[Castle Cary]

I suspect that the lady was Ellie, widow of the late Phil Sayers who sadly passed away last year. Following his DJ days Phil also became a leading and easily identifiable 'voiceover'. Somewhere on YouTube you can find a clip of the two of them in their kitchen discussing day to day matters (like collecting the children from school) in their 'voiceover' voices. Hilarious. Their diction was always absolutely first class.

 

[Thisisajm]

Yep, there are literally hundreds of Voiceovers around the world, thousands in fact. The UK VO scene is a bit smaller, but you generally hear the same voices on radio ads, TV ads, on hold etc etc etc etc.

I have to say that the information in the OP will come as no surprise to 90% of people here I would think.

Spent my early working life making radio ads, so bugging these lovely people every day with scripts & dialling them on the ISDN to make the ad. Still do a bit of it, so keep in touch with them all. Gets annoying when you go shopping though - Helena Breck, Claire Anderson, Andy Turvey etc I will confess to once calling Helena & venting my spleen from a Tescos automated till before now!!

I remember Claire Anderson from Power FM.

 

[tellytype]

I remember Claire Anderson from Power FM.

She's a top girl