Joe Cipriano, “Living On Air”

Joe Cipriano, “Living On Air”

Joe Cipriano is one of television’s top voiceover talents. You’ve heard him promoting the primetime lineups of most networks (including 25 years as the “voice of Fox”), or as the announcer on game shows like “America’s Got Talent” and “Deal or No Deal” or award shows like the Emmys and Grammys. You also may have […]

Vin Scully

Vin Scully announced yesterday that he’ll return as the broadcaster for the Dodgers next year — for his 65th season. No other broadcaster has ever done the job as long, or as well. Sure, St. Louis had Jack Buck, Detroit had Ernie Harwell, Chicago had Harry Caray — but even they would all bow down […]

This Was Not A Test

One of my favorite voiceover stories involved a guy who did imaging for rock stations all over the country in the 1980s from his studio in Chicago. He had an incredibly deep voice and ballsy delivery that fit perfectly with what we were doing at WHCN, the rock station in Hartford where I was the […]

Remarkable Radio

I’m not a regular listener of “This American Life,” but I did download the latest episode, in which Ira Glass and his colleagues retract and apologize for a show they did earlier this year with Mike Daisey, the monologist whose off-Broadway show, “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” has drawn a lot of attention. […]

Stop Talking Like That!

One of my pet peeves as a broadcaster is when people on the air don’t speak like real people. What was the last time you asked someone if they knew the weather for tomorrow and they said, “there’s a chance of precipitation” or “we’ll probably get some white stuff” when they meant it might rain […]

20/20 Hindsight

20/20 Hindsight

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, CKLW was one of the great 50,000 watt Top 40 radio stations. It signed on in 1967 and within 90 days was the most popular signal in the Detroit area (although it was licensed across the river to Windsor, Ontario, which is why the call letters began with […]