How I Got Into Being a Voiceover

Over the weekend my girlfriend and I drove to Nashville, TN to participate in the Country Music 1/2 Marathon. This is about a 5 hour drive from St. Louis - very manageable.

We ran the race, and beat a thunderstorm on Saturday, then enjoyed the town a little. On Sunday after meeting up with some friends we started our drive back. It was about 3pm when we left town and the St. Louis Cardinals were just starting the final game of a weekend series in San Francisco. Luckily "Cardinal Nation" stretches all the way into Tennessee so we were able to pick up the radio broadcast early in our drive. This is when I remembered what it was that convinced me to be a professional voiceover.

I have always loved to listen to baseball on the radio. I have held several jobs over my career where I spent many hours behind the wheel and I listened to many a ball game. But even before I was a working man, I loved to listen to baseball. I remember listening to Jack Buck and Mike Shannon call the Cardinals games through the 1980's. I always enjoyed listening to the announcers better on the radio than on TV. When the televised games were not on a 3-10 second delay I would many times turn down the volume to hear the radio guys and see the sights on the TV.

On this drive through the rainy middle states of the US on a Sunday afternoon it all came back to me. Here I was, glued to the sounds of the game that were being so beautifully painted for me by a couple guys on the radio. I could smell the ball park, I could imagine the setting of the San Francisco park. Yes, this is what I love. Luckily I was given (and developed) a unique voice over time, but it is my love for painting a picture with my words that led me to voice acting.

The three hours of the drive when the game was on just sped by. I never got sleepy, never lost focus, never missed a pitch.

While a dream job for me would be to announce baseball at some point in my career I realize that there are many other ways I can bring a product, service or idea to life with my voice. I love this medium, I love to be a part of this medium. It is because of the Bucks and Shannons out there that I have pursued voice acting. Have you ever had a voice move you? It can be pretty powerful.