eyewitness_news 5 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Even though WFSB still uses Bill Ratner, I've recently been hearing Mike Lewis in their "Channel 3 Cares" promo. Mind you, Mike Lewis was the former announcer for rival 'VIT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leavellebrett 85 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 WJAC does this. Scott Chapin is the main V/O for newscasts and a few promos, but Brian Lee does a LOT of promos for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
channel2 869 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Maybe they're transitioning? There was a period in 2010 where you could still hear Scott Chapin on KDVR as they were transitioning to Beau Weaver (incidentally, both of them did KMGH back in the '90s; Weaver had two stints). KCNC has a female V/O for billboards and Community Calendar pieces, but I don't know who she is (they primarily use Chris Corley). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2876 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 KSAZ is phasing in Jim Cutler, much in the same way. He's on promos only right now. 10 hasn't used a known-name VO since Chris Corley back in 2006. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 KSAZ's current voiceover is Phoenix-based Scott Fisher. He does a lot of radio work, including Phoenix's own 550 KFYI. He also used to do the imaging for KJ97 here in SA (his voice doesn't scream country IMO, they've since switched to someone else). Sad Fox 10 is switching away from him, because I actually like him. Jim Cutler is great too, don't get me wrong, but Fisher added a local touch. KSAT here uses Scott Chapin but ever since his sabbatical, they have an alternate voice they use (a local radio DJ I think) for most of their promos. He sucks if you ask me and tries WAY too hard. He sounds creepy, as in a person you wouldn't want to hang around. KENS meanwhile is transitioning from Bill Ratner to Steve Kamer (the guy who does Inside Edition, KDKA, WCAU, KCAL, KNXV, among others--not Bill Murray like many had thought). I'd take Kamer over Ratner anyday. He has a strong, authoritative voice unlike Ratner, who is way overused. But he's picking up a lot more national stuff lately, probably why WFSB, KENS, and others are dropping him, since he's not available for them as much. Mike Lewis isn't the best replacement IMO (I've never been a fan of Lewis BTW). I would've gone for Jim Cutler or back to Chapin or Paul Turner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A3N 996 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 KSAZ's current voiceover is Phoenix-based Scott Fisher. He does a lot of radio work, including Phoenix's own 550 KFYI. He also used to do the imaging for KJ97 here in SA (his voice doesn't scream country IMO, they've since switched to someone else). Sad Fox 10 is switching away from him, because I actually like him. Jim Cutler is great too, don't get me wrong, but Fisher added a local touch. KSAT here uses Scott Chapin but ever since his sabbatical, they have an alternate voice they use (a local radio DJ I think) for most of their promos. He sucks if you ask me and tries WAY too hard. He sounds creepy, as in a person you wouldn't want to hang around. KENS meanwhile is transitioning from Bill Ratner to Steve Kamer (the guy who does Inside Edition, KDKA, WCAU, KCAL, KNXV, among others--not Bill Murray like many had thought). I'd take Kamer over Ratner anyday. He has a strong, authoritative voice unlike Ratner, who is way overused. But he's picking up a lot more national stuff lately, probably why WFSB, KENS, and others are dropping him, since he's not available for them as much. Mike Lewis isn't the best replacement IMO (I've never been a fan of Lewis BTW). I would've gone for Jim Cutler or back to Chapin or Paul Turner. Here in San Diego, KFMB has been using Bill Ratner since 2001 and in the last few weeks i've started to hear a new voiceover guy doing promos for the evening newscasts. I could swear it almost sounds like the Inside Edition guy, but I have to capture to confirm it. Does anyone know if Ratner phasing out local work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AaronQ 259 Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 In Charlotte, it's a different scenario. WSOC using Ratner as well, but they're using another V/O for some of their promos and teases, which I cannot recognized the V/O. Ironically enough, WCNC used to have Ratner as their V/O before they called themselves "NBC Charlotte". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I've noticed that a few Hearst stations are backing away from using Ratner (WCVB and WBAL). Is Ratner about to retire or is he just getting too expensive for Hearst? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanewsguy 509 Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 I've noticed that a few Hearst stations are backing away from using Ratner (WCVB and WBAL). Is Ratner about to retire or is he just getting too expensive for Hearst? Naw, I'd say he's about to retire. WCVB and a few of the other Hearst stations seem to be phasing in Steve Stone as his replacement. Stone isn't necessarily the cheapest voiceover. I think Ratner is OK as a character VO, but I've really been getting sick of him as an announcer for local news. He's way overused. KENS should have never switched to him to begin with since he doesn't even fit them. Steve Kamer blows Ratner out of the water anyday and I wish KENS would start using him full-time. Or, it could just be the individual station's choice. Possibly new management that wants to bring in a new VO? I remember when WOAI got a new ND in 2007 he started rebranding it to "News 4". Although they didn't go with a full-blown look until December 2007, around March 2007 they dumped Paul Turner and started using an unknown male VO (you can find audio on the NMSA under WOAI X Package sample 1). In the promos, the copy he read also referred to the newscasts as "News 4" rather than "News 4 WOAI" even though they had not switched yet (promos retained the same graphics and style as before). But that made it known that a rebranding was imminent. That's always a possibility... In a slightly unrelated note, I'm thinking Ed O'Brien is about to retire. Aren't KTRK and KETV his only clients? The quality of his voice has declined considerably ( and for example). He sounds awful on KTRK compared to some of his earlier work. I wish they would start using CVD on KTRK and tell O'Brien to call it a career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samantha 2876 Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 @sanewsguy WOAI X Package #1 is John Moore. John Moore in the NMSA is actually listed incorrectly and with an out-of-date website. I thus once confused John Moore with a still-unnamed VO that started in Iowa and Cape Girardeau, MO in the 80s and did a LOT of work (KAUZ, KWWL, KFVS, WHO). The real John Moore has a much younger (and different) voice and isn't correct for any of what's given in the NMSA. I hate Bill Ratner's voice with a passion. It's...annoying. He's never voiced a station in Phoenix, but I have to put up with his national ads (the first of which I believe was for the movie "Megamind"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Info Junkie 1285 Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 A similar situation happened at WRAL back in 1993-94 - Ed O'Brien was their main voiceover while they had Doug Paul for the other promos. I wonder if they ever used Doug for the news opens? (You can hear Doug at 3:45) WPLG and KSAT did something like this too with Nick Michaels (WPLG), Scott Chapin (KSAT) and Suzy Nelson (both stations). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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