Voice overs in the time before the digital age

I have started this blog to share my experiences in radio and the voice over business. Hi my name is Greg Whaley. I started in radio back in the '90's. I was the over night guy at a rock station in West Palm Beach for nearly 10 years. Those were a lot of long lonely hours working that late every night. But, I also got to host remote broadcasts on the weekends at night clubs and beach resorts while promoting the station and partying for free. I got to meet nearly ever rock star I ever listened too, replete with limo rides, back stage passes and front row seats. It was a pretty cool life. Here are just a couple of pics below.

             Me & Edgar Winter                                                                 Me & Sam Kinison

   Me & Brian Howe From Bad Company                                      The radio gang with Tesla

Ozzy

But, every morning when I got off the air at 6am, my in box would have 2 or 3 scripts that needed to be turned into commercials by me, fully produced, with the fastest turnaround. We had a good production director but, occasionally he wrote some really poorly worded scripts. I would try really hard to voice his words but, sometimes it just didn't work. I would have to re-write it. It was a huge struggle until, I finally became the production director. I was now the one sitting side by side with the client helping to create a conceptual branding for their product or service in a way that would resonate with our listeners. And now, I was the one writing the scripts. I soon realized that it is difficult to write scripts for certain products or services.Writing commercial copy scripts became a skill I crafted into an art during that decade, having written and voiced thousands of them. This was before the digital age and all recording and editing was still done on real to real tape with a razor blade! Then transferred over to a multi-track tape recorder to add music and sound effects if needed. Then once the sound levels were adjusted, the finished spot was then transferred on to a 'cart' that looked just like an old 8-track tape which was labeled and was now ready for air. Just an idea how far we have come in just a few years. Whew!...what a hassle, huh?