You can watch episode 4 of Voice Over Histories (Stories of Underground Voices) here! The transcript of the episode is below (without transcription of footage of interviews/clips that feature in the episode).
Transcript of Stories of Underground Voices
Welcome to episode 4 of Voice Over Histories, I’m Katie Aitken and in this docu-series, you’ll join me as we shine a light on the people, the projects and the stories from the voice over industry of times past.
Whether you call it the tube, the subway or the metro - in this episode we’re going underground.
Today we’re exploring a few voiceover stories from some of the most recognisable voices, practically emblematic of their respective cities, but the names behind the voices are ones you probably don’t even know.
Let’s begin with a beautiful voice story that takes place in London Underground.
London Underground is the oldest underground railway station in the world dating back to 1863. It is currently the world’s third longest metro system, with 270 stations over 11 lines, spanning 402 km.
There are plenty of instructions you might be familiar with hearing blasted throughout the station, on the platforms and on the trains if you’ve travelled on the London tube. One of the earliest voice recordings travellers in the underground might have heard was in 1921, instructing passengers to stand on the right hand side of the escalators.
Something Londoners today are still deeply passionate about - so if you’re planning a visit there, you’ve been warned!
However, the phrase in question in this story was coined nearly 50 years later in 1968 and is practically synonymous with the underground. It’s a phrase - said in a particular tone - that is as emblematic of London as a red double decker bus or Big Ben.
If you’ve not guessed it already, the phrase is ‘Mind The Gap’.
One of the earliest voices to say the iconic instruction was theatre actor, Oswald Lawrence in the 1970’s.
After his death in 2007, his widow, Dr Margaret McCollum continued to visit Embankment station to hear his voice on the platform, still giving the deep, clear announcement.
There have been many different voices over the years covering the different lines that gradually get phased out and replaced over time. Dr McCollum was devastated to find that this was exactly what happened to her husband’s voice in November 2012. His voice had gone.
She reached out to the staff at Transport for London explaining who he was and what hearing his voice at the station meant to her. TFL were touched by the story and proceeded to delve into the archives, finally managing to find the old tapes with Oswald Lawrence’s original recordings. They were then digitised, restored and reinstated for use in the station much to the delight of Dr Margaret McCollum!
And still, even today, if you go to the North bound platform of the Northern Line at Embankment Station, you can hear the familiar, grounding voice of Oswald Lawrence continue to guide the thousands who pass through everyday to ‘mind the gap.’
--- --- ---
The next underground voice over tale takes us to Spain, to the Madrid Metro.
Since it’s inception in 1919, Madrid’s Metro system has grown to include a whopping 302 stations and serves 2.3 million passengers everyday.
Naturally, given what a central part of everyday life this public transport system plays, the announcements made in the metro stations, the names of those stations and the voices who say them are deeply familiar to millions of people.
Unfortunately, there was a rather large oversight in 2001 when two familiar voices from the Madrid Metro were used - or rather - misused, elsewhere.
Manu Chao, the French born Spanish singer, released his second album titled Proxima Estacion : Esperanza.
Proxima Estacion means ‘Next Station’ and Esperanza translates as ‘Hope’ and is the name of one of the station stops in Madrid.
On the album, the end of the first track features the familiar voices from the metro saying the eponymous title of the album, lifted straight from the station.
These voices are Javier Dotú, who announces ‘proxima estacion’ and María Jesús Álvarez who announces the name of the stop ‘Esperanza’.
The problem was - that Manu Chao did not seek their permission to obtain the rights to use their voices in his music.
Javier Dotú is a voice actor who has dubbed for Al Pacino, Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson to name just a few and María Jesús Álvarez has been a voice on Spanish National radio for over 40 years.
The pair filed a lawsuit against Manu Chao for violation of intellectual property rights without their consent. After a long five years, they finally got their acknowledgement and due financial compensation.
The singer wrote that “it was a mistake” and that he did indeed use Dotú and Álvarez’s voices “without consent”.
Dotú told the media that he and Álvarez were never motivated by “the spirit of profit,” but rather that they wanted “their rights to be compensated, as has finally happened.”
--- --- ---
Let’s turn our attention to a couple of inspiring tales from contemporary underground voices. A voice the people of Sydney, Australia are familiar with is that of Taylor Owynns who has voiced the announcements on the Sydney metro for more than 20 years.
However, health ailments she experienced during her childhood could have precluded her the profession. Owynns dealt with chronic bronchitis and asthma and recalls,
“Dad used to put the two o’clock radio play on and when you were, well, struggling to breathe, it was a wonderful distraction.”
It was during this time that she developed a fondness for words and diction. So far from letting her childhood respiratory complications hold her back, in a sense it was exactly as a result of them that her interest in voice over was ignited - through her unique connection to the sounds and voices of the radio play.
As heartwarming fate would have it, Owynns got her big break in voice over in a radio play for ABC. Since then she has been the voice of Estee Lauder and Clinique, played the character Lulu in kid’s hit TV show Bananas in Pyjamas, narrated numerous audiobooks and perhaps greatest of all - voiced the Sydney Metro.
--- --- ---
And finally, the last underground voice to share with you in this episode takes us to the big apple, The New York City subway.
With over 5 million people per day taking it, that makes it the busiest subway system in the United States and the seventh busiest in the world.
For over a decade, the familiar voice to over a billion people per year who take the New York City subway, has been Bernie Wagenblast.
A lot of Wagenblast’s career has centred around transportation, ranging from being an on-air traffic reporter in the 1970s, to helping establish New York’s first transportation communication centre. In addition to being the voice of the New York City subway, Wagenblast’s voice can also be heard on the AirTrains at Newark Liberty International Airport and JFK International Airport and in the refurbished cars on the PACTO Speedline.
However, it wasn’t until 2023 when Wagenstaff truly found her voice.
At the age of 65, she announced that she was a transgender woman and wanted to live her life being who she truly is.
With regard to the sound of her voice, Wagenblast said:
“Because my voice has played such a critical role in my life, to me it’s important that my voice sound as authentically female as it can.”
So she took speech lessons, which she began in 2021, researched and practised, developing a voice that is now described as “soft and lilting”.
Her story has caught the attention of news outlets around the world, which Wagenblast is pleased about, hoping that by sharing her story, she can inspire and empower others experiencing gender dysphoria, knowing that people hearing her voice on the subway will know her story and that LGBTQIA+ people are “not just on the TV or people you read about that are somewhere else but an intricate part of day-to-day living.”
A chief customer officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said,
“Bernie is part of an exclusive group of people who have recorded subway announcements - each with their own story - highlighting the diversity that is New York City.”
There’s no doubt that this is true, but in this episode, we’ve seen how it’s also the case for underground voices around the world.
The voices of the underground are such familiar voices within their cities. And do indeed each have their own stories that have the power to resonate, touch and inspire far beyond themselves.
Komentáře