Do you fall asleep listening to old episodes of This American Life? Torture your friends with Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me recaps? Do you also have a sonorous voice that people enjoy listening to? Well, why not combine your NPR love and talent for sounding pleasing by being THE VOICE OF NPR?
Yes that’s right, NPR needs a new announcer, the person who says things like “support for this program comes from” and AND (this is the big one) “This is NPR.” Think you got what it takes? Well, sadly, it takes more than just a pretty voice to land this gig. You’ll have to be familiar with radio editing and be able to work on a tight deadline, and they’ll be pleasantly surprised if you understand radio sales systems (we don’t, so we’re out). The ad also specifically states that they just want someone who sounds authentic on the radio, not a “voice of God,” so you can quit working on your Morgan Freeman impersonation.
If you think you’ve got what it takes, and you’re OK with moving to Washington, DC, get a cover letter together and make a demo reel of two scripts they provide on the job listing, as read by your magnificent voice. The upload them with the job application and wait for the NPR announcer groupies to start knocking down your door.