I've been hired by Paragon Advertising to do a radio spot. That's all I knew as I drove over to the recording studio, which is in Gene Johnson's house. When I arrived Gene was chatting with Jim McKeny, who was also doing the radio spot. Bob Morphis from Paragon arrived last.
I was given a quick tour of the studio and then Jim stepped into the recording booth, which was a small bedroom closet. Jim recorded a short voiceover for Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital, and then I was asked to step inside the booth.
I was told that I was "playing" a woman who had just learned she was pregnant. My part of the commercial was asking the Doctor questions about the safety of flying while pregnant. Since I had a script to read from I thought it'd be a piece of cake.
I first had to deal with headphones that were
huge and blocked out
all sound, except that of my own voice. And since I don't particularly like the sound of my own voice it took some getting use to. Next, each of my 5 lines had a very specific time limit. You'd think saying "I'm pregnant" in less than 3 seconds would be easy, but don't forget you have to count the breath that's taken right before uttering the words. You can't deliver too fast either. Once I got the speed down I then had to "act". Bob kept telling me to sound like I was happy about being pregnant. With Jim's dirty little jokes between takes, it wasn't hard to put that smile in my voice.
All in all it took less than half hour from the time I arrived until I left, and for the 60-second radio commercial spot I earned $110.00!
Today I headed to the WXII TV studio to do another voice commercial for Paragon Advertising. 
