live vs pre-recorded station announcements

[dkightley]

There is a bloke at Derby whom I always think is on the verge of suicide!

Only one? I thought there'd be a few thousand!

[markw]

You have to think what is the purpose of the announcement. In the main it's for the occasional traveller, for confirmation, and for those who hve visual impairment, it's not really aimed at the regular traveller (except when things go wrong). Therefore, the announcement should be clear, well enunciated and understandable. Sadly, manual announcements are too variable, and mispronunciation can cause confusion and error, the volume is often too variable, and in the worst cases the announcement is counter productive, as an inaudible announcement can cause a nervous or unfamiliar passenger to become panicked - was that my train? Is it on a different platform? What did they say?

The "Recieved pronunciation" (BBC English) of automatic announcements is clearly understood by all - where train companies have used people with "local accents" to record announcements such as Nexus and Nottingham NET, they have been for preference not because people can't understand RP, they are not full-on broad accents or dialect, and above all they are purely local services - and RP is better placed for a national network used by travellers from all over the country and abroad, and those who do not travel very often. After all, the announcer at Norwich International Airport doesn't announce the KLM flight to Amsterdam with a cheery "Ow do, boy" so why should the announcer at Thorpe Station?

[Anonymizeruk]

I don't think this topic is too serious, just a bit of light hearted banter.

As for the announcer on NET - what local accent?

NET announcer - "The next stop is Hucknall"
Passenger - "The nex stop is ucknull"

Anyways, enough said from me.

Cheers me duck!

Gary

[jimbob]

You have to think what is the purpose of the announcement. In the main it's for the occasional traveller, for confirmation, and for those who hve visual impairment, it's not really aimed at the regular traveller (except when things go wrong). Therefore, the announcement should be clear, well enunciated and understandable. Sadly, manual announcements are too variable, and mispronunciation can cause confusion and error, the volume is often too variable, and in the worst cases the announcement is counter productive, as an inaudible announcement can cause a nervous or unfamiliar passenger to become panicked - was that my train? Is it on a different platform? What did they say?

The "Recieved pronunciation" (BBC English) of automatic announcements is clearly understood by all - where train companies have used people with "local accents" to record announcements such as Nexus and Nottingham NET, they have been for preference not because people can't understand RP, they are not full-on broad accents or dialect, and above all they are purely local services - and RP is better placed for a national network used by travellers from all over the country and abroad, and those who do not travel very often. After all, the announcer at Norwich International Airport doesn't announce the KLM flight to Amsterdam with a cheery "Ow do, boy" so why should the announcer at Thorpe Station?

Norwich's few manual announcements arent that bad mark, much better than the automatic "I cant decide wether I am male or female" one that comes out quite regularly, must be doing something right still to have won them awards recently.

[markw]

As for the announcer on NET - what local accent?

NET announcer - "The next stop is Hucknall"
Passenger - "The nex stop is ucknull"

Anyways, enough said from me.

Cheers me duck!

Gary

According to the NET website the BBC local radio station was involved in choosing a candidate for the on board announcements, as they wanted someone with a more local flavour.

I know Midland Metro at first was going to use a local voice, but in the end went for someone who sounds like Sue Beardsmore, the BBC Midlands newsreader (the one with more bags under her eyes than the BHX luggage carousel, but she may have had them done since I last saw Midlands Today).

Apparently the award winning Walsall Art Gallery has local beat combo member Noddy Holder as the voice of the lifts! I can just imagine "Dorz clowsin. Gooin up. Ferst florwer. More pictchers. If y'gooin, tara"

[MeridianNick]

NET announcer - "The next stop is Hucknall"
Passenger - "The nex stop is ucknull"

Aye, I can vouch for that! Don't forget...

NET announcer :"The next stop is Highbury Vale"
Local (Gary ) : "Is it Ighbury Vale?"

The idea of was to have a local person who spoke proper English so those not sepaking the local lingo could understand. I must admit apart from being anoying it is very posh pronocuiations!

[XPTE]

I was watching a DVD yesterday of 70's and 80's footage of trains in the Southern region. And in one of the scenes at Brighton which probably dates back to about late 70's/early 80's, I was quite surprised that I heard the familiar ding ding ding ding ding chime(which is still used today) followed by the announcement "May I have your attention please. Please do not leaves cases or parcels anywhere on the station. Any unnattended items will be removed without warning". And it was the very same bloke who does a lot of the pre-recorded announcements nowadays, across the Southern region anyway, as well as Birmingham New Street to name another destination . This is the same voice that can be heard doing the "Please do not leaves cases or parcels...." announcement in the London-Brighton MSTS addon. Blimey, I didn't know he'd been doing it all this time.

I don't remember hearing those "Please do not leave cases or parcels....." announcements or that now familiar male voice back in the 70's or 80's(though my memories of those years are quite hazy) or even the 90's. I thought it may have only been post 9/11(2001) when these "Please do not leave cases or parcels...." announcements were used. But they've been going a lot longer than that.

Also whilst I've brought this thread back again. Last year I used Borough tube station daily going to and from work. And to get down to the platforms you had to use the lift(the only other option was a long flight of stairs) and in the lift an announcement is made by a somewhat haunting female voice saying "No smoking ANYWHERE on the underground". It is probably heard in other lifts at other tube stations too. But I would guess that this pre-recorded announcements dates back to the 50's or even earlier.

[enotayokel]

The Wessex one is very annoying. Goes on for ever too - especially with services to Waterloo (calling at [huge list of stations], Change at [long list of airport and other interchanges], when boarding please mind the gap)

I remember Swiss announcements being pre-recorded in the early 90s. And the ICEs 3 language 'On behalf of Deutsche Bahn and the Train Crew, we would like to thank you for travelling with us, and wish you a pleasant onward journey'

[danielw2599]

I personly prefer the pre-recorded announcments as I know I will always understand them and not worry about accents and dialects. In anycase, most manned stations have the ability to make thier own announcements along side the pre-recorded ones should they wish to.

[stuartpalmer]

Live announcements have their drawbacks when the announcer's speech isn't clear. I remember being at York one lunchtime when they were trying to announce that the train booked to depart from platform 5 would go from platform 9 and vice-versa. Unfortunately, the poor girl's "five" sounded exactly the same as "nine". Result: lots of very confused passengers rushing in all directions like the proverbial headless chickens.

[allypally]

Smoking has been banned on the underground since the Kings Cross fire in 1987. Not quite the 50s but hey ho

As for prerecorded announcements, don't forget they do have a tendency to screw up - I recently heard an 0741 to Plymouth calling at Birmingham New Street, Birmingham International, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Banbury, Oxford, Cheltenham Spa, Bristol Temple Meads, Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbott, Totnes, Southampton Central and Plymouth.

Not very helpful at all!

[6rdfar90]

I too, miss the Big Board at Birmingham New Street. I also wish that the train stations in the Yorkshire area had the same man that does the voices in Birmingham New Street (It is still a man right?) I dont know why, just sounds better than the stupid woman we have at the train station in Leeds. Its the same on FTPE services though, the automated announcements sometimes dont work, but when they do work, everyone knows where they are (well, most of the time anyways - once or twice I have left Leeds to be told im travelling to Cleethorpes)

[ajax103]

Quite a few of the stations managed by FCC have the auto announcements but have the equipment in the office to make live ones in times of engineering works or other reasons.

[matt2725]

I too, miss the Big Board at Birmingham New Street. I also wish that the train stations in the Yorkshire area had the same man that does the voices in Birmingham New Street (It is still a man right?) I dont know why, just sounds better than the stupid woman we have at the train station in Leeds. Its the same on FTPE services though, the automated announcements sometimes dont work, but when they do work, everyone knows where they are (well, most of the time anyways - once or twice I have left Leeds to be told im travelling to Cleethorpes)

The guy who does the annoucements at BNS is Phil Sayer (professional voice artist). His wife Elinor Hamilton does the same job on some London Underground stations on the Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines.

http://www.sayerhamilton.com/ is their official website.

[XPTE]

I too, miss the Big Board at Birmingham New Street. I also wish that the train stations in the Yorkshire area had the same man that does the voices in Birmingham New Street (It is still a man right?) I dont know why, just sounds better than the stupid woman we have at the train station in Leeds. Its the same on FTPE services though, the automated announcements sometimes dont work, but when they do work, everyone knows where they are (well, most of the time anyways - once or twice I have left Leeds to be told im travelling to Cleethorpes)

The guy who does the annoucements at BNS is Phil Sayer (professional voice artist). His wife Elinor Hamilton does the same job on some London Underground stations on the Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines.

http://www.sayerhamilton.com/ is their official website.

Yes so it is. I'd never have guessed this was the same person who did the voiceovers for a lot of the radio ads. They're very different.