Do you recognize this face? I didn’t either although he looks very familiar in an all-American-man-his-age sort of way. While neither of us have probably ever seen him before, odds are high that we have heard his voice.
El is the voice of AOL‘s “You’ve got mail.” and “Goodbye.” Presented below is biographical information from his website. He also runs a little business apparently. You can have your own personalized, “Tim, Guess what! You’ve got mail.” file recorded for your computer!
My name is Elwood Edwards… but please call me El.
Every aspect of my career has involved the use of my voice. I started in radio while in high school and carried what I learned into my work in television, where I first worked as a live booth announcer. Even though I would soon become involved in television production, I continued as an announcer. This worked out quite well because when I was developing a project (such as a news opening), I wrote the copy, went to the booth and recorded it, then finished the project. I spent many years in Creative Services, which is the department that typically works with Sales to develop commercials for advertisers.
There have been times when I was “on-camera”, doing a car commercial, reporting news or sports and even a short stint as a weatherman….. but I’ve concentrated on off-camera work. Even as I advanced into upper-level management, I continued to fill a slot as staff announcer.
My broadcasting career, which started in NC, has taken me to Washington, DC… to Akron, Ohio… to Houston, Texas (how do y’all stand the heat!!??)… and finally back to the Akron, Ohio, area. (I’ll take the snow anyday!)
In July, ’98, I resigned from the position of GM of a Houston television station to concentrate on my voice-over work. My wife, Karen, and I now reside in Orrville, Ohio, (the home of Smuckers®) where I have set up a studio in our home.
I use Adobe Audition© for master recording and can get your finished product to you on CD, DAT or Cassette, as well as sending files (.wav or .mp3) to you as an email attachment. My hobbies include computers and O-gauge model trains.
Source: BIO of El Edwards….