The O'Hare Guy?

[ScatteredFrog]

Hey, anybody know the straight dope on the guy who did those recorded announcements at O'Hare??? My wife and I can't help but crack up when we hear the announcements because he sounds like such a stereotypical Chicagoan -- in fact, you'd swear he was a regular on Bill Swerski's Superfans. I mean, for God's sake, you can HEAR the aviator shades, hair of no particular style, gut, mustache, and Bears parka...

If you're not sure what announcements I'm referring to, listen to the guy at these links:

"For dose customers connecting to a flight on the C cahncourse..."

"In order to expedite the security checkpoint process..."

"Attention, passengers: it is illegal for transportation companies to solicit rides at the airport..." (Defunct -- the O'Hare Guy no longer does this announcements; a woman with a slightly less pronounced accent does this one now.)

"The TSA has limited..." (one of his newer ones; just came out in the last couple of years...)

So...who is this guy?? What's his story?? Does he work for United??

[Mr Downtown]

Probably for the Department of Aviation.

When Dallas/Fort Worth Airport opened in the 1970s, the station announcements on the Airtrans system were made in a syrupy female Texas accent: "Thuh next stayshun serves Brayaniff and Dayulltuh." It was a little embarrassing, but at least gave you a sense of place in an otherwise sterile, Disneyfied environment.

[jnglmassiv]

Heh..I' ve wondered about the OHare announcement voice guy, too.
"The current Threat Assessment Level is Orange!..."

I recently flew from Eagle County, CO (Vail) where the security announcement was obviously phoned in from somewhere and sounded crummy. It had me missing OHare guy's reassuring pipes.

[Artista]

I work in Terminal 1 for United airlines. They still use the male voice as well,,unfortunately .

[Shmendrik]

Ah yes, my favorite is "Do not leave baggage left unattended."

[Artista]

Haha and ...."ORANGE"

[GameHat]

LOL I knew exactly what you meant.

Of all the airports I've been in, only O'Hare has the announcements done by a guy with a funny accent.

I wouldn't call it a Chicago accent, though. To me it sounds much more like Doyle Redland, famous faux radio reporter for the Onion. More like a 50s-60s radio reporter style.

Here's a recent example:

Area Pie Hole Shut

[pulykamell]

Huh. I don't even think of those as examples of a particularly strong Chicago accent. For one, he clearly says the "th" in "for those customers." The announcements at Midway have a much stronger local accent.