The Voice

You know the voice.
"7 News at 11 starts now," the smooth, high baritone announces, welcoming viewers to the late night newscast on WHDH-TV (Channel 7.)
If the story is light, his tone teases like a comedic uncle. If the news is tragic, his voice is softer and slower, weighted with compassion.
"It's like an art form, and if you don't think it is, try and do it sometime!" says Scott Chapin, the man behind the voice. "What I bring to the table is attitude more than voice."
Chapin, 54, the signature announcer for WHDH and sister station WLVI-TV (Channel 56), is one of the most famous voices in Boston, yet viewers never see his face. Three times a day from an audio studio in his home in New Mexico, Chapin records his exuberant promos and teases for WHDH. His voice, in fact, is heard across the country.
In back-to-back 10-minute sessions throughout a 10-hour workday, Chapin records voiceovers for 20 TV stations nationwide, from Miami (WSVN-TV Channel 7) and Atlanta to Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. In a typical day, he records about 45 sessions.
I have a story in today's Globe on Scott and how he got started in the voiceover business with Miami's Channel 7 20 years ago.

This story was a real treat for me. When I was at a journalism student at Miami Beach High, Channel 7 in Miami became a Fox affiliate and transformed itself into the fast-paced pulsating TV station that it is today. Scott was brought into WSVN to make the station stand-out with his voiceovers for intros and promos against Channel 10, Channel 6 and Channel 4.
When I moved to Boston six years ago, it was as if Scott moved here with me because whenever I tuned into WSVN's sister station WHDH, I heard that familiar voice, which reminded me of home. And now that I cover TV news in Boston, I just had to write this story. I know I'm not the only viewer who is drawn into the newscast because of Scott's distinctive, part-gravelly voice.

To read the story, click here. To listen to Scott's various voiceovers for TV stations across the country, go here.

And here are the 20 stations that Scott does voiceovers for daily.
WHDH-TV Boston
WSVN-TV Miami
KDVR-TV Denver
KTVI-TV St. Louis
KDFW-TV Dallas
WPXI-TV Pittsburg
KSEE-TV Fresno, CA
WTTG-TV Washington D.C.
WNEM-TV Saginaw, Michigan
WNEP-TV, Scranton, PA
WDAF TV, Kansas City
WFLD-TV Chicago
KTVU-TV San Francisco
WJBK-TV Detroit
WSOC-TV Charlotte, NC
KSTU-TV, Salt Lake City, UT
WSB-TV, Atlanta
KIRO-TV Seattle
WTEN-TV Albany, NY