The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Radio Station Chain Replaces All Voiceover Talent With A.I.

**Posted by RadioActive** July 20, 2025 7:17 am

And so it begins, with an announcement freelance voiceover artists surely won't appreciate. Saga Communications, which owns 113 radio stations across many U.S. states, has decided to replace all their voice imaging announcers with A.I.

The move comes as a cost cutting measure, although management claims it will help save the jobs of fulltime announcers with the money it saves.

"The savings we were able to generate by going through this other way of doing station imaging — utilizing AI — saved about 10 people who otherwise would have lost their jobs as a result of the expense reductions we wanted to put in place."

It's bad news for freelancers, who depend on radio gigs for their livelihoods, especially if other station groups decide this is a good way for them to cut costs, too.

Saga's owners insist they will never replace their full time personalities with articial voices. I guess we'll see - and hear - if that's true.

Doesn't AM640 already have their liner intros to shows like Ben Mulroney and John Oakley done by a rather liefeless-sounded A.I.?

Saga Communications to Replace Station Voiceover Talents with AI-Replicated Voices

**Posted by Jody Thornton** July 20, 2025 8:18 am

If I ever wanted to return to the biz in a meaningful way, I would LOVE to work as an imaging voice. I could have done really well at it. I wonder what this would do to media houses that specialize in this sort of stuff. Didn't Dallas, Texas thrive on this sort of industry? I'm thinking back when Mitch Craig productions was all over CHR and later News/Talk formats.

Sad news, but I really think AI is going to touch/affect industries we would NEVER have guessed it would.

**Posted by Nedphones** July 20, 2025 6:54 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Doesn't AM640 already have their liner intros to shows like Ben Mulroney and John Oakley done by a rather liefeless-sounded A.I.?

Saga Communications to Replace Station Voiceover Talents with AI-Replicated Voices

Yes

**Posted by ckg927** July 20, 2025 8:14 pm

Hell, Byrnes Communications uses AI for their overnight shifts at 101.1 More FM and 105.1 the River and THEY sound more lifelike!

**Posted by ckg927** July 20, 2025 8:15 pm

Jody Thornton wrote:
If I ever wanted to return to the biz in a meaningful way, I would LOVE to work as an imaging voice. I could have done really well at it. I wonder what this would do to media houses that specialize in this sort of stuff. Didn't Dallas, Texas thrive on this sort of industry? I'm thinking back when Mitch Craig productions was all over CHR and later News/Talk formats.

Sad news, but I really think AI is going to touch/affect industries we would NEVER have guessed it would.

If I remember right, wasn't Mitch Craig Productions the company that did the initial imaging for 680 News? (I THINK they also did Kiss 98.5 in Buffalo, too; I could be wrong.)

**Posted by Jody Thornton** July 20, 2025 11:37 pm

Yes they did Kiss 98.5, CFTR, and stayed with 680 News for the first few years after the switch.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** July 21, 2025 8:07 am

Jody Thornton wrote:
Sad news, but I really think AI is going to touch/affect industries we would NEVER have guessed it would.

You are so correct Jody Thornton. It will obviously have a massive impact on the entertainment world, from voice talents, like yourself, to movie production. However, pretty much any AI generated product, be it animation to written word, seems off to me, and not just by a little! For example, RadioActive recently posted some online articles generated by AI, they were laughable, and that’s being kind.

It has a long ways to go, but we all know that it will replace human talent eventually. Not sure how that’s going to look but there’s no stopping it, sadly!

**Posted by ckg927** July 21, 2025 9:04 pm

Jody Thornton wrote:
Yes they did Kiss 98.5, CFTR, and stayed with 680 News for the first few years after the switch.

Way back in the day, I did an internship at Kiss(when it and WWKB were both at 695 Delaware in Buffalo)and I believe I recall seeing its logo on some boxes of reel tape.

Mind you, it's VERY hard to mistake that voice.