First time posting here -- am a major broadcasting geek. I wanted to share with everyone a list of announcers I've been able to identify who worked for HBO, primarily from 1977 to 1997 (as 1977's I believe the date for the earliest footage of HBO on tape AFAIK). Since the network was young and based out of New York, my research has indicated they used a lot of NYC-based voice talent (though not all the time). You could also hear these announcers on HBO's sister networks, Cinemax and the obscure, short-lived Festival. I'm also looking for identification of several other voices who were heard on HBO at one point or another.
The late ABC staff announcer Joel Crager was one major voice of HBO in the earlier days (1977-83) -- he did the 1978 ratings bumpers (with the scrolling text) and many different promos and Next Ons during this time, as well as the introduction voiceovers for when the late Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara hosted the monthly HBO Sneak Preview specials.
Another major voice was Les Marshak -- he was often heard doing various promos, Next Ons and other assorted VO work (such as the intro to the HBO Free Movie Jubilee, including an informational video about how HBO ran programming from videotape). He was heard on HBO as late as 1991 from what I've been able to dig up.
Crager's fellow ABC staff announcer, Norman Rose, also did plenty of work for HBO as well as Cinemax (in fact he voiced all the early idents and ratings bumpers for Cinemax), though he wasn't as common on HBO.
Hal Douglas, better known for his movie trailer narration, also contributed the occasional promos and Next Ons during this time.
Joyce Gordon was an actress on both radio and TV; she was the first female president of the SAG's New York branch, and also did plenty of commercials (like this early 70s Tupperware commercial), and various automated phone messages at some point. (She was also the lunch lady in Billy Madison.) She was one of the primary ratings bumper voices from 1983 to 1988-89. She continued to do VO work for HBO until around 1992-ish.
Another major voice during the middle of the decade was Ray Otis. I don't know much about him, but he did do some occasional TV/radio station voicework (including WFSB in Hartford in the early 90s) and continues to voice Erie PA's WJET-24 (despite his voice having...degenerated). He was the voice of the regular ratings bumpers (alternating with Joyce Gordon) from 1985-89, as well as some fake bumpers HBO created for April Fool's Day.
Dan Ingram, the famed DJ, did both voice and on-camera work for HBO in the middle of the 80s -- he hosted the monthly HBO Coming Attractions program (albeit in voice-only, in at least one case co-hosting it with Joyce Gordon) and was one of four on-camera hosts for the short-lived "HBO Weekend" interstitials in early 1986.
Bill St. James, another great DJ and VO, started doing work for HBO and Cinemax around 1984; HBO/Cinemax weren't his only cable clients, as also became one of the voices of Nickelodeon in the early 90s (alternating with Wendell Craig). BSJ also voiced the ratings bumpers for both HBO and Cinemax from 1989 to 1993 (by which point he'd begun to do voicework for Showtime exclusively, remaining as a voice of that network into the 2000s); he'd previously voiced Cinemax's ratings bumpers exclusively for some time prior. He also did V/O work for CBS/Fox Video and successor FoxVideo in the late 80s/early 90s (along with sub-labels Key Video and Playhouse Video).
Victor Caroli, who'd previously voiced Showtime in the mid/late 80s (during their "Excitement" era) began to voice HBO/Cinemax circa 1988-89, though he was mostly heard over on Cinemax. Caroli's better known as the original Transformers narrator and the voice of MTV for much of the 1980s (as well as Tirac from the original My Little Pony).
Finally, there's a mystery VO I'd love to ID -- he was mostly used for scary/serious films (like CHUD) and also voiced Energizer battery commercials in the early 80s (pre-Bunny and pre-Aussie guy).
I want to explain why I did this -- I learned that a large compilation video of HBO continuity created by the late David Downs had been preserved on the Internet Archive (Downs died in 2019 and his channel was taken down, likely due to some sort of content claim nobody was around to contest). While scattered videos that he had uploaded were re-uploaded by other random accounts on YouTube, none of them were the Ultimate HBO Videos....until I found the 5th and final edition of it had been saved and re-uploaded to the IA. It was his videos in part that fueled my fascination for HBO pre-1997 -- when the channel was, for lack of a better word, more fun -- less concerned with prestigious original shows and more with movies, sports, specials and whatever other random stuff they could dig up to fill time (especially the intermission shorts, like "No Breaks", chronicling a California town's attempt to break the world record for longest sandwich). The Ultimate HBO Video showed how much HBO evolved in the space of two decades -- the presentation became more polished, the cadre of "Feature Movie" and other assorted intros gave way to the famed Starship/HBO in Space opening, and the promo campaigns became more over-the-top and all-encompassing.
Simply put, HBO was a very different beast pre-1997 (when the channel received a full-scale revamp and began to place even more emphasis on original shows). I grew up mostly watching HBO Family (we were early digital cable adopters) and then normal HBO -- and seeing all of the old continuity, the stuff that made HBO into what it is today, is fascinating in a way hat can't just be described in words alone. You need to see it to witness it.
The late ABC staff announcer Joel Crager was one major voice of HBO in the earlier days (1977-83) -- he did the 1978 ratings bumpers (with the scrolling text) and many different promos and Next Ons during this time, as well as the introduction voiceovers for when the late Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara hosted the monthly HBO Sneak Preview specials.
Another major voice was Les Marshak -- he was often heard doing various promos, Next Ons and other assorted VO work (such as the intro to the HBO Free Movie Jubilee, including an informational video about how HBO ran programming from videotape). He was heard on HBO as late as 1991 from what I've been able to dig up.
Crager's fellow ABC staff announcer, Norman Rose, also did plenty of work for HBO as well as Cinemax (in fact he voiced all the early idents and ratings bumpers for Cinemax), though he wasn't as common on HBO.
Hal Douglas, better known for his movie trailer narration, also contributed the occasional promos and Next Ons during this time.
Joyce Gordon was an actress on both radio and TV; she was the first female president of the SAG's New York branch, and also did plenty of commercials (like this early 70s Tupperware commercial), and various automated phone messages at some point. (She was also the lunch lady in Billy Madison.) She was one of the primary ratings bumper voices from 1983 to 1988-89. She continued to do VO work for HBO until around 1992-ish.
Another major voice during the middle of the decade was Ray Otis. I don't know much about him, but he did do some occasional TV/radio station voicework (including WFSB in Hartford in the early 90s) and continues to voice Erie PA's WJET-24 (despite his voice having...degenerated). He was the voice of the regular ratings bumpers (alternating with Joyce Gordon) from 1985-89, as well as some fake bumpers HBO created for April Fool's Day.
Dan Ingram, the famed DJ, did both voice and on-camera work for HBO in the middle of the 80s -- he hosted the monthly HBO Coming Attractions program (albeit in voice-only, in at least one case co-hosting it with Joyce Gordon) and was one of four on-camera hosts for the short-lived "HBO Weekend" interstitials in early 1986.
Bill St. James, another great DJ and VO, started doing work for HBO and Cinemax around 1984; HBO/Cinemax weren't his only cable clients, as also became one of the voices of Nickelodeon in the early 90s (alternating with Wendell Craig). BSJ also voiced the ratings bumpers for both HBO and Cinemax from 1989 to 1993 (by which point he'd begun to do voicework for Showtime exclusively, remaining as a voice of that network into the 2000s); he'd previously voiced Cinemax's ratings bumpers exclusively for some time prior. He also did V/O work for CBS/Fox Video and successor FoxVideo in the late 80s/early 90s (along with sub-labels Key Video and Playhouse Video).
Victor Caroli, who'd previously voiced Showtime in the mid/late 80s (during their "Excitement" era) began to voice HBO/Cinemax circa 1988-89, though he was mostly heard over on Cinemax. Caroli's better known as the original Transformers narrator and the voice of MTV for much of the 1980s (as well as Tirac from the original My Little Pony).
Finally, there's a mystery VO I'd love to ID -- he was mostly used for scary/serious films (like CHUD) and also voiced Energizer battery commercials in the early 80s (pre-Bunny and pre-Aussie guy).
I want to explain why I did this -- I learned that a large compilation video of HBO continuity created by the late David Downs had been preserved on the Internet Archive (Downs died in 2019 and his channel was taken down, likely due to some sort of content claim nobody was around to contest). While scattered videos that he had uploaded were re-uploaded by other random accounts on YouTube, none of them were the Ultimate HBO Videos....until I found the 5th and final edition of it had been saved and re-uploaded to the IA. It was his videos in part that fueled my fascination for HBO pre-1997 -- when the channel was, for lack of a better word, more fun -- less concerned with prestigious original shows and more with movies, sports, specials and whatever other random stuff they could dig up to fill time (especially the intermission shorts, like "No Breaks", chronicling a California town's attempt to break the world record for longest sandwich). The Ultimate HBO Video showed how much HBO evolved in the space of two decades -- the presentation became more polished, the cadre of "Feature Movie" and other assorted intros gave way to the famed Starship/HBO in Space opening, and the promo campaigns became more over-the-top and all-encompassing.
Simply put, HBO was a very different beast pre-1997 (when the channel received a full-scale revamp and began to place even more emphasis on original shows). I grew up mostly watching HBO Family (we were early digital cable adopters) and then normal HBO -- and seeing all of the old continuity, the stuff that made HBO into what it is today, is fascinating in a way hat can't just be described in words alone. You need to see it to witness it.
