Hitmakers Forum
interview with Joe Cipriano
by CHRIS RUH

Joe, how did the glamorous world of voice-overs become your profession?

I Lucked into the whole thing, Chris. Thanks for calling! Talk to you later... Actually, I started in radio in Waterbury, CT when I was 16 years old. I was a junior in high school and started working weekends at a local radio station. By the time I was a senior I was full time, doing the night shift and doing my homework while I was on the air.

Like so many of us who get into radio, I knew at an early age that broadcasting was what I wanted to do. I got the bug while on a fourth grade school trip to WTIC in Hartford which was an AM-FM and TV facility at the time. Walking through those halls and walking into the TV studio and past the radio station with this big window and these guys who were live on the radio was very exciting to me and I knew instantly that that was exactly what I wanted to do.

But isn't it true that you also wanted to be an actor.

Oh yes. And I thought that in order to be a sitcom actor, the way to get to TV was through radio because that's the way Bob Hope did it and it's the way all these stars of that era did it.

A lot of the stars from that era certainly came from radio.

I thought that all those old guys did it that way. However, by the time I got into radio it was 1971, and one didn't exactly get into TV roles though radio.

With Jay Thomas and Howard Stern and so many other radio station stars making the transition to movies and TV today, maybe radio is once again that type of vehicle.

Well, it certainly has gone back to that. When I was in radio, disk jockeys were disk jockeys and I was in format radio most of the time. You did the format and the disk jockey was the a local star but stardom never translated much further than that. Maybe you'd do something with the PBS station on a fund raiser but that was about it. Nowadays however, I think that people in radio can use their positions as a real advantage into getting whatever they want. This is probably one of the best times to be in radio, maybe even as good as back in the 40's and 50's when radio personalities were huge stars. This is a great time to be in radio because radio has become so important again.

But how and when did you make the transition from promising radio star to dedicated voice-over pro?

It was during a period when I was working in Washington, D.C. I realized that I was only on the radio for four or five hours a day and that there's another 20 hours in the day. O.K. - you've got to sleep a little bit, but there's plenty of other time in the day to go after your dreams. Radio was always a friend to me in that I could rely on a paycheck. I knew that if I did a good job, radio would support me in whatever I was doing on the side. And I decided that voice-overs was the way to go. As soon as I found out that you could go to a session, record a voice-over which would take you about a half hour at the longest, and then get paid residuals while you're sleeping, well, that sounded pretty good! I thought that was alright. So I started in Washington D.C. doing a lot of local commercials. I've spoken on some panels about this, about how to get out of radio and into voice-overs, and about how it worked for me and you start by knowing you got your base - your radio job.

You've got a lot of time to work with, and you have all these commercials coming into the station from all the advertisers and ad agencies that are in town. I started just looking at all the tapes that came in, and seeing what ad agency it came from then I would send out my hacked up voice-over tape - which was a fake because I 'd never really done a Coke commercial or any of those things at the time.

But you did put a specs spot together?

Yes. I put together a tape of about two minutes with me doing a bunch of different spots and it was obvious that I really didn't do these on a national level, but it just showed my talent in different styles. And I would send that out to every ad agency that did business with that station. It was a great way to make use of production time when you're carting up spots.

That's how I starting doing spots in D.C., and it led to doing some stuff for the government. But then I realized that if you want the big stuff, if you want the nationals, you've got to be in New York or Los Angeles, especially at the time.

So my wife and I decided that L.A. was where we really wanted to go, especially since I still had this dream to get into sitcoms, game shows and all that kind of stuff. But I didn't all of a sudden pick up and move to Los Angeles.

I waited until I could score a radio job out here because, again, I knew that I could use radio throughout my career to propel my other career aspirations. Well, a great job did come along at K-HITS, which was a Greater Media station that is today KLSX. Ironically, some 17 years after they hired me, I am today the voice of that radio station. Anyway, once I got settled out here, I just started going after the big guys the same way I did in Washington D.C. I got an agent and little by little I got small national spots and a lot of local spots.

The thing that really got me going - my big break, if you will - was when I did the trailers and the TV and radio spots for a movie called Fast Times At Ridgemont High around '81 or '82. I was amazed at the amount of money put into the promotion of a movie by the movie companies.

They went out and hired a trailer company or an ad agency that was going to promote the movie and we would go out and do these spots at full session rates that the company would put together. It would be a one-minute trailer and then they would do the whole thing. You'd do the voice over session - get paid for it - then bring it back to the company, the exec looks at it and they go “Well, let's change this copy point.” You go back in, you re-read the whole thing and you get paid again. I went for about two and a half months that summer just doing Fast Times At Ridgemont High spots.
I was shocked - it was unbelievable! I made a lot of money off it and I thought “Wow, this is incredible.” And that's when I realized that promos - which is what I do - was the way to go for network television and for movies, especially because I kept running into this problem when I would go to voice over workshops. They would say "You sound like a Disk Jockey. You sound like you're on the radio. You've got to loose that sound and become more of a real person."

And I couldn't hear it - although I tried to loose it. I would try to be natural. I was approaching that when I came to realize that having a radio background and sounding like a radio guy was an asset. And it worked! So I went full force into doing promos. In addition to Fast Times, I did the Porky's movies. I did a lot of teen movies at the time.

So we're talking early-to-mid-80's?

Early ’80's. Like ’82-’83. I did Tom Cruise's All The Right Moves back then. I did a lot of that kind of stuff while I kept up my radio work. By that time I had switched over to KKHR, which was the CBS O&O. A Hit radio station that was really high energy. In fact, I was a little concerned that the high energy was going to affect my radio career. I wondered if I might sound a little goofy being so high-energy.

But it wasn't a simulcast, they were both live, right?

Right. They were both live and we were pretty much playing the same songs at the same time as well as the same commercials. It was so bizarre. You'd listen to the FM or the AM and you'd tune back and forth and they'd be ten seconds off sometimes. You'd go “Wow!”

The only difference being the talk up ramp of the song.

Yes, and the real difference was the personality who was on the air. It was very funny and thank God for that. Unfortunately, the FCC allowed simulcasting in major markets about a year into that, which blew it for us. Of course, I met some great people there. It's amazing to think about the people who came out of KIIS at that time who really went on to having very successful careers. Anyway, when KIIS-AM went to simulcast of the FM, I got moved to the FM doing one shift a week, which was disastrous, Chris. And thank God that my wife at the time had a great job. She was director for Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous, which was an excellent job, and put her in the director's union and really saved us. I was doing a few things, but not really making enough to live on. I would score something, and that would be great, but it was just not consistent.

But one afternoon, while I was filling in for Big Ron O'Brian, the man who was the head of promotions of the then brand new Fox Television Network heard me in his car and he liked my voice. Fox had been on the air for about a year using Mark Elliot as their promo voice but they wanted to make a change. They felt that the network had to skew younger. And they needed a voice that would image that, and give them that kind of sound - and help them along with their visuals - that were going to bring them a younger audience. Well, he had his secretary call my agent, we got a demo tape over to them and they hired me. And that's how I became the voice of Fox.

There is a lot of irony and even self-depreciation in the stuff you do for Fox that really seems to fit the network's irreverent image. Is that a natural part of Joe Cipriano or is that something you really had to work at?
You know, I think we all pretty much lucked out on that one. I pretty much just went in and did me. I have an upbeat type of style in my voice-overs and it's funny, because I've never had a great voice. I don't have the kind of voice that you would hear on radio. All those years I was in radio I was referred to as a real “light” voice and it was a problem through the years. In fact, from the moment I was hired at KKHR, the executives in New York, and this one guy in particular who's name I just blocked out completely, hated me. He just hated my voice and asked the PD, “How could you hire this guy? His voice is way too high. He sounds terrible!”

No one was going to confuse you for Ernie Anderson.

No, there was none of that. All the networks had "big" voice guys. Ernie Anderson was at ABC; Danny Dark - who's become such a great friend and who has just a wonderful voice - was at NBC; the guys at CBS all had big voices. That's all that worked on network television.

But along comes Fox and they hire a guy with a light voice, with an up tempo high energy style, irreverent, but with a smile in his voice. It's a strange combination. You can get away with a lot of stuff just because you kind of sound like a nice guy.

And it would seem that the fact that you don't have a “big” voice not only worked well for Fox, but it seemed to have sort of started the “real people” sound that become so much a part of the business today.

Well, you know, it's funny that you say that because when Bob Bibb, the executive that hired me at Fox, and to whom I really owe a lot to, was explaining what he had found so right about me to Barry Diller and to the other executives at Fox, he said “You know, he just sounds like a college graduate kid who's maybe in his mid 20's, is just out of college and who's now in the world out on his own, starting a career who's just sitting at home watching television.” So he really did kind of position what I sounded like as a regular guy, just watching the network and really enjoying all the shows he's watching.

Who are some of your other clients?

I've done Fox since 1988, so I've been there for nine years, which is unbelievable in network time. I also continue in radio because I've always felt radio was a great friend of mine. Even though the work I do for radio stations across the country is not my bread and butter money, it's more of my enjoyment. I really love the stuff I do for radio stations. And if you think the stuff I do for Fox is kind of irreverent or edgy, the stuff we do for radio is even more so, and even so much more fun.

The trend now is to use a lot more out takes and I give them all the out takes they could ever want because I have such a blast when I'm doing radio station voice overs. The production people I work with at the stations can go off on new tangents just based on some of the fun we have in-between the scripted stuff. One such station is STAR 100.7 (KFMB) in San Diego which I love and I've done them for three years and they've gone on to become the number one station in the market.

I've never in my radio career come across a program director that gives so much latitude to his on-air personalities. He's also afforded me the same latitude and freedom which I love and he really. it took the station a little while to get on it's feet and I think a lot of other program directors would have really pulled back the reigns after a year into it and said "You know what? You guys have to get on cards now." But he was patient and continued to let them have more and more and more freedom to the point where their usage of phoners seems to happen between almost every record.

But they're all great bits and really natural and fun and it's paid off because the station has gone all the way up to number one 12+. So he's an incredible program director. I'm very impressed with him and that station is just incredible and one of my favorite clients.

I love doing stuff for STAR. I also do KLSX up here in Los Angeles for Jack Silver, whom I used to work with at KIIS-FM. And it's funny, Jack was working down in San Diego at the Gannett station there and he had called me an hour and a half after Tracy Johnson had called me three years ago to try and get me to do voice-overs for his station.

I said “You know what? I just got off the phone with B100 and they're changing formats and I can't tell you much more than that, but they want me to do their voice and I told them yes.” But Jack got the job up here at KLSX and he called me right away and asked, “You're not in L.A. are you?” I told him I was not, to which he said, “Well don't take any jobs. I want you.” And I said “Okay.” And Jack had heard all of what we had done at STAR over his tenure down in San Diego and he told me to do what I had done down there. And KLSX has become such a blast. I love it!

Until recently I was doing K101 in San Francisco, but they've made a switch now. I do WKMX in Chicago, which a lot of fun and the program director there is also a kick. I end up with these . I guess it's probably because of the work I do and they know what kind of person I am. I like having fun and I end up with these fun radio stations. I have THE POINT (WPTE) in Norfolk, that's great. That's the Max Media company there.

They've gone through a couple of PDs since I've been there and I've been lucky enough to stay with them and they allow me to have a blast. THE POINT (KTNP) in Omaha is such a kick. We do kind of a simulcast thing there that is really interesting. We do the Leykis show also. And I do Blair Garner's “After Midnight” and all of his specials and the Premiere Radio stuff.

AS A WRAP UP QUESTION, I WONDER WHAT ADVICE YOU'D OFFER, SPECIFICALLY CONCERNING THE BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL ASPECTS, TO SOMEONE READING THIS WHO THINKS THAT HE/SHE MIGHT WANT TO REALLY DIVE INTO THE V/O ARENA?

Well, you know, I'm pretty much in the same position they are in. My business is me. I don't have an office> I'm a freelancer and even though it's Joe Cipriano Promos, Inc., it's still just me. I don't have a receptionist and I don't hesitate to say that. Some people think it would be great if I had this big office and all that, but it's just me. I have a studio in my house that's a studio office that's a wonderful working environment. I'm sitting in it right now. It looks like a den and it's decorated that way. It's very comfortable. I run the business and all the business is, is satisfying your clients, and radio people know how to do that. As far as running it, it's a matter of keeping track of a little bit of bookkeeping, which, with PCs, is very easy.

You can use Quick Books, or any of the accounting programs. It's a matter of getting your invoices out and keeping track of what's coming in. The other part of it is the actual voice - overs that I do for the networks and so forth, and I have an agent who takes care of all the billing and keeps track of all that. So having an agent is a big help for that part of it. But the smaller part of it, which is servicing the radio stations, is quite easy to handle on my own.

My recommendations always are not to give up on what you've got and to realize how great being in radio r4eally is. It allows you a lot of extra time to pursue your dreams, so don't put your nose up at radio at all. It's something that if you're good at it, you know it's a God given talent. Keep it going, and while you're doing that, pursue your outside activities until you get to the point where you can move into what was your side job full time and then make radio part time.

I don't know what it is, Chris. I've been let go by a couple of radio stations. It's an awful feeling of all of a sudden be let go and you go," My God, I used to hop in the car every day and park right there and go into that building and do what I do and they don't want me to do that any more." And today, I always have a lot going all at the same time. So, when something falls off, Hey, It falls off, and I still have five other things that I'm doing. Besides doing Fox, at the beginning of the year I started working for CBS and I do all their comedy promos now and that's been going great. So now I'm the comedy voice of CBS and Fox and I still do my radio show and you just fit it all in. You see what my day looks like. It's non-stop, but isn't that what we're all after. we want to have enough.

end of interview

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