Bill Ratner

[Guest cfif]

Is it just me, or is Bill Ratner WAY overused? Don't get me wrong, he has a great voice....it's somewhat generic (which isn't always bad) though and I hate to see stations with more unique sounding voices switch to Ratner.

 

Anyone else feel that too many stations use Ratner?

[lazynetjunkie 34]

Overused..

 

 

But not for the fact that too many stations use him. He does a good job and has a good price for his "status" so he's getting the work he earned himself.

 

 

I think he's overused because of the number of regular TV commercials he does which appear on ALL the stations. He's currently the voice of Hyundai. I know he's the current voice for a couple other companies which I don't remember off the top of my head right now. He was last year's voice (and 2008's too) for Old Navy. He's one of the voices for Popeye's Chicken and a few other more local/regional commercials. Don't forget all the movie trailers he does too.

 

 

I just find it weird when I hear Ratner's voice saying, "Closed captioning on CBS 2 News is brought to you by HONDA" and then you see a commercial right after that for HYUNDAI using Ratner's voice. Ratner has to be the longest going voiceover WBBM has had in a very long time. They've been using him since 2003.

[Spring Rubber 724]

Heck, Ratner even does narration for long-form programs like The Weather Channel's short-lived "Full Force Nature" that is still in repeats to this day. I swear, this guy is everywhere.

[Jess 1115]

And GI Joe. He was Flint in the original GI Joe. Still his best performance.

 

But yeah, he's the one voice that seems to be *everywhere* these days. Kinda like Howard Parker a few years back though he scaled down his station voiceover work after he started doing every movie trailer.

[channel2 982]

He's on KMGH in Denver, and he does the ABC network as well. I like most of his voicework, it's personable and it comes off as friendly. The voice he uses for ABC doesn't really, but that's fine.

[ABC 7 Denver 1741]

He is on most of the Hearst stations these days. For the stations that he is isn't supplying imaging services, Steve Stone and Jim Cutler (only for WLKY) provide imaging. I am glad he's been pulled from WNBC. I am kind of sick of his voice.

 

Personally I'm surprised Jeff McNeal hasn't become more popular. He is a sound alike to Chris Clausen and Clausen was the go-to voice before Ratner. If you don't think they sound alike, listen to the current Media General Station Group Package, cuts 3&4, at WJAR (http://southernmedia-nmsa.com/#1,1,WJAR).

[ctmajka 115]

It's great hearing him in both Hyundai and V8 commercials on both WLS and WBBM, especially because my mind is now programmed to assimilate his voice with both stations.

 

What's weirder is hearing Brian Lee all over CBS 2, but then he's Katie's voice over on ABC 7. What's wrong with a little uniformity, people?

 

:bang: