Who records the automated messages for phone carriers?

Question

Like, the ones who say "I'm sorry. The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try your call again later."

...just curious. :)

Answer 1

There have been dozens of different people record announcements over the years for the various phone companies.

Back in the old days of Ma Bell, many of the Bell System companies had one or two people who they used for all the main recordings within their own service area, so New York Telephone had one voice, Southwestern Bell had another, and so on.    There could often be many local variations though, since recordings can come from any telephone switch from a tiny little rural office to a main switching center serving a multi-state region.  

Within some Bell areas, and certainly in many independent areas, local recordings specific to one or two exchanges were often done by a local operator, or sometimes even one of the area's telephone switchmen.  

There were some voices which tended to crop up all over the country though, such as the late Jane Barbe, who recorded many of the announcements for time/temperature machines and for the automated intercept systems ("The number you have reached, 555-2368, has been changed.....").   Many of these are still in service.

The situation is pretty much the same today, except that there  is now a much wider selection of long-distance carriers, each using their own voice or voices for announcements.  Some employ professional announcers, others just find someone locally or within their own organization.

Answer 2

It's certainly not one person.  There are hundreds of carriers today in the United States.

Some of larger regional carriers like at&t (formerly SBC, formerly Pacific Bell, formerly at&t, etc. etc.) probably had voice talent that they used to record a lot of their recorded announcements.  Check this link for professional voice talent used by Pacific Bell among others.  Maybe you can find a voice you recognize?

http://www.looktalent.com/html/voices.ht...

Answer 3

I think that particular one is done by Paul Hamm.