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New voice for ABC1

ABC1 has made changes to its voice-overs as part of its channel refresh.

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Tony Featherstone will no longer be the voice of ABC1.

Featherstone finishes up with ABC this week, having been heard doing programme voice overs, programme warnings and until recently, nightly program menus.

An ABC Spokesperson told TV Tonight that ABC1 has made changes to its voice-overs as part of the channel refresh, which began with new “Think Entertainment” promos last month.

A new-look ABC2 will soon undergo a refresh too, but retain the current female voice-over whilst adding a new male voice.

TV Tonight understands Featherstone was the last in a long line of fulltime duty TV Continuity Announcers that stretched back to the first day of ABC TV in 1956.

14 Responses

  1. Tony F…he was at 2CH with his golden voice in the early 1980’s and before that on ABC national radio……a wonderful voice…..wish you well Tony
    Stephen…former (and short time) 2CH newshound

  2. I always thought the Sydney train lady was Grettle Killeen?? Yes I also agree that the ch 10 female voice is way OTT…”You wont believe your eyes”

  4. Nice to put a name to that lovely voice we’ve been hearing all these years. Sorry to read he got the boot. Yet, I believe his ghost still lives on at the beginning of every PG-rated iView video (for now). As for the female ABC2 VO, I believe that is Shae Brewster from Seven’s ‘Saturday Disney.’

    In saying that, I must address the overly dramatic & baseless comment by Leonard (9:03am). How is a new channel VO “dumbing down,” as you put it? Is one voice more ‘intelligent’ than another? I’m sick of you Friends Of The ABC-types always claiming they’re pandering to the masses, using silly superficial examples of watermarks, news themes, pop-ups, channel IDs, etc. You people never seem to mention the core of ABC’s business, which is its unrivaled programme content. You might’ve noticed it relaunched ‘7:30’ last night – new sets, new graphics & flashy colours which I’m sure got you all steamed up. But did they ‘dumb down’ the news content in the process? Of course they didn’t! Yes, you’re right, it isn’t ‘your ABC,’ it’s *our* ABC! If you don’t like the sound of that, maybe you should get your quill & pot of ink & write a stern letter to The Age’s Green Guide.

  6. They should’ve gotten that overly-dramatic woman that does some of the Channel Ten promos, “Tonight’s Spicks & Specks… an… episode… you’ll… never… forget…!”

  10. I wonder if Jamie Oxenbould is about to pick up another outlet for his vocal talents?

    I remember Mr Featherstone reading the news on GMV-6 (Shepparton) many years ago… he always had a big smile in his voice.

    Unfortunately, the smile continued as he read an item about “6 people were killed today in a head on collission…”

  11. Just one more sad statistic in the dumbing down of the ABC. The loss of mature and experienced production staff being replaced with babies straight off the street with no experience. Not my ABC!

  12. The voice over is good. The new watermark is rubbish. The big 1 and ABC logo below it looks way too much like the E channel exclamation watermark.

  13. in a way im glad – that guy’s voice could be terribly dull and serious, which came off a little strange when talking about, say, spicks and specks.

    is the lady who also does the sydney trains announcements staying?

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