Best NTT Announcer

[<6>PelhamExp]

Given the different voices were hear on the NTT of the NYC Subway, it's a given that some may find certain voices more pleasant than others. This is the breakdown of announcements by lines:

 - Diane Thompson

 - Jessica Ettinger-Gottesman

 - Kathleen Campion

 - Catherine Cowdery

 

I'm not sure why I find that the announcements on the  are different from the rest of those that are announced by Catherine Cowdery. Does anyone else pick up on that?

Anyway, if it were up to me, I would have Jessica Ettinger-Gottesman be the ONLY voice for the entire subway system, while Charlie Pellet announces transfer points and 'Stand Clear Of ThE Closing Doors Please'. I think that Jessica's announcements are the most crisp and clear announcements. What do you all think? Who is your favorite voice?

And... What is up with those R143, those announcements are played so low it is almost impossible to hear. Is that something that the C/O can adjust?

[Harry]

How about Bernie @Next Train Announcer for 'stand clear of the closing doors please'.

[4 via Mosholu]

21 minutes ago, <6>PelhamExp said:

I'm not sure why I find that the announcements on the  are different from the rest of those that are announced by Catherine Cowdery. Does anyone else pick up on that?

For some odd reason, the voice tone for the and trains sound like they came from the same tone. They are both different from the voice tone for the Jamaica and Broadway/Brooklyn line. I believe that Cowdery uses the same tone for the Sixth Avenue Express and Broadway. She sounded a lot different when she first did the train; now she switched her voice for that line to the one she used for the rest of the East.

 

40 minutes ago, <6>PelhamExp said:

And... What is up with those R143, those announcements are played so low it is almost impossible to hear. Is that something that the C/O can adjust?

I think the conductor can adjust that volume. I've been on 143's whereby the volume is higher. But for the most times I've been on that car model - the volume is low, compared to the R160 where you're almost guaranteed the volume announcements would be quite loud.

 

44 minutes ago, <6>PelhamExp said:

Who is your favorite voice?

My favorite voices are Dianne Thompson on Broadway - Seventh Avenue (particularly the train) and Jessica Ettinger on Lexington (particularly the train) for the IRT. For the IND/BMT, my favorite voices are the "other" Dianne Thompson (that is, Kathleen) on the  train and Catherine Cowdery on the train.

[P3F]

1 hour ago, Harry said:

How about Bernie @Next Train Announcer for 'stand clear of the closing doors please'.

I thought he just did the countdown clock announcements, while Charlie Pellet said "Stand clear of the closing doors, please."

[Harry]

Just now, P3F said:

I thought he just did the countdown clock announcements, while Charlie Pellet said "Stand clear of the closing doors, please."

I know. I think Bernie's voice would better for the closing doors announcement. Charlie sounds too robotic. Not natural.

[Around the Horn]

Oh, Jessica on the clearly...

[trainfan22]

The lady who does the  line announcements, I wish she did the announcements on every subway line. The ladies who do the automated announcements on the IRT NTT in general are much better than the B div ones to me.. 

[Jemorie]

Jessica and Catherine.

[LGA Link N Train]

14 hours ago, <6>PelhamExp said:

Kathleen Campion

Best announcer, wish she did the and  lines though

[S78 via Hylan]

Jessica and Diane.

[bwwnyc123]

I like the announcement on (E).

[2 Train Master]

Jessica E is still the GOAT imo, very clear however aggressive when announcing certain stops such as Fulton St (LEX), and Pelham Pkway-WPR stop. The announcements get to the point without being too quick or dragged out whereas Cathering Cowdry seems a bit slower paced then a pause.

[<6>PelhamExp]

3 hours ago, 2 Train Master said:

Jessica E is still the GOAT imo, very clear however aggressive when announcing certain stops such as Fulton St (LEX), and Pelham Pkway-WPR stop. The announcements get to the point without being too quick or dragged out whereas Cathering Cowdry seems a bit slower paced then a pause.

I agree. Her announcements are clear, even though some people say that she sounds like she is yelling.

[bwwnyc123]

Like when she says "Jamaica Center Bound Express Train the Next Stop is and World Trade Center Bound Train". Lol

[R42N]

Bernie’s A Division “Please step aside, and let the customers off the train first” is my favorite. 

[Lance]

For the in-station announcements, I very much prefer the A-Division ones over the announcements for the  and lettered lines. Ms. Hopkins is just so slow on her recording clips and the way they are parsed out with seemingly endless gaps between each segment. It doesn't help that the announcements are needlessly verbose as well.

"The next. . Train. Is now arriving. On the. Rockaway Parkway-bound. Track. Please stand away from the platform edge."

Yeah, no. And don't let that train terminate anywhere else than Rockaway Pkwy or 8 Avenue or else you get even more vocal diarrhea.

"This. Rockaway Parkway-bound. . Train. Terminates at. Broadway Junction."

Compare that to a typical  line announcement:

"There is. An. Uptown. Local. . Train to. Third Avenue-138th Street. Approaching the station. Please stand away from the platform edge."

I find these much more concise and therefore useful for the average rider. I'd like the latter style of in-station announcements to be added to the B-Division, but I don't see that happening. I'd even take having Ms. Hopkins do another recording session to remove some of the unnecessary language.

 

As for the actual train announcements, I'll rank these from best to worst:

 Best of the announcement sets by far in my opinion. They are extremely quick while at the same time being completely understandable by the average rider. It also helps that the majority of the original announcements remain and were not modified or mismatched like some of the others below.

 Best of the Lexington Ave recordings. The only flaw is the newer "THE NEXT STOP IS" paired with the original more soft-spoken destination and stop announcements.

 The authoritative nature of the announcements, a plus in my book, is offset by their inability to match up with the original line recordings. This leads to interesting mixes in the announcement sequences: "THIS IS A MANHATTAN-BOUND  EXPRESS TRAIN. The NEXT STOP is... 125th Street." Obviously it would've been harder to match the inflections of recording done five years previously, but they could've just re-recorded the announcements to match.

 They're middle of the road in my opinion. Don't hate them, but I also don't particularly care for them either.

 Best of the Cowdery recordings, possibly because they were mostly recorded back in 2001 when she didn't sound way too cheerful like she does on Broadway, or death warmed over as she does with the later Queens Blvd recordings.

 Cowdery's later recordings for the 160s either swung between too cheerful or beyond dead. This is the former of which. It tries too hard to be forceful while missing the mark.

 Better than some of the rest, but not by much.

 The combination of the chipper Broadway "The next stop is" with the much more subdued stop/destination recordings from the do not make for a good match. Using that version of "the next stop is" would've made them sound marginally better.

 Way to bastardize a set of announcements MTA. Great job. If they couldn't get Annie Bergen to update some of the announcements, they really should've gotten someone else to do the entire set. At least they're making an effort to fix some of the problems with the set, especially regarding the bad splicing, but there are still glaring issues that need to be resolved.

 Way too slow and droning for my taste. They all sound like Ms. Cowdery downed a bottle of Ambien before stepping into the recording booth.

 

Yes I have given this way too much thought. Why do you ask?

[Cabanamaner]

Jessica Ettinger is the best for me. She has this assertive and firm tone to her voice that makes her sound like a true, rugged NYer. My favorite of her announcements is for Fulton Street. The way she says it is so enunciated and powerful. I'm not a fan of Kathleen's announcements, especially her monotone as hell "Atlantic Avenue - Barclay's Center". But it all boils down to personal preference I suppose.

[Jemorie]

38 minutes ago, Cabanamaner said:

I'm not a fan of Kathleen's announcements, especially her monotone as hell "Atlantic Avenue - Barclay's Center". But it all boils down to personal preference I suppose.

Holy crap. I thought all this time it was Ms. Thompson who made that "Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center" on the IRT.

[Cabanamaner]

25 minutes ago, Jemorie said:

Holy crap. I thought all this time it was Ms. Thompson who made that "Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center" on the IRT.

The Barclays Center announcement is rather recent (2012-ish), so I think that's why they used Kathleen instead of Dianne.

[Jemorie]

4 minutes ago, Cabanamaner said:

The Barclays Center announcement is rather recent (2012-ish), so I think that's why they used Kathleen instead of Dianne.

I know that. I was just surprised as I struggled to realize whether that really was Dianne or not. Like most people, I often used to mistake Kathleen for Dianne since they both sound a bit similar.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Jemorie

[KK 6 Ave Local]

Catherine Cowdery's  "The next stop is" is my fav of them all- Diane Thompson's  in the Bronx is second. That weird audio bug on   trains bound for Dyre is irritating and I don't know why. The rest of them (and  in Manhattan and Brooklyn)  announcements just sound so generic lol- probably because I hear them so much.

 

[P3F]

I prefer the announcements on the  and  trains, as they are clear and brisk.

In the actual stations, as Lance said, the announcement system on the  is garbage. It should be modified to resemble the IRT format.

Edited April 15, 2018 by P3F

[BDNQ2345]

Catherine Cowderdy's and "the next stop is, and The Next and Last Stop is " is my favorite. 

Edited April 21, 2018 by BDNQ2345

[Arthur]

Catherine Cowderdy is the most pleasant voice to my ears. Wish she announced all lines 

[Q23 via 108]

Dianne sounds like the old lady that sells Italian icees for a dollar.