Randy Thomas is America 's most successful female voice performer. You've heard her announce the Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, Tony Awards and the Miss America pageant. She is co-authoring a book on voice-over, and as an old friend I was happy to help by providing answers to her questions about game show announcing.

What is the most important performance ability you should possess to be a successful game show announcer?

Concentration. And I'm not referring to the old game show by that name! Similar to your work on live award shows, the game show announcer has to be able to concentrate on several things at once, such as listening for the "announce" cue deep in the cacophony of chatter on the headset. And it can be especially busy on that headset when working shows where the announcer is on PL with much of the crew.
 
You know how that goes. And I'm sure you were as overwhelmed as I was the first time. The director is in my left ear with his "Standby music, standby lighting, ready camera 1, take camera 1, cue lighting, cue music, tighten 1, standby VT1, standby announce, open the door, ANNOUNCE!, ready camera 2, take 2, roll VT1, ready camera 3, cue applause, take 3, FASTER RANDY!, take VT1..."
 
Meanwhile, in my right ear is the program's audio so I can hear the host and the music that's accompanying my read. My left arm is flailing wildly over my head as I encourage the audience's applause. One eye is on the copy, and the other is on a monitor. I'm watching to be sure I don't "tip" the prize with an enthusiastic "a new car!" before the camera has the shot and the doors are starting to open for the reveal. Being ready to add a "Here's it comes...", or, "look at this!", or using the contestant's name, "Oh, Barbara...", can avoid a momentary lapse in the excitement and loss of momentum while waiting for the stage crew.
 
Oh, and don't turn to the next page yet, because the contestant has that puzzled look on her face and may soon be asking the host "What kind of car is that"? It'll be my job to extract the make and model of the vehicle from the flowing prose that describes the thrill of the wind in your hair and lists the optional equipment.
 
Crazy? Sure, but I'm never more alive than when I'm in that action. And it's a special adrenalin rush when I glance up to see Bob Barker or Wink Martindale looking at me and ready for a quick verbal volley. You've heard it, "Do you have another contestant for us, Randy", or "Randy, tell us about today's bonus prize". Adlibbing a quick response to the host such as "I'm ready with the good news now, Bob" before diving into the scripted copy adds so much to the show's flow, fun and friendly feeling.

Of all the game shows you have announced how many are live and home many are done in post only?

Assembling game shows in post is a phenomenon that only came into practice in the 1990s. There are still more shows that prefer a live read than don't. And it's usually a budgetary consideration more than a creative decision. Surprisingly, the AFTRA contracts that bind producers are one factor that contributes to the traditional in the studio, live-to-tape approach still being in vogue. More on that in a moment.

Part of the appeal of game shows for networks, syndicators and cable nets is that they are among the least expensive shows to produce. Of the major genres of TV programs, only talk shows are sometimes less expensive undertakings. But game shows are often more attractive because we regularly tape as many as seven episodes in an eight hour workday. In an era when a single episode of scripted dramatic television regularly cost over $2 million, an hour of Regis officiating over "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" has generated comparable champagne ratings on a beer budget. And there's nothing sweeter in the eyes of the network “suits”.

With the exception of the least expensive bargain basement game shows, all tape with a live audience. The presence of an audience contributes to the energy on set and helps the host with pacing. And a live audience requires a warm-up performer to get and keep the crowd responsive. Every game show you ever watched as a child had the program's announcer doubling as the warm-up, and it's a tradition that continues today less for sentimental reasons than as a matter of economics. Where a warm-up performer able to work on a union set might command a $1,000 salary for the day, the antiquated AFTRA code that covers this tiny niche of show business stipulates that if a "cast member", also performs the warm-up responsibility, that performer's added effort can be compensated with an additional minimum scale payment of $50 per episode. Yes, you read that correctly, $50. And other than the host, the announcer is the only other “cast member” on the set.

While it's been years since I was offered a bump of $50 per episode as compensation for the added responsibility, the AFTRA contract has created a long-standing precedent and an expectation that does limit the bargaining position of my brothers and sisters who are proficient at both jobs. Under this pay structure it's always an advantage for a producer to have the announcer/warm-up on set when taping with a live audience rather than hiring a separate warm-up performer. Such is the case with "The Price Is Right", "Wheel of Fortune", "Jeopardy" and the vast majority of game shows.

The game shows I've worked or am familiar with that have an announcer at all, will have that announcer reading live unless one of four situations come into play: (1) the entire program is taped without a live audience ("Lingo"), (2) the specific announcer the producers are adamant about casting is not a proficient warm-up performer (no names, please), (3) the program is so heavily dependent upon post production that much of the announcer's copy can't be written until the show is assembled ("Weakest Link"), or (4) the nature of the show's format or game play requires that the announcer perform at least part of the show in post.

The latter is the case with one of my favorites among the shows I've enjoyed working, "Supermarket Sweep". While it's not common knowledge, the frenetic "play-by-play" of the sweep bonus round where "Betty bounces a bevy of big Butterball birds into her basket" can not be performed until the video of the sweep is first assembled and edited from the footage recorded by numerous cameras. There's no other effective way to following the unpredictable action of three teams of manic shoppers simultaneously ravaging a supermarket.

Do you need to be there in the studio live as it happens to give the perfect read or is it ingrained  in you by now?

I give each show that I announce a style appropriate to the energy level of the program as I hear it determined by the host, the contestants, the audience, the music, and the audio mix of those elements. I'm sure to the average listener the subtle adjustments in the elements of my delivery are imperceptible. I certainly hope that's the case. If I've drawn attention to myself at the expense of the content of the show it's akin to showing up at a black tie event wearing a brown leisure suit. My goal is to support and add to the style, pace and intensity of the program as well as the mood of the moment, be it dramatic expectation or unbridled excitement.

For example, "The Price Is Right" had an unprecedented 33 year run with only two voices. I saw my job there as presenting a style compatible with and familiar to what the loyal viewers had come to expect. Having been taught the business by that show's original announcer Johnny Olson, that was an easy task. In fact, Johnny mentored me in the 1970s using his scripts from "The Price Is Right" complete with his markings for emphasis, phrasing, pace and flow. I still treasure those scripts from 30 years ago, as well as the encyclopedic knowledge of announcing and warm-up that Johnny generously shared with me. He put a great deal of thought into his seemingly informal and off-the-cuff presentation.

I just voiced a series of five one-hour clip specials for VH1 called "Game Show Moments Gone Bananas". It's a unique challenge in that I'm supplying the voice for a toy that was on the market some years ago called "Mr. Game Show". It's plastic, both literally and figuratively, so my style bordered on what I would do for animation. In fact, my tracks are being taken to post production where, through the magic of computer generated effects, Mr. Game Show's mouth will be animated to lip sync to my announcing. I hope it's as well done as it was described to me.

Other shows just seem to ask for different colorations. Establishing a precedent for how the title and the often repeated phrases on a new show are delivered, and then using those audio signatures consistently, is an important factor in “branding” the show. If you visit a casino, walk past the slot machines based on TV game shows and listen for the familiar announcers replicating their delivery of the show's favorite on-air phrases. They become the audio equivalent of a visual logo as identifiable as McDonalds' golden arches.

Once I've developed and become comfortable with the signature elements and overall delivery for each show, I can easily replicate the style in post as needed. But the same energy level feels very different in a huge studio with an audience of 500 than it does in a quiet VO booth. It's always funny when working at a facility where the last VO talent was recording some commercial copy in the appropriate one-to-one intimate delivery. Then I then sit down behind the same microphone and start bellowing "A new car"! I can almost see the engineer getting whiplash as he reaches to pot down the mic fader!

What is the future trend in game shows?

When the avalanche of "reality" shows started to occupy network time periods and then expand even deeper across the cable landscape, it was looking bleak for the future of game shows. Could a programming genre as old as broadcasting itself actually disappear? Were "Price", "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel" the last of the dinosaurs, with the life form doomed to extinction? I was among the many who were worried.

I'm now quite certain that we're just evolving as game shows did in decades past. Watch an episode of the original Bill Cullen hosted "The Price Is Right" to see how slow and static that game was. Especially as compared to the pace and energy of the current incarnation, that itself is already 34 years old. While the execution and stakes of the games have changed, the basic appeal of game shows hasn't changed, and I doubt it ever will.

Here's how I see the secret of that appeal, and it's the same human phenomenon that makes much of reality television so popular. People are intrigued by watching other regular folks like themselves being challenged, comparing their own instincts with those of the participants, and living vicariously through the successes and failures of others. Screaming the answer to a "Wheel of Fortune" puzzle in your living room before the contestant has solved it, and feeling the drama as a contestant struggles to answer the final big question on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" has the same basic appeal as imagining yourself in the throws of a "Survivor" challenge or plotting how you would interact with the others in the "Big Brother" house.

As times have changed the impact and risk simply had to be raised and the presentation pumped with the TV equivalent of steroids. By this thinking, reality competitions are simply a new amplified incarnation of game shows. Instead of sweating in an isolation booth trying to answer a question, the increased expectations of the audience now have us emoting with and living vicariously through contestants challenged to bungee jump off a bridge or swallow a beaker of live beetles. Instead of neon lights providing the "eye candy", the next generation of game shows has something as vast as a tropical island for a backdrop. While the art of producing this next generation of games is vastly different from producing the traditional game show, I think their appeal and their basic plots remain unchanged.

While I'll always be nostalgic for the flashing lights, bells and buzzers, nothing is as constant as change.

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