Bill Wolff (June 2, 1927 – February 27, 2014) was a staff

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

for

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and the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

network who worked for over six decades as a radio and television announcer. He is best known for announcing the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

'' Another World'' from 1964 until 1987.

Early career

Wolff began his career in American broadcasting at the age of 15 for WKRC in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

affiliate, in 1942. Wolff began his television broadcasting career at the age of 26, by this time he was already a seasoned announcer. Following his Navy service in

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Wolff began free lance television work with WLW-T in Cincinnati, WLW-D in Dayton and WLW-C in Columbus. At WLW-T he worked on a television show called "Live It Again", which he deemed his most difficult announcing assignment, as it involved his "memorizing over 15 minutes of Dates, Names and Places" for each half-hour show. Also featured on the show were the McGuire Sisters on the Arthur Godfrey Programs. Wolff's deep, authoritative voice made him a natural as a newscaster with Paramount-Movietone News on

WCPO-TV WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...

Cincinnati. In 1950, Wolff was offered a position at WHFC station in Chicago, where he handled a variety of announcing and broadcasting assignments. Wolff was added to the WBBM staff in April 1953 as a summer relief, but proved to be too good to lose and quickly became a full-time staff announcer. At WBBM, Wolff hosted the Saturday afternoon show ''Music, Inc.'' and became known for his engaging on-the-air personality and choices in poplar music. This made his radio show an unusually smooth and sophisticated music program. Wolff also had a WBBM newscast every Sunday night and a Saturday evening sports review show. He also hosted the WBBM "Music for You", the CBS Network "Chicagoans" and the musical broadcasts from Melody Mill, Argon and Truanon, renowned ballroom venues in Chicago. In 1960, Bill Wolff moved to New York City and began his career with National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

References

External links

Video of Bill Wolff as the announcer for the Peter Lemongello Love '76 television advertising campaign TV blitz in the New York market starting January 1, 1976

Video clip from June 23, 1986, of pre-sign-off WNBC-TV news update anchored by Wolff
NBC network announcers Radio and television announcers 1927 births 2014 deaths People from Cincinnati United States Navy personnel of World War II Another World (TV series) {{US-tv-bio-stub