Sandy Thomas was always around the house “talking into a microphone, and I never thought anything about it.” Sandy is one of the nation’s most prolific brand imagers of broadcast stations in the country. And for the uninitiated, “brand imaging” is the voice of the station. It’s not the DJ, but instead, the big, beautiful, compressed, and filtered voice that gives the station its’ BIG sound. Imaging is to radio what movie trailer voice artists are to the VO world, the crème de la crème. It’s what you strive for, although most voices don’t succeed. To date, Sandy has voiced (400 stations) across the country and continues to remain active, and nowadays, in some cases, with his wife Rebecca, who’s also a voice talent.
But getting into this position wasn’t easy. It was full of detours, delays, derailments, and a whole lot of downright rejection. “I could not get on the air in 1982 on ROCK 104 and was quickly humbled because my problem was my accent.” Now, at 61 and living on Long Island, NY, Sandy reflects on the road he took to become who he is. It involved multiple relocations around the country, working as a DJ or production director for stations nationwide. “I took a course in 1982 in radio at the University of Florida, but no one would hire me on a major radio station.”
His self-talk made him think he could just walk in the door, let them hear the aircheck he had made in his bedroom studio on cassette tapes, and just begin to thrive. “But that isn’t what happened,” says Sandy. A long time would pass, including overnight shifts on stations, various attempts to upgrade his status, and numerous pushes toward IMAGING, and nothing happened.”
Just a typical day in-station with Sandy Thomas.
That all changed in 1986 when HOT 105 was doing imaging while scoring his first national campaign for RC Cola. In addition, he was promoted to production director, and coupled with his freelance career, “I was finally getting what I wanted,” says Sandy. “I made $40,000 that year, and that compared to everyone else, that was a lotta money.”
But how did Sandy do all of this? He did it, of course, with a mentor who taught him just how to become a dominant voice. It would be yesteryear’s equivalent to today’s voice teacher. Same thing. Different period in history. Connie Zimet was a radio aficionado who had the power to spot great talent and develop them beyond their own expectations. “No doubt she represented the fork in the road for me.” She was probably “the reason I got into SAG/AFTRA because she encouraged me and became an angel unto my life.” She died of Lou Gehrig’s disease at 67, unable to speak.
Things continued to pick up in 1993, and Sandy made the jump to NYC in that same year. He did so to compete in the big pond for National Union voice work including commercials, promos and anything large scale. “You had to be in the union, and from the union came Madison Avenue ad agencies that would allow you to voice their commercials.” His first job was for a department store. But things advanced quickly. Eleven years later, Sandy voiced the NBA.
Fast forward to today, and here’s 5% of what Sandy has voiced, much of which you’ll remember having heard.
The ball keeps rolling for Sandy. In total, he has served as the station Image voice for (60) radio stations at one time. Four hundred stations in total for a career hallmark. The voice of WKIT in Bangor for (30) years. The voice of “The Mix” in Boston for (25) years, Hartford (22) years, and even overseas radio imaging in England, southern Africa, and CORK-FM in Ireland. And then, here comes some television show with some guy named Joe Rogan on NBC’s “Fear Factor.” Sandy was chosen as the voice.
“I have taken a huge gamble all along the way because I have raised (5) children doing voice work,” says Sandy, “And it’s because of divine intervention.”
Sandy’s five children
Now, at the epilogue of his career, Sandy can look back and recognize the need for paying your dues in a business that is guild-oriented. “You can’t have everything you want, but you CAN get close.” Well, he certainly did. “But there are NO overnight success stories.” And there is a lot of luck involved. No one would disagree with that.
Still voicing at https://www.crankinaudio.com, which is the culmination of my life’s work in VO, including my wife Rebecca, who’s also a VO talent. It’s two voices offered to a station for one price involving a marriage component. They just partnered with WOW-FM 102.7 in Kingston, Ontario. And they’ve just signed “Southern Rock Ride” for iHeart radio.
Sandy also teaches under the banner of Thomas Voice Imaging. “I’m selective with who I work with, and it is one via Zoom and only one student because teaching VO is a highly unique experience for each individual.”
And so, these days, Sandy Thomas is still very active. He’s a family man with a lot of responsibility and a great deal of expectation when he, or he and Rebecca, enter the picture on any new deal. So much has changed since the beginning. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that Sandy Thomas is still in his home talking into a microphone, but nowadays, he thinks quite a bit about it.
Sandy with his Dad, Eddie.
