The most famous voice in New York City belongs to somebody at Bloomberg Media Group.
But it doesn’t belong to Michael Bloomberg, the former three-term mayor who is back atop the financial media goliath he founded.
And it doesn’t belong to Charlie Rose, who works at Bloomberg, too, along with his CBS gigs.
And, no, you’re right, Bill Clinton, Derek Jeter, Mayor Bill de Blasio, John McEnroe, Jimmy Fallon, and dozens of other New Yorkers with well-known voices don’t work for Bloomberg News.
So it can’t be any of them.
No, it’s Charlie Pellett.
Who?
You don’t know the name? Haven’t seen him blabbing on TV as a pundit?
That’s because he’s a little-known radio anchor for Bloomberg Radio (part of Bloomberg Media Group) who also happens to be the voice of the New York City subway system. Further, he grew up in London and had to work hard to lose his British accent when he moved to the U.S.
“Somebody at Bloomberg knew somebody at the MTA [Metropolitan Transit Authority]. ‘Can you guys record some sample announcements for us?’” Pellett says during a New Yorker video interview.
Several Bloomberg Radio folks tried their hand (or vocal chords) and Pellett was picked 11 years ago.
“Stand clear of the closing doors, please” may be his hallmark declaration, even if virtually nobody has a clue as to the identity of that disembodied voice.
Moreover, “His work for the M.T.A., which is done on a volunteer basis, is the only non-reporting voice-over work that he’s done.”
So in a world in which, he concedes, restaurants, Broadway shows and celebrities, come and go, Pellett perseveres, albeit with a certain odd mix of fame and anonymity.
And, as he tells filmmaker Andrew David Watson in a fun video for the magazine, “I’m sorry if you’re stuck in a train. I literally share your pain, because I’m probably stuck on that same train wondering, ‘Am I gonna get to work on time?'”
