Scott R. Sanders, ‘acknowledged voice-over king’ for radio and TV, has died at 78
On TV, he was that everyman’s voice who said “You’re watching Cartoon Network,” “Stay tuned,” “Now back to the show,” and “Coming up next.”
Scott R. Sanders, 78, of Philadelphia, prominent radio and TV voice-over announcer, former advertising producer, self-taught carpenter, musician, and artist, died Wednesday, April 8, of kidney failure at the Hill at Whitemarsh retirement community in Montgomery County.
From the early 1970s until the late 2000s, if you listened to the radio or watched TV, you probably heard Mr. Sanders. He recorded thousands of radio and TV voice-over advertisements for politicians, businesses, and other clients. On TV, he was that everyman’s voice who said “You’re watching Cartoon Network,” “Stay tuned,” “Now back to the show,” and “Coming up next.”
He read ads for The Inquirer, was all over KYW radio for years, and could imitate at least 40 recognizable voices. He mouthed political advertising for candidates of both parties in a dozen states after starting in the early 1980s with Bob Borski’s successful run for the U.S. House of Representatives.
His political pitches became so popular that, in 1994 alone, he recorded nearly 800 commercials for 90 candidates. In 1998, he spoke for 38 candidates and seven political committees.
“There are some announcers who are very smooth,” Mr. Sanders told The Inquirer in 1998. “Mine has a little edge in it. It’s not one of those boffo, deep voices. But it’s a little gritty. There’s a lot of stuff in my voice.”
He got so popular, earning thousands of dollars for 15-minute recording sessions, that he was featured in The Inquirer, the Daily News, The New Yorker, on National Public Radio, and elsewhere. In a 1998 profile in Inquirer magazine, staff writer Karen Heller said: “There’s a restraint in his voice backed up by the belief that what he’s telling you is the absolute truth. He sounds very knowing.”
» READ MORE: Mr. Sanders voice demo
In 2006, Inquirer staff writer Alfred Lubrano called him the ad industry’s “acknowledged voice-over king.”
While the majority of his commercial promotions were positive, Mr. Sanders was especially effective at political attack ads, he discovered, and The New Yorker dubbed him “the voice of negativity” in 1994. He did 200 spots, mostly negative, for 80 candidates in October 2006 and told The Inquirer: “When I have to go negative I want the audience’s hair to stand on end.”
Political consultants called him “very intelligent” and “believable” in 1998. One said: “He’s read so many political ads, he knows the nuances of what you’re trying to say.”
Mr. Sanders graduated from Audubon High School in Camden County in 1965 and considered practicing law after graduating from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. But he joined teacher Sanford Meisner at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse instead and pursued acting.
When that didn’t pan out, he moved to Philadelphia in 1970 and became an advertising producer. “I did the first animation on the Phillies scoreboard,” he said in 1998.
He spent a few years making ads in Philadelphia and Detroit, returned to Philadelphia in 1976, and realized that he could perform voice scripts better than those he was hiring. So he quit producing ads and started imitating Howard Cosell, Walter Brennan, Groucho Marx, George Burns, W.C. Fields, Boris Karloff, and other celebrities for his own clients.
“I learned I could make a nice livelihood with my voices,” he told the Daily News in 1980.
Another breakthrough came when he met Pat Brader through a mutual friend. They married in 1972 and formed Scott R. Sanders Inc. He was president and the on-air talent for the two-person operation. She was secretary-treasurer and chief administrator.
“We complemented each other,” she said.
Away from the sound booth and microphone, Mr. Sanders served as vice president and board member for the local union of TV and radio artists. He played piano and guitar by ear, sang, drew and painted, and designed handmade greeting cards for family and friends.
He and his wife lived in Spring Garden for decades and, with no prior construction experience, restored their Victorian house room by room. “He was an innately talented guy,” his wife said.
Scott Robert Sanders was born Aug. 22, 1947, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He and his parents moved to Haddonfield and then Audubon when he was a boy.
He liked baseball, played football and basketball in high school, and earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Dickinson in 1969. He enjoyed gardening and landscaping, and his wife said: “He never met a rock he didn’t want to unearth, relocate, or turn into a path or wall.”
He and his wife vacationed often in Beach Haven and at their cottage in Quakertown. He was funny and talked with his hands, she said. He held strong opinions about current events and loved dogs.
In 2003, Mr. Sanders started dialysis for kidney failure. He had a transplant in 2007.
“He was quirky, moody, fiery, and excitable,” his wife said. “We were polar opposites in personality but compatible in what we liked to do. Such a loving relationship.”
In addition to his wife, Mr. Sanders is survived by other relatives.
» READ MORE: Survivors give advice about mourning their loved ones, as told to The Inquirer’s obit writer
Celebrations of his life are ongoing. His wife said: “He wanted us to have parties.”
Donations in his name may be made to the Thomas Jefferson University Division of Nephrology’s Kidney Transplant Management, OIA, 1101 Market St., 22nd floor, Philadelphia, Pa 19107.
