I started in radio back in the year 2000, right when the internet was still finding its feet. I spent a lot of time in chat rooms, and one day, I ended up reconnecting with someone I had gone to school with a few years earlier. We weren’t close friends, more like acquaintances, but we got to talking, and he mentioned that he worked at a small local radio station in Belgium. Close to where I grew up. He invited me to visit the station during his show, and of course, I said yes.
After his show, he turned off the live broadcast, put me behind the mic, and recorded a short demo. That demo somehow made its way to the station manager’s desk. Weeks later, I got a call. A slot had just opened up, and they were looking for someone to fill it. Was I interested? Absolutely.
And just like that, I was hooked.
Radio Taught Me the Power of Storytelling
Once I started in radio, I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to work at bigger stations, reach more listeners, and refine my craft. So, I started reaching out to other station managers, constantly sending airchecks and asking for feedback. In 2004, after months of persistence (some might call it stalking), I finally landed a gig at Qmusic, a national radio station in Belgium.
At Qmusic, I learned a ton. Especially from Erwin Deckers, the station manager. He and my colleagues constantly gave me feedback, and one of the biggest lessons I learned was this:
Prepare what you want to say. Then read it. But make it sound like you’re not reading.
Sounds simple, right? But in reality, it’s a skill that takes practice. You need to sound like you’re telling a real story, like you’re speaking to a friend. And that’s exactly what I started doing. At a certain point, something clicked. I figured out how to make written words sound natural. I can’t even fully explain how, it’s just one of those things that comes with practice.
When I Started Transitioning from Radio to Voice Acting
From the moment I got into radio, I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to work with my voice. Naturally, that meant I was also drawn to voice-over work. Around 2005, I started digging into voice acting, hoping my job at Qmusic would open doors. And it did. Being on a national station gave me credibility, people took me seriously, and I started booking voice-over jobs.
But my real transition into voice-over happened after I moved to the U.S. in 2010. I kept working for Qmusic, but I couldn’t work as much since I was living abroad. For five years, I still traveled back to Belgium for two months a year to do radio, but my focus had shifted. I was diving deeper into voice-over, learning how the industry worked in the U.S., and honing my craft in a different way.
How Radio Prepared Me for Voice Acting
There’s a lot about radio that translates well to voice-over. Storytelling, for one, radio teaches you how to engage an audience, how to make people feel like you’re talking directly to them. But some of the biggest skills I carried over from radio were:
• Audio Production: In radio, you learn fast how to record yourself, optimize a recording space, and work with audio gear. I already knew what mics sounded good and how to edit in Adobe Audition (which, back then, was still called Cool Edit). That knowledge made setting up my home studio for voice-over much easier.
• Improvisation & Thinking on My Feet: In radio, things go wrong all the time. A guest doesn’t show up, a song cuts off unexpectedly, or your brain just freezes mid-sentence. You learn to roll with it. That skill came in handy in voice-over, especially when working on character reads or auditions where you need to bring creativity on the spot.
The “Aha” Moment in Voice Acting
Just like I had a moment in radio where reading from a script suddenly felt natural, I had a similar breakthrough in voice-over. But this time, it came from working with coaches.
At first, I was hesitant. I held back in my reads, afraid to sound over-the-top or ridiculous. Imposter syndrome kicked in hard. But coaching helped me push past that. And honestly, radio helped me through it too. I had already been on the air for years. Listeners thought I was a pro. My colleagues treated me like a pro. So I started acting like one.
And that’s when I really became one.
Final Thoughts: What I Learned Transitioning from Radio to Voice Acting
Radio gave me the foundation to step into voice-over, but voice acting is a different beast. You don’t have the same instant feedback. You’re not talking for hours at a time, you’re delivering short, precise performances that need to connect immediately. The skills are related, but mastering voice-over takes its own kind of practice.
If you’re a radio host looking to transition into voice acting, my advice is simple:
• Listen to pros and mimic them. Commercials, narrations, anything. Repeat their lines, their inflections, their hesitations.
• Write things down and read them out loud. Try to make them sound like natural speech.
• Listen to people around you. How do they talk? What makes them sound real?
• And most importantly: stop holding back.
Have you made the switch from radio to voice-over? Or are you thinking about it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Comentários