Local Leichhardt voice on air

You may have heard his voice on Fox8 advertisements or seen him spriuiking on TVSN, but for Tim Stackpool, being a voice-over artist is
more than simply advertising.

For the Leichhardt resident, stadium announcing at international tennis tournaments is just as much in a day’s work as doing news reports for radio stations in England or Canada.

Originally wanting to work in television Mr Stackpool found an excellent opportunity in the radio industry when FM simulcasts became more popular with broadcasters in the 90s.

Being mostly heard and not seen has its advantages because it allows him to moonlight as a news reporter overseas.

He can appear on television sets on the other side of the world without even needing to leave Australia.

Mr Stackpool reported on the story of Peter Falconio – a British backpacker who was murdered ten years ago in the Australian outback – to English television.

By reporting on Australian news to overseas channels eliminates any conflicts of interest with his advertising work in Australia.

A lot of his Australian news reports to overseas markets focus on crime or disaster.

“It has to be bad news unfortunately,” said Mr Stackpool

Crime is what big news is and it’s more likely to interest news rooms in other countires, he said.When the Black Saturday bushfires burned throughout Victoria, the pressure was on to meet deadlines…on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

“The Canadians were on that every day. Every day they’d want a story and often it was on camera via Skype video.”

But he also gets contacted by overseas news agencies to report on big sporting matches and radio stations in Northern England can sometimes want up to two stories every day during the Rugby League World Cup.

This often means that even seasoned reporters can be scratching their heads for new angles.

The best thing to do is add some sort of local twist to the story to make sure you haven’t already said in the last news package what you are talking about now, he said.

By Simon Anderson