radio - cbc's promo girl
If you've listened to CBC Radio since the summer of 2004, you've heard her at least once an hour. She, with the sexy voice, has extolled the virtues of Canada's public radio broadcaster with catch-phrases such as "Because sometimes a picture needs a thousand words" or "Hear the big picture" and "A new mix for summer." But who is she really?
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Before March 2005, "Promo Girl" was one of the CBC's best kept secrets. For ten months, regular radio listeners were teased, tantalised or annoyed by the hourly intonations of the voice simply known as "Promo Girl." But then Gayle MacDonald of the Globe and Mail tracked the mystery voice down and "outed" her in the national paper.
The concept of "Promo Girl" came about early in 2004 when Chris Boyce, an executive producer with Definitely Not the Opera, CBC's Saturday afternoon variety show, was looking for someone to give the broadcaster a "consistent sound and tone" to its on-air promotions.
Boyce wanted to veer away from the usual "voice of God" pronouncements of daily scheduling, and preferred someone who sounded more casual, engaging and ... a little bit dangerous. Boyce found that voice in actress Shauna MacDonald.
When she first was heard on the air, the personage MacDonald employed did not have a name. She referred to her work around the broadcaster as that of the "Promo Girl" and soon the name stuck.
MacDonald hails from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and ironically listeners have taken issue with her 'American' pronounciations of East Coast placenames. Her brief list of acting credits include appearances in such Canadian productions as "Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion" and "Trailer Park Boys."
The CBC's initial reaction to the revealed identity of "Promo Girl" was disappointment. Spokesman Mark Thompson said they wanted her kept as a mystery, and there were some who wondered if her role as CBC Radio spokesperson would be in jeopardy.
In the summer of 2005, MacDonald's "Promo Girl" was given a more prominent role on the air as resident sleuth in the network's self-promoting serial "Promo Girl in The Mystery of..."
To see Shauna's reaction to being "outed" as the voice behind the mystery, follow this link to see an on-air interview. As "Promo Girl" might herself say, a voice sometimes needs 196 seconds.
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