Writing samples
Prepare to meet your mailman
You may not recognize Elwood Edward, but his voice is a welcome sound to many.
From the Tampa Tribune, Dec. 18, 1998 (Friday Extra)
He's Elwood Edwards.
You might remember him from such America Online greetings as "Welcome" and "You've Got Mail."
Now the 30-year veteran of radio and television voice-overs can add "movie star" to his resume.
Edwards' "mail" phrase - already familiar to millions of AOL members - can be heard several times in the feature film "You've Got Mail," which opens today (see review, page 4).
Edwards, speaking this week by telephone from his home in Orrville, Ohio, says he loved the movie and even got to attend its New York city premiere.
"It's been an honor to be associated with actors such as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and to be the link between the two," says Edwards, 49.
Edwards scored the impromptu gig in 1989 when his wife, Karen, was a customer service representative for a small Virginia company named Quantum Computer Services. Karen, whom Edwards met on Quantum's Q-Link online service, had overheard some coworkers talking about adding sound clips to Q-Link.
"She said, 'Why don't you try El?'" so he recorded four phrases on cassette ("File's done" and "Goodbye" round out his repertoire). The company, which eventually became known as America Online, digitized Edwards' voice, and he's been an AOL staple ever since.
He's now heard more that 27 million times a day, and more than 18,000 times a minute.
"Who could forsee this?" says Edwards. "It started out originally as a test, but it caught on."
How popular is he? Not even David Letterman, Dennis Rodman and Rosie O'Donnell combined could overthrow "the mailman." Last year, AOL offered users the option of switching to celebrity greetings, but only a fraction of members took advantage of it.
"I guess in a way I thought, "OK, the ride's over,' but fewer than 20 percent changed over," Edwards says.
Edwards hopes the added publicity will help his voice-over company, which can be found on the Web at http://members.aol.com/voicepro/
Is Edwards well compensated for a simple favor that turned into a nine-year run? He doesn't offer details, saying only, "My relationship with AOL is satisfying."
Return to my writing samples menu
You may not recognize Elwood Edward, but his voice is a welcome sound to many.
From the Tampa Tribune, Dec. 18, 1998 (Friday Extra)
He's Elwood Edwards.
You might remember him from such America Online greetings as "Welcome" and "You've Got Mail."
Now the 30-year veteran of radio and television voice-overs can add "movie star" to his resume.Edwards' "mail" phrase - already familiar to millions of AOL members - can be heard several times in the feature film "You've Got Mail," which opens today (see review, page 4).
Edwards, speaking this week by telephone from his home in Orrville, Ohio, says he loved the movie and even got to attend its New York city premiere.
"It's been an honor to be associated with actors such as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and to be the link between the two," says Edwards, 49.
Edwards scored the impromptu gig in 1989 when his wife, Karen, was a customer service representative for a small Virginia company named Quantum Computer Services. Karen, whom Edwards met on Quantum's Q-Link online service, had overheard some coworkers talking about adding sound clips to Q-Link.
"She said, 'Why don't you try El?'" so he recorded four phrases on cassette ("File's done" and "Goodbye" round out his repertoire). The company, which eventually became known as America Online, digitized Edwards' voice, and he's been an AOL staple ever since.
He's now heard more that 27 million times a day, and more than 18,000 times a minute.
"Who could forsee this?" says Edwards. "It started out originally as a test, but it caught on."
How popular is he? Not even David Letterman, Dennis Rodman and Rosie O'Donnell combined could overthrow "the mailman." Last year, AOL offered users the option of switching to celebrity greetings, but only a fraction of members took advantage of it.
"I guess in a way I thought, "OK, the ride's over,' but fewer than 20 percent changed over," Edwards says.
Edwards hopes the added publicity will help his voice-over company, which can be found on the Web at http://members.aol.com/voicepro/
Is Edwards well compensated for a simple favor that turned into a nine-year run? He doesn't offer details, saying only, "My relationship with AOL is satisfying."