How do you make an old radio voice effect?

Cut the lows and highs so only the middle of the voice remains, add a little saturation, compress hard and lay a faint hiss underneath; a slight slowdown adds age. The Analog effect does all five (values at 45% in the recipe above); any audio editor with filters, distortion and a compressor can follow the same recipe.

Is this old radio voice generator free?

Yes. Previewing any voice through Analog is free, and every visitor gets 3 free generations a day of up to 300 characters, no sign-up. Credits cover scripts of up to 2,000 characters and the Cinematic engine.

What is the old radio voice accent called?

Usually the Mid-Atlantic or Transatlantic accent: a taught, non-regional blend of American and British speech used by many actors and broadcasters in the first half of the 20th century. Our presets don’t switch accents, so the period comes from the script and the band.

How do I get a 1950s radio announcer voice?

Cast Overlord for authority, write a formal greeting and a sponsor line, and keep Analog between 30% and 45%; higher, the band narrows toward a damaged broadcast. For a warmer 1950s radio announcer voice, try Matron.

Can I put an old radio voice effect on my own recording?

Yes. In the Voice Changer tab, record up to 60 seconds or upload an MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG or WebM of up to 3 minutes, pick Analog and download the WAV. It runs in your browser with nothing uploaded, but it is not a live filter for calls or streams.

Can I use the announcer in a podcast, film or game?

Yes, within our Terms of Service: your own projects, monetised podcasts, videos and games included. Just don’t use it to impersonate a real announcer or anyone else.

Updated Nov 6, 2026

Old radio voice generator

Old Radio Voice Generator

This old radio voice generator puts your script on the air around 1950: a commanding announcer, a narrow band with no chest and no sparkle, and a soft hiss under every pause. Type a newscast, a sponsor read or a drama’s opening narration and keep Overlord. Analog at 45% is light enough for a period drama, and one step from a broadcast that shouldn’t exist.

Try:

111 / 300

Intensity

Ready

Overlord · Analog

3 of 3 free today · no sign-up needed

Script ideas

Old radio scripts to read on air

Golden-age radio was written for the ear: full sentences, formal greetings and sponsors thanked by name. The first four scripts are period pieces; the last two are broadcasts that shouldn’t exist. Every station, town and sponsor is invented, and every script loads into the old radio voice generator with one click.

01The evening newscast

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The county council has approved the new river bridge, the harvest fair opens Saturday, and the weather bureau promises clear skies. And now, the late news.”

At 30% the band opens up: a clean period newscast.

02The sponsor read

“Friends, are cold nights keeping your family awake? Linden Hill Cocoa is the warm cup that sends the whole house off to sleep. Ask your grocer for the green tin.”

Matron makes a warm studio hostess for the commercial break.

03The drama opening

“Tonight, the Wren Street Players present a story of a hotel, a snowstorm and a guest who signed the register twice. Turn down your lamps, draw closer to the set, and listen.”

Leave a full beat after “listen” for your music sting.

04The podcast bumper

“You’re listening to The Late Hour. Stay right where you are: after a word from our sponsor, we return with tonight’s mystery.”

Generate it once and reuse it every episode; the setting never drifts.

05Tomorrow’s news

“Good evening. Here is tomorrow’s news. A fire at the picture house on Third Street claimed no lives, thanks to the listeners who heard this bulletin a day early and stayed home. Please, stay home.”

Push Analog to 70% for a signal that is barely holding.

06The sign-off

“This concludes our broadcast day. Thank you for listening, and please switch off your set before you sleep. A radio left playing after sign-off has been known to pick up something listening back.”

Broadcast reads it flatter, like an old transcription disc.

Effect recipe

How the tube-radio sound is built

An old radio voice is mostly what is missing: the chest, the air, the room. This page runs Analog at 45%, live in your browser through the Web Audio API:

Overlord

1
Cabinet speaker
~500 Hz – 3.06 kHz
A high-pass and a low-pass keep only the middle of the voice, what a small speaker in a wooden cabinet could play. Overlord loses his chest but keeps every consonant.
2
Warm valves
waveshaper drive 47
Moderate saturation rounds off the peaks, like an amplifier running warm rather than a chewed-up tape.
3
One mic, one county
compressor −24 dB, 8:1
Every syllable arrives at the same level: the projected, even delivery of one voice reaching a whole region.
4
Set noise
band-passed noise at 2.5 kHz, gain ~0.026
A faint hiss fills the pauses, so even the silence between sentences sounds like radio.
5
Slightly slow
0.973×, about −0.5 semitones
About 2.7% slower and a touch lower: a 30-second sponsor read lasts about 30.8 seconds, plus a 1.2-second tail. Time your bumpers to that.

For a nostalgic period piece, drop to 30%: the band widens to about 474 Hz – 3.24 kHz and the drive falls to 38. For analog horror, go to 70%: 546 Hz – 2.76 kHz, drive 62, more hiss. To build your own radio, download the untreated MP3.

How it works

How to make an old radio voice in three steps

1
Write it for the ear
“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.” Full sentences, the sponsor by name, frequencies as words.
2
Pick the announcer
Overlord for the commanding newsreader, Broadcast for a flatter transcription, Matron for the studio hostess. Preview each one as an old radio voice through Analog for free.
3
Set the band and export
Start at 45%. Go lower for a cleaner period sound, higher for a failing signal, then download the WAV to keep the radio baked in.

Use cases

Where a golden-age announcer fits

A 1940s announcer in a suit and headphones speaks into a vintage microphone in a curtained radio studio

01

Old-time radio drama and audio theater

Opening narration, act breaks and a sponsor read between scenes; generate the announcer once and cast your actors around him.

A sepia photo of a man in glasses and a tweed jacket leaning in to a vintage microphone

02

Period films and games

A 1940s–50s newscast from the set on the kitchen table, the car radio on a night drive, the wireless in a game’s roadside diner. Export each bulletin as its own WAV.

A chrome vintage microphone on a cream broadcast console with a glowing red sound wave behind it

03

Podcast intros and segment bumpers

A ten-second intro, a “we’ll be right back” and a sign-off. Same old radio voice, same setting, every episode.

A 1970s-style family smiles at a candlelit dinner table while one guest sits with his back to the camera

04

Found footage and analog horror cutaways

The broadcast that shouldn’t exist: tomorrow’s news, a station that went off the air decades ago, a sign-off that keeps talking. Raise the intensity when the signal goes wrong.

Tips

Tips for a convincing old radio voice

Write formally, as if to a whole county: complete sentences, titles, “ladies and gentlemen”. Casual phrasing breaks the period faster than any sound.
Spell out numbers and frequencies — “eleven-forty on your dial”, “nineteen fifty-one” — so the voice reads them at an announcer’s pace.
Invent the station, the town and the sponsor. Don’t borrow a real announcer’s name, a real show, or call letters that may belong to a real station.
If the piece looks like a documentary, label the broadcast as a recreation so nobody takes it for an archive recording.

FAQ

Old radio voice generator FAQ

Old radio voice generator: type a newscast, a sponsor read or a drama opening, and hear a commanding announcer through a narrow tube-radio band with hiss. Free.