Les Marshak

Les Marshak was born on July 7, 1948 in Toledo, Ohio.

When broadcasting professionals hear the name "Les Marshak", the first image they have is of one of the top voice-over artists in broadcasting today. Les has been the voice for the academy awards, for NBC Sports, for Macy's commercials and for hundreds of other commercials and events. He's also been the voice of the Tony Awards for many years. You've probably heard him much more than you realize. Les started out in radio... at WABC! Not everyone can start at the top, but Les did.

Radio and TV were passions of Les since his childhood. He attended many live radio & TV shows during the 1950's and fantasized about becoming an announcer. From the early days of Buffalo Bob Smith and the Howdy Doody Show to listening to play by play announcers, especially Mel Allen. Les impersonated many of the top on-air stars. So, in the spring of 196l, when he heard about the WABC Star Search, He jumped right in when he was a sophomore student majoring in pharmacy at Columbia University and wasn't thrilled with making suppositories and nearly blowing up the organic chemistry lab.

The Star Search began as a WABC promotion whereby listeners could watch for a mobile unit to visit their neighborhood and then audition. That, for some reason, didn't work out for the station. So, they invited listeners to send in a postcard if they were interested in auditioning in the DJ, musician, or singer category, and his card was one of about 1000 selected. Auditions were scheduled at the ABC Television studio at W. 66th Street. It involved a couple of pages of commercial and promotional copy with some ad libbing.

Les was a wreck for the next few weeks waiting for the announcement. With so many entrants, his chance of winning was quite slim. Also, my already jaded sense told me that a nephew or good friend of management would cop the big prize. A few weeks later he received a telegram stating that he was one of 12 finalists and an interview scheduled for all of us. After the interview, the heart-pounding really began. No news, no word at all for a few weeks. Then on a weeknight in July, a phone call from a man with a gravelly voice. He said it was Scott Muni, and there was Les on the air hearing that he'd won the Star Search!

Scott Muni calls Les on the air in July, 1961 [ LISTEN ] (3:02) and Les announcing more Star Seach winners. [ LISTEN ] (00:53)

When the dust settled, and more telegrams arrived from family and friends, Les found myself living a schizoid life of pharmacy student during the week - and radio personality - on the weekend. First on air assignment: a live broadcast with Muni from Freedomland. His whole family was in the audience watching him in his newly acquired red WABC blazer.

LES & SCOTT MUNI
Live from Freedomland July, 1961
[ LISTEN ] (8:39)

Les assisted Scott on the air for a few months from Freedomland, then in the studio at 39 W. 66th St. reporting on High School football and basketball scores. Then Cousin Brucie, a young legend was hired to do late evenings. He took a liking to Les and put him to work assisting him and appearing at times at Palisades Amusement Park. Ironically, years later he would marry Les's wife's best friend, and they all became very close.

With Leslie Gore

Meanwhile, Les was given a title of Youth Director of WABC Radio and helped out on various promotions. he finished college and jumped right out of his lab coat and back into the studio. He wanted as much experience as he could get so he took a job as announcer at Radio NY Worldwide, a short-wave operation with studios in NYC where he did everything including news, celebrity interviews and every conceivable music format. But his real dream was to get back to WABC with his own show.

In 1969, Les auditioned and won a spot as a summer-relief staff announcer at ABC surrounded by a sea of veteran guys (Milton Cross, Carl Caruso, Joel Crager, etc.). His main assignment was doing overnight news at WABC Radio with Charlie Greer and then Roby Yonge. The rest is pretty well known, and a classic case of being at the right place at the right time. Roby deviated from the format, and took calls live regarding the "Paul McCartney is dead" rumors. He was summarily let go on the spot and for a while Les inherited the all night show. He found out what it was like to read 6 live Dennison Clothes spots every hour for 6 hours.

Here's Les on WABC in October, 1969. [ LISTEN ] (11:41)

It's midnight and Les kicks things off The All Night Music Power show with The Foundations and Bobby Sherman, The National Institue of Mental Health reminds us that marijuana is illegal! Three weeks at #1 The Archies Sugar Sugar and then it's Andy Kim's chart debut. A message from the U.S. Department of Labor, and a Dennison's Clothier commercial. And much more on this scoped aircheck.

Les went on to work in New York City radio at WPIX-FM for seven years. He did the morning show at WPIX-FM until 1977. By that time he had so much voiceover work that he decided to concentrate on that career.

Les & Cousin Brucie
then and now

He had started by doing production pieces for the station and then picking up spots for record companies and commercials that were taped at the station. He also occasionally appeared on WCBS-FM. In addition, he assisted his good friend Cousin Bruce Morrow on the "Variety Children's Telethon" each year. But, mostly, it is Les' voice that you hear, almost everywhere.

He was the announcer for the Tony Awards for 21 consecutive years and did the Academy Awards in 1992, ’94 and ’96.

Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Music Radio 77