Audichron Company
Encyclopedia
Audichron Company was a company
founded in the 1930s by John Franklin
in Doraville, Georgia
, to produce the Audichron
, a talking clock
. By the 1970s, there were thousands of Audichron time-of-day announcers in use all over the world. Audichron had also developed a machine to announce the temperature
. During the 1970s and 1980s, Audichron began to manufacture other kinds of equipment besides time and temperature machines.
The Audichron sales force found sponsors such as banks for its time and temperature machines in a city. Once a sponsor had been obtained, Audichron would lease the machines to the local phone company. An Audichron field service engineer would then visit the telephone company and help install the Audichron equipment in the central office
. The phone company would then hook up incoming trunks to the Audichron equipment and would bill the final customer (the bank) each month for the trunks and the Audichron equipment. Audichron received payments from the telephone company.
Audichron hired "talent" to come into their recording studio
to make recording
s. Customers had a choice of whether they wanted a male voice or a female voice on their announcements. During the 1950s, a lady named Mary Moore
did the female voice and was replaced in about 1965 by Jane Barbe
who specialized primarily in Time and Weather. Pat Fleet
joined in 1981 with customer message recordings, coin amount requests and out of service recordings, but rarely did time and weather.
John Doyle
continues to be the only male voice. From the 1980s, the female voices were provided by Barbe
, Fleet
and were joined by Joanne Daniels
, who did number change announcements and who was the time lady for most of the Western United States.
The Audichron Company was acquired in 1989 by Electronic Tele-Communications, a manufacturer of telephone answering machines that was founded in 1949.
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
founded in the 1930s by John Franklin
John Franklin
Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
in Doraville, Georgia
Doraville, Georgia
Doraville is a city in DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 8,330.-History:Doraville was incorporated by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, approved December 15, 1871...
, to produce the Audichron
Audichron
Audichron was a talking clock, or a time announcer which was developed and produced by the Audichron Company, starting in the 1930s. There were several types of Audichron machines including the stand time piece , M12, temperature machine and the Comparator.-STM:STM stood for "Small Town Machine"....
, a talking clock
Talking clock
A talking clock is a timekeeping device that presents the time as sounds. It may present the time solely as sounds, such as a phone-based time service or a clock for the hearing impaired, or may have a sound feature in addition to an analog or digital face.- History :Although they would not be...
. By the 1970s, there were thousands of Audichron time-of-day announcers in use all over the world. Audichron had also developed a machine to announce the temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
. During the 1970s and 1980s, Audichron began to manufacture other kinds of equipment besides time and temperature machines.
The Audichron sales force found sponsors such as banks for its time and temperature machines in a city. Once a sponsor had been obtained, Audichron would lease the machines to the local phone company. An Audichron field service engineer would then visit the telephone company and help install the Audichron equipment in the central office
Office
An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
. The phone company would then hook up incoming trunks to the Audichron equipment and would bill the final customer (the bank) each month for the trunks and the Audichron equipment. Audichron received payments from the telephone company.
Audichron hired "talent" to come into their recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
to make recording
Recording
Recording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
s. Customers had a choice of whether they wanted a male voice or a female voice on their announcements. During the 1950s, a lady named Mary Moore
Mary Moore (Time Lady)
In the United States of America, Mary Moore was the first national voice of the Bell System's standardized speaking clock and also provided the voice behind many telephone company recordings on equipment manufactured by Audichron....
did the female voice and was replaced in about 1965 by Jane Barbe
Jane Barbe
Jane Barbe was an American voice actress known as the "Time Lady" for the recordings she made for the Bell System and other phone companies. The ubiquity of her recordings eventually made her a pop-culture figure whose death drew national attention....
who specialized primarily in Time and Weather. Pat Fleet
Pat Fleet
Pat Fleet is a working American voice actress known as the registered voice of AT&T.Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still most recognized...
joined in 1981 with customer message recordings, coin amount requests and out of service recordings, but rarely did time and weather.
John Doyle
John Doyle (announcer)
John Doyle is a professional announcer whose voice was most notably used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology on their radio clock WWV, a "time and temperature" voice for the Audichron Company.and others....
continues to be the only male voice. From the 1980s, the female voices were provided by Barbe
Jane Barbe
Jane Barbe was an American voice actress known as the "Time Lady" for the recordings she made for the Bell System and other phone companies. The ubiquity of her recordings eventually made her a pop-culture figure whose death drew national attention....
, Fleet
Pat Fleet
Pat Fleet is a working American voice actress known as the registered voice of AT&T.Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still most recognized...
and were joined by Joanne Daniels
Joanne Daniels
Joanne Daniels is an American voice actress. Most associated with the Weatherchron company of Atlanta, Georgia , she is best known as an announcer of telephone company time and temperature announcements, including Los Angeles, California.She also provided the voice for a significant number of...
, who did number change announcements and who was the time lady for most of the Western United States.
The Audichron Company was acquired in 1989 by Electronic Tele-Communications, a manufacturer of telephone answering machines that was founded in 1949.