More Voices Replaced by AI

A broadcast company decides to save radio jobs by turning over imaging voices to AI, but for how long?

I’ve sometimes joked on the air when covering an AI story — borrowing a line from The Simpsons — “I, for one, would like to welcome our new AI overlords.”

It always gets a laugh. But it's also always been a little scary. Lately, the balance is shifting. And not toward funny.

Saga Communications just made the kind of decision that sounds practical if you say it fast and don’t think too hard about it. They’re replacing all of their station imaging voices with AI-generated ones. Human voice actors licensed their voices to train the system, so technically, yes, a few people made some money for the use of their mouth sounds.

Saga’s CEO says this move saved about ten jobs. “We didn’t want to cut people,” he explained. “So we cut voiceover talent instead.”

I get why this looks smart on paper. The industry’s hurting. Revenue is down. Stations are trying to cut costs without gutting the newsroom or the airstaff. But let’s not kid ourselves. This is how it starts.

Imaging voices are usually the first to go because they’re invisible to listeners. Most people don’t know who that booming voice is between songs. They assume it’s some guy down the hall pressing buttons. It’s not. It’s a professional — often union, often freelance — who gives the station its personality. Replace that with a machine, and something essential goes missing.

Saga promises that AI won’t replace on-air hosts. The CEO even said, “As long as I’m President and CEO, AI will never replace our on-air personalities.” But no one stays CEO forever. And once the door opens, even a little, it’s hard not to push it wider.

We’ve heard it before. Automated playlists wouldn’t replace DJs. Syndicated shows wouldn’t replace local ones. Voice-tracking wouldn’t replace live shifts. Every time it was “just one thing.” Every time it turned into something bigger.

SAG-AFTRA is trying to hold the line, at least where it has contracts. AI voices can’t replace union talent. But that only works in shops with union protection, and even then, the pressure’s growing. The tech is getting better, cheaper, faster. The temptation is obvious. Why pay a human who gets sick, needs time off, and might file a grievance?

We’re heading toward a world where AI voices, faces, and scripts don’t just support entertainment — they are the entertainment. Radio imaging, commercials, and podcasts. Then audiobooks, narrators, trailers. Then full characters. Entire shows. News anchors. Talk show hosts. Pop stars.

And it won’t stop there.

What Saga did this week isn’t just a cost-cutting measure. It’s a preview. A test balloon. A way to see how much personality we’ll tolerate being drained from our media before we notice — or care.

This isn’t sci-fi. It’s a quiet Wednesday in a boardroom. “We can save ten jobs — if we just get rid of the voice guy.” Seems reasonable. Until it’s not the voice guy. It’s the weekend DJ. Then the overnight host. Then the reporter. Then the anchor.

Maybe then it’s you.

So yes — ten jobs were saved. For now. But in a business already hollowed out by layoffs and consolidation, we should be asking:

For how long?