Don Pardo had a big voice. He spoke on the radio. He spoke on the TV too. He told us what shows were on. People loved to hear him. He worked for a long time. Do you like to listen to voices?
Don Pardo had a very famous voice. He worked for a big TV group for many years. He spoke on many game shows. You might know the show Jeopardy! He also spoke on Saturday Night Live. This was his most well-known job. He did this job for 38 seasons. He even spoke on the news. People heard his voice on the radio too. He worked for more than seventy years. He was a very busy man. It is fun to listen to famous voices.
Don Pardo had a very famous voice. He worked for many years. His career lasted over seventy years. He worked for the NBC network for sixty years.
Many people know his voice from TV shows. He spoke on game shows like Jeopardy!. He also spoke on The Price Is Right. One of his biggest jobs was on Saturday Night Live. He did this job for 38 seasons. He would name the cast and the musical guests. He did this during the opening part of the show.
Don Pardo also worked on the radio. He was a war reporter during World War II. He also spoke on the news. In 1963, he was the first to tell viewers that President John F. Kennedy had been shot.
He was a very busy man. He even helped with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He was part of the Television Hall of Fame. This is a special group for great TV stars. He lived in many places. He was born in Massachusetts. Later, he lived in Arizona. He died in 2014 at age 96.
Don Pardo was a famous American announcer with a very recognizable voice. He spent more than seventy years working in radio and television. His career was special because he helped guide many popular programs. People often heard his voice without seeing his face on the screen. He was a member of the Television Hall of Fame. This honor is given to people who have made a big impact on TV.
His job as an announcer had many different parts. On game shows, he would introduce the programs and the players. For the show Saturday Night Live, he had a very specific role. After the opening sketch, he would shout the show's name. Then, he would name the cast members and the musical guests. He did this during the opening montage while music played. He even worked from a home studio in Arizona later in his life.
Don Pardo's journey began in Westfield, Massachusetts. He was born on February 22, 1918, to Polish immigrants. His parents, Dominick Sr. and Valeria, owned a bakery. He grew up in Connecticut and Rhode Island before going to college. He graduated from Emerson College in 1942. His first radio job was at WJAR in Providence in 1938. He joined the NBC network full-time in 1944.
Throughout his sixty years at NBC, he worked on many famous shows. He announced the original version of The Price Is Right starting in 1956. He also voiced the game show Jeopardy! from 1964 until 1975. On Saturday Night Live, he worked for 38 seasons. He was there from the very first episode in 1975. He also announced the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade until 1999. In 1963, he was the first to announce the news about President John F. Kennedy.
Don Pardo's voice connected many different kinds of media. He worked in radio on sci-fi shows like X Minus One. He even helped with music by performing with Frank Zappa. He appeared in a funny music video by "Weird Al" Yankovic. He also acted as an announcer in the TV show 30 Rock. Even though he lived in Arizona, he flew back to New York often. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 96.
Dominick George "Don" Pardo Jr. was a highly influential American announcer. He worked in radio and television for over seven decades. An announcer is a person who provides spoken introductions for programs. Pardo was famous for his distinct and recognizable voice. His long career earned him a place in the Television Hall of Fame. This honor recognizes people who have made significant contributions to the medium of television.
The mechanism of Pardo's most famous role involved a specific sequence on the show Saturday Night Live. After the first sketch of the night, a performer would cry out a specific phrase. Pardo would then announce the title of the show. He followed this by performing a voice-over during the opening montage. During this montage, he named the various cast members and the musical guests. This helped set the energy for the entire broadcast. Pardo once noted that his announcing booth in Studio 8H was located near where conductor Arturo Toscanini once stood.
Pardo's career included many different types of broadcasting roles. In radio, he worked on science fiction programs like X Minus One and Dimension X. He also served as a war reporter for NBC Radio during World War II. On television, he became a staple of the game show genre. He provided the voice for the original version of The Price Is Right from 1956 to 1963. He also announced the classic series Jeopardy! from 1964 until 1975.
His history with the NBC network was exceptionally long. Pardo was hired for his first radio position at WJAR in 1938. He joined the NBC staff full-time as an in-house announcer in 1944. He remained a member of the network staff for 60 years. His work spanned many eras of broadcasting history. He was even the first announcer to tell NBC viewers about the shooting of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
The significance of his tenure is visible in the sheer number of seasons he worked. He held his position on Saturday Night Live for 38 seasons. His time with the show began with its debut in 1975. He returned to the show after a single season break to work until 2014. He also announced the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for many years, ending in 1999. Even after he nominally retired in 2004, he continued to work at the request of producer Lorne Michaels.
Pardo also participated in several unique musical and comedic projects. In 1976, he recited a verse for a Frank Zappa song titled "I'm the Slime." He also provided narration for other Zappa songs like "Punky's Whips." Later, he appeared in a music video by "Weird Al" Yankovic titled "I Lost on Jeopardy." This video featured several cameos, including the original host of Jeopardy!, Art Fleming. He even made a cameo appearance as a character named Sid in the television series 30 Rock.
In his final years, Pardo's work connected his home in Arizona to the studios in New York. After moving to Tucson in 2005, he briefly tried pre-recording his announcements from a home studio. However, producers eventually required him to fly back to New York for live performances. He celebrated his 90th birthday on the Saturday Night Live stage in 2008. Pardo passed away in his Tucson home on August 18, 2014. He was 96 years old.
Where will your curiosity go next?
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.