She speaks to hundreds of thousands of people every day, but none of them see her face. Hear JESSICA ETTINGER GOTTESMAN tell it her way.
Jessica Ettinger Gottesman -- the voice of the underground. (AP Photo/HO/Courtesy of Jessica Ettinger Gottesman)
They follow her commands and wait for her guidance. Down in New York's subways, Jessica Ettinger Gottesman is the voice of the Lexington line. Let this video take you there.
You recognize the voice. You're not sure from where, but you know you've heard it before.
And you're right -- if you've ever been to New York, you, and hundreds of thousands of others, have almost certainly heard her. Meet JESSICA ETTINGER GOTTESMAN, the woman behind the subway announcement that tells commuters what the next stop will be.
She may sound like a benevolent, all-knowing spirit from inside the train car, but she's actually a commuter who rides the subway like everyone else. And despite the ubiquity, she explains in this audio piece that she still hates the sound of her own voice.
JESSICA ETTINGER GOTTESMAN'S five weirdest things about being the voice on the subway:
I hear people talking about me when I'm on the train - they don't realize that "the voice" rides the subway, too.
People assume I was paid a lot of money to voice the station announcements.
After the London subway bombings in July of 2005, I stopped riding the subway for a while, but my voice was still there.
Friends say "it doesn't sound like you." What?
Glamour magazine once quoted me as an expert on being a "voice" and I gave tips to help girls sound sexy on their answering machines. Is the subway that sexy?
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asap contributor Jessica Ettinger Gottesman is a swing anchor for radio station WINS-AM and on-air talent at Sirius Satellite radio.
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