From Monday 9 January 2023, the voice of actor and dubber Jan Vondráček will accompany passengers on all tram lines in Prague.
Vondráček replaces the well-known radio host Dagmar Hazdrová, whose voice has been heard on Prague buses and trams for 30 years.
Due to her advanced age (89), she has refused to continue cooperation with transport operators, and recording of announcements is required continuously, also due to new stops and various repair works.
Prague authorities decided to find a new announcer and re-record the old announcements. Vondráček won by a large margin (62%) in an online popular vote. He started work last autumn and voiced almost 2,000 stop names and information announcements for trams.
A recording with his voice is available here.
The second phase will begin in the coming weeks, when 1,315 separate recordings will be made for Prague buses. Passengers will hear them in the spring. The last and biggest stage will be the recording of 7,256 stop names and announcements for commuter buses.
In the metro, the announcers’ voices will remain the same.
“Ms. Hazdrová’s professional voice, has accompanied us on Prague’s public transport for almost 30 years. I thank her very much for her work for Prague and the people of Prague, as well as for her help in choosing the voice of her successor. It was an honor to nominate her for honorary citizenship, which she very much deserved,” says Adam Scheinherr, Deputy Mayor of Prague for Transport.
Vondráček and The Simpsons or The Mentalist
The actor has had countless dubbing roles, but the most famous are probably two – the character of the pub owner Moe from the American TV series The Simpsons and the role of Patrick Jane in the TV series The Mentalist.
In the poll, which was launched in May and ended in June, ladies and gentlemen were represented by two votes each.
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