SPEAKEASY INC
BIOGRAPHY OF DENNY COLONNA
Denny Colonna was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and, from the time he was a teenager, knew that working in the broadcasting industry would be his destiny. His extensive experience has included stints as an air personality at KWG Radio in Stockton, California, WPVL Radio in Painesville, Ohio, KOST and KPOL Radio in Los Angeles, followed by KSRF in Santa Monica.
He began his television career at WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio where he worked as a booth announcer. In 1973, Denny relocated to the West Coast, as part of the Cleveland brigade, and obtained employment at KCOP-TV, as a weekend booth announcer and co-anchor for the station’s noon newscast. It was here the he honed his skills as a commercial/promo announcer and realized that this would be the area of the business where he could be most successful.
In 1980, Denny was lucky to meet Michael Levine who was, then, Manager of Advertising and Promotion of West Coast Operations for the NBC Television Network in Burbank. Levine, recognizing Denny’s talent, from his demo tape, called him in for some test promos. “I don’t know where I would be if it had not been for Levine,” Denny tells aspiring voiceover talent, today. “He, literally, molded me into what I’ve become, professionally, and I will always be grateful to Mike for his guidance, while allowing me the opportunity to display my talents for a national network audience. Not to mention that I got to work with some of the greatest voices in the business: Casey Kasem, Danny Dark and Ernie Anderson, learning much of what I know today from three of the most successful talents our industry has even known.”
He recorded his first promo for the NBC network in February 1980 on the made-for-television feature film KENT STATE about the tragic shootings on the Ohio university campus during the tumultuous Viet Nam war that greatly divided the nation. Denny was, then, assigned to do promos for the kickoff campaign of what would become one of NBC’s most popular television shows HILL STREET BLUES.
Denny would work on a sporadic basis for the network for four years, until becoming the voice of NBC daytime programming from 1984 to 1987 for their popular and long-running soap operas, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, SANTA BARBARA and ANOTHER WORLD. He would also be commissioned to voice the 1984 “Let’s All Be There” campaign for that year’s NBC affiliates convention, held in Los Angeles.
He would also return to school, during this period of time, earning a B.A. in English from UCLA.
In 1987, the NBC owned and operated television affiliate, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, seeking a new image voice for their station, enlisted him to voice all of their topical news promos, billboards and sales spots. He still remains under contract to them, working, primarily, as their sales voice.
“I have been part of the NBC family for so long, I could become their peacock,” he recently mused to a producer friend.
Additionally, Denny voiced the premiere promos for MR. BELEVEDERE and OFF THE RACK at ABC-TV and promos for CBS Television’s OTHERWORLD in the late 80’s.
Denny has worked as the voiceover announcer on promotion campaigns for syndicated shows like ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT and HARD COPY. Through Manheim Advertising in Cleveland, he has been the image voice for stations as varied as: WSVN-TV, Miami, WDCA-TV, Washington, DC, WUAB-TV, Cleveland, and WLVI-TV in Boston.
Currently, Denny is the image voice for Raycom Media stations: WECT-TV, Wilmington, NC, WDAM-TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, WPBN-TV, Lansing, Michigan, FOX 54 in Columbus, Georgia and CBS-6, Richmond, Virginia.
His commercial credits have included Verizon, Bank of America, Disneyland, MCI, Universal Studios, Sprint, Visa, Ford and other major corporations. These days, he can be heard as the voice on the nationally-aired radio spots for FISHER INVESTMENTS.
He was the voice of ROGGIN’S HEROES, a nationally syndicated television show, and has narrated shows for UNSOLVED MYSTERIES and the A&E Biography on wrestler STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN. His voice has also been heard in the feature films ROBO COP, INVASION USA, and on the ABC Television series COACH.
Denny has also worked on several industrial films and documentaries throughout his career.
He maintains his own home studio in Manhattan Beach, California and is equipped to do ISDN sessions, phone patches and MP3 or WAV audio file delivery via email or posted to one’s FTP site. He can also provide CD Fed EX overnight delivery. He utilizes a digital recording facility and can record material on three of the premiere voice over microphones in the business: the Sennheiser 416 P48; Neumann TLM 103 or Electro Voice RE 20.
In addition to his successful career as a voiceover artist, Denny has produced and directed a popular local political television talk show SPEAK EASY, on Time Warner Cable, which enjoyed a very successful three-year run. The show, most recently, synthesized into an equally-popular talk show, ALL TALK, geared towards a younger audience. His ONE ON ONE shows for Time Warner Cable have included an eclectic group of guests from actors Christopher Knight, Gary Coleman and Kent McCord; actress Zelda Rubenstein, fellow voiceover extraordinaire Don La Fontaine and noted Criminal Defense Attorney Howard Weitzman.
In recent months, he has started work as a producer/writer on a political satire radio show, which he and some old radio broadcasting friends hope to put into national syndication by early next year, just in time for the 2008 Presidential election. “With all the clowns we have running for office on both sides of the political fence, we aim to have a really good time with this. We intend to be merciless in our attacks on virtually every candidate. Right now, none of us can think of anyone we would actually waste our time voting for,” he said.
In his spare time, Denny enjoys reading history and political science books, working out at his local gym, playing beach volleyball, hiking with friends in the mountains of Southern California, and traveling.
His secret to success in life is simple: Love what you do and only do what you love.
Email: denniscolonna@verizon.net