George Ansbro
George Ansbro (January 14, 1915 – November 5, 2011) was a radio announcer for NBC and ABC for six decades, working with soap operas, big bands, quiz shows and other programs.
On Friday, May 18, 1934, radio columns in New York newspapers noted that Bert Parks of CBS would be “relinquishing his status as New York’s youngest network staff announcer to the newly appointed George Ansbro on the NBC announcing staff.”[2] Ansbro’s radio career included announcing for The Avenger,[4] FBI Washington,[5] Chaplain Jim, Ethel and Albert, When a Girl Marries,[6] Treasury Salute, Wake Up, America, Young Widder Brown, and the popular Dr. I.Q.
He would ultimately become one of ABC's longest-lasting and principal live voice-overs, in most of the network's weekday and weekend dayparts, along with the rotating staff of announcers.
A Billboard review noted an unusual aspect of the program: "Manhattan Maharajah features a tongue-in-cheek East Indian poet spinning pop platter favorites of the new West.
"[7] The reviewer cited "the maharajah's (George Ansbro) deliberate, sonorous-voiced reading of mystic couplets, complete with college humor-type punch lines.
"[7] Come the 1980s, the majority of Ansbro's announcing was during the ABC daytime lineup, handling sponsor plugs for their daytime soap operas especially, mid-break bumpers (specifically for One Life to Live) and the show preview announcements that were run during end credits.
In August, the daytime shifts once covered by Ansbro, Jordan and Parker were officially taken over by Ken Lamb, who in 2008 became ABC's chief booth announcer.
