Pat Fleet
Pat Fleet | |
|---|---|
 Fleet in studio, 2008 | |
| Born | Patricia Curry September 11, 1943 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation | Voice actress |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Spouse(s) | William Fleet (1935–2016) |
| Website | patfleet.com |
Pat Trumble Fleet is an American voice actress. Widely recognized for the tens of thousands of recordings she has made for US telephone companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Qwest, the former Bell System companies, and others since 1981, she is still most recognized as the person who says "AT&T" in the company's sound trademark,[1][2][3][4][5] which played prior to any operator assisted or credit card paid call, and on answer when calling AT&T customer service numbers.
She is also the voice for most "star" services (e.g. last-call return, call blocking, etc.) for AT&T local telephone companies, and the voice heard when making AT&T handled calls through 1-800-CALL-ATT (225-5288) and through international AT&T access numbers such as USADirect.
History
In 1981, working alongside Jane Barbe, she began recording messages for the Audichron Company (now known as ETC) announcing time, temperature and weather, and was the voice of the Bell System's Automated Coin Toll System, quoting rates and collecting charges for coin-paid calls.
In addition, she continues to be the voice for a significant number of telephone company intercept recordings – messages giving reasons for call failure that start with a special information tone and usually begin with the phrase "We're sorry...".
Through the years, her voice became well known through the phone companies' use of her recordings, and through several AT&T internal customer studies it was determined that customers preferred her voice over any other. As a result, she was selected to become the company's signature sound for the AT&T trademark in 1989.[2]
See also
References
- ^ Murphy, Kate. "Catching up with Patricia Fleet". The New York Times. January 8, 2012.
- ^ a b Keppel, Bruce. "This Is the Voice of AT&T". Los Angeles Times. July 20, 1989.
- ^ Koppel, Ted. "Nightline." Voice Mail Jail. ABC News, 1996. News Program. American Broadcasting Company. September 18, 1996.
- ^ United States Patent Office. "AT&T Sound Trademark" U.S. Patent Office reference recording of AT&T sound trademark Archived 2008-09-20 at the Wayback Machine. AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P., 1989. Trademark Record. U.S. Patent Office 6 Apr 1989.
- ^ United States Patent Office. "Trademark Document" U.S. Patent Office Sensory Mark Registration Number: 1573864. AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P., 1989. Trademark Record. U.S. Patent Office April 6, 1989.