- NBC Sports will use a version generated by the AI-AI of the voice of the legendary advertiser Jim Fagan in his next NBA coverage
- Recreation will appear in intros and promotions with the approval of Fagan’s family
- NBC hopes to talk about nostalgia for basketball from the 1990s with the voice of AI
Jim Fagan’s booming and baritone narration is as much part of the NBA games in the 1990s as Bugs Bunny selling shoes with Michael Jordan or the theme song of “Roundball Rock”. Although Fagan died in 2017, NBC has his voice ready to go for the coming season thanks to the cloning of the voice of AI. NBC Sports announced the plan for resuming the diffusion rights in October.
Fagan’s voice will not tell whole games, current commentators do not have to worry about the direct competition of AI. The plan is to use it selectively: Show opens, promotional spots, perhaps the series of playoffs to a broadcast in the playoffs.
The network would have spent billions as part of a massive set of rights shared with Amazon and Disney. What better way to mark your return than with the voice that defined the glory of the league television? NBC just hopes that the ghost voice of Fagan will remind people of the golden age of the NBA three decades ago.
NBC has carefully approached the project to avoid a counterpoup of Fagan fans. The company has built Fagan’s vocal lookalike with the permission and cooperation of the Fagan family.
“He was very proud of his work with NBC Sports, in particular to help prepare the way for some of the most memorable moments in the history of the NBA. Knowing that his voice will be part of the game he liked – and that a new generation of fans will be able to experience it – is incredibly special for our family,” said Fagan’s Daughters, Jana Silvia Joyce and Risa Silvia -Konin, “It would be so delighted and proud to be part of it.”
Slam Dunk AI
If it looks like the echo of a similar idea, it is because Nbcuniversal recently plunged into its AI audio toolbox. At the Paris Olympic Games last year, NBC recreated the voice of Al Michaels to deliver Olympic summary on Peacock.
There is a tendency in sports broadcasting to remix the past using futuristic tools. Whether they are classic themed songs, logos backwards or summary generated by AI, the objective is nostalgia for novelty, a feeling more than a strictly perfect recreation. And if it works, prepare to resuscitate Marv Albert.
