Originally posted Monday, June 11, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Jamie Dupree, the Cox Washington D.C. radio correspondent whose voice has sidelined him from News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB for two years due to a rare vocal condition, will be back on the air - with a twist.
Due to what is called tongue protrusion dystonia, his tongue gets in the way of him speaking normally. Unable to provide audio reports, he has continued to work online for the station.
Dupree has sought medical solutions nationwide to no avail.
Internally, Dupree's employer Cox Media Group sought a technological solution and found a Scottish company called CereProc, which used years of archived Dupree audio and built a voice for him. When paired with a text-to-speech application, he will start providing audio stories next week to Cox radio stations.
As Dupree noted in his blog note today, it sounds a little robotic but it is his voice. He is facetiously dubbing it “Jamie Dupree 2.0.”
Dupree has been working for Cox for nearly 30 years.
Here's Scott Slade's announcement on WSB this morning:
And here’s a test of Dupree’s “new” voice:
WSB and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both part of Cox Media Group.
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