The voice of Calgary’s LRT for almost two decades is getting off at the last stop and is retiring after 44 years with Calgary Transit.
Holly McConnell made her first recording in 1987 and her messages continued to be used on trains for the next 20 years.
She was chosen over other transit employees because of her enunciation and pronunciation.
Thursday was her last day at Calgary Transit and she was given the opportunity to broadcast live.
“That was a lot of fun,” she said. “I always just did it, just recordings and tapes in the old days.”
McConnell started recording in the analog era and had to record everything from scratch every time a new train stop opened.
“Because the tapes weren’t very good I didn’t sound like me so people never really recognized me so I’d say I’m the voice of the CTrain and they’d go, really?”
In 2006, the new trains came with canned messages and her voice was phased out as the older trains were taken offline.
