Saga Communications is moving away from utilizing station imaging voiceover talents and will instead rely on a third-party service for its imaging needs, Barrett Media has learned.
The company is utilizing a third-party solution that will consist of voices from real humans who have trained AI programs to replicate their voices for usage in a variety of ways.
In a statement to Barrett Media, Saga Communications CEO Chris Forgy confirmed the move, stating that while it will see the end of station imaging voice talents, it will help the company maintain several employees in the process.
“When we started this process, we said we wanted to be prudent and control our expenses,” said Forgy. “And we didn’t want to cut people. So where else can we go? That was one of the places we could go. The savings we were able to generate by going through this other way of doing station imaging — utilizing AI — saved about 10 people who otherwise would have lost their jobs as a result of the expense reductions we wanted to put in place.
“It was just to be prudent, to allow us to grow, not to try to cut our way out of a downdraft, because you can’t do that,” he continued. “We’re trying to sell our way out of the downdraft the industry is facing, while at the same time being prudent with our expenses. That kept us from letting no one go, instead of letting 10 people go, if we hadn’t gone down this AI solution path.”
During the first quarter of 2025, Saga Communications reported a 4% decline in overall revenue, with just over $24 million in the quarter ending March 31st. The company decreased its operating loss to $2.3 million during the first three months of the year. It has yet to announce second-quarter financial results.
Forgy added that the company has been in the process of implementing this new strategy for just a few months before feeling comfortable enough with the AI solution to enact the new policy.
Saga Communications plans to utilize the AI-replicated voices for its station imaging across its portfolio of stations, with all 113 AM/FM radio stations utilizing the technology.
While Saga will now utilize AI-replicated voices for its station imaging, Forgy said that the company remains committed to not replacing on-air talents with the emerging technology.
“I’ve said that as long as I’m President and CEO, AI will never replace our on-air personalities, period,” he said. “I think there was and is a lot of trepidation in the marketplaces across the country where people are afraid for their jobs. And justifiably so, because I think some broadcast companies have said, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna we’re gonna use AI, and we’re gonna use it in this way that will impact jobs.’ And it already has, in some cases.”
Previously, Saga Communications had utilized AI in the production of commercials and spec spots, as well as inside its business and corporate offices, but had not utilized the technology in an on-air capacity.
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Former employee here.
I once saw Chris Forgy kick his feet up on the desk of a GM who he fired the previous day.
He’s just a classless ‘little man complex’ who used a declining Ed Christian to get where he’s at today: inept CEO.
They couldn’t use the money in their stock sell-off to pay for the voice talent?
Trash decision from a trash broadcasting company. Framing it as “saving jobs” is such a load of crap. This sort of thing is lazy, cheap, and shows you don’t give a damn about the quality of your product.