Frank Block has been the voice of many things.

His vocal talents have been employed to promote everything from restaurants to canoes. He鈥檚 narrated more than 450 audiobooks about vast array of topics including music instruction, history and health and wellness to biographies about Terry Fox, Chief Dan George, Tommy Douglas and Donald Trump, to name a few.

Salmon Arm residents may be more familiar with Block鈥檚 voice from Salmon Arm Silverbacks home games, for which he shares public address announcing duties with Myron Crown.

Block is a professional voice actor.

鈥淚鈥檝e been doing it kind of part time for the last seven or eight years,鈥� said the Tappen resident. 鈥淢y day job was actually in finance, the last three and a half years, and then recently I decided to pack it in there and retire from banking and just do voice over work full time.鈥�

Block got into the profession through hockey. Not by playing, but by doing public address announcing for his son鈥檚 minor hockey team in Alberta.

鈥淚t started off as me being a volunteer dad for my son鈥檚 minor hockey team and playing the music for their hockey games when my kid was five years old,鈥� said Block. 鈥淥ne dad said, 鈥楩rank, you鈥檝e got the microphone with you, why don鈥檛 you just announce the goal?鈥� That led me to getting into public address announcing for hockey games.鈥�

Soon Block found himself announcing for hockey tournaments, junior hockey clubs were reaching out to him, and he began doing on-air commentary for the Alberta Junior Hockey League. All of this eventually led to a part-time gig announcing in the Saddledome for the Calgary Flames.

One of Block鈥檚 favourite experiences from that time was announcing for the Big League Experience, during which minor hockey teams received the full NHL treatment and more, complete with spotlights as they took the ice and Block announcing their names.

鈥淥ne of the thrills was after one of those games I went back to visit the kids and see if they had a good time,鈥� said Block, 鈥淚t was 鈥楾hey love it! and 鈥榊ou鈥檙e the best announcer in the world!鈥� It was really cool.鈥�

Later, Block and his family moved to Saskatchewan. There, he made the acquiantance of Saskatchewan-born hockey great Metro Prystai who played for the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks from 1947 to 1958. The two wound up collaborating on a book, The Metro Prystai Story: A Legend from the Golden Age of Hockey, written by Block.

鈥淎nd then I did an audiobook from that one, and that led me to doing more audiobook work and getting into voice-over,鈥� said Block.

While in Saskatchewan, Block also worked in radio. He moved to the Shuswap about four years ago, he said, to be close to his daughter, son-in-law and now grandson, who live in Vernon.

Along with picking public address announcing with the 鈥楤acks, Block has been very busy lending his voice to various commercial and book projects.

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鈥淓very job I鈥檓 finding is very unique,鈥� said Block. 鈥淭here was one actually I did for a Toronto video company, putting together an annual report for a local charity, food bank and homeless shelters they have. It was an eight-minute long video 鈥� it was really cool and really heartfelt. You can really get invested in these emotionally.鈥�

As the name of his profession implies, doing commercials and audiobooks requires much more than simply reading a manuscript. With such jobs, Block explains, you need to know what the client wants, how they want a person to sound and what the underlying message they鈥檙e trying to convey is.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 a video game they鈥檙e looking for you to audition for, and all they say is something about 鈥榖attle scene鈥�, they鈥檝e got the words there for you but those words can be interpreted very differently,鈥� said Block. 鈥淲hat accent, what countries are involved? Are they trying to be quiet so their enemies don鈥檛 hear them, or is it over the top because they鈥檙e in a tank and they鈥檙e being bombarded by shells? It really makes a big difference.鈥�

Block said he loves the variety each job brings.

鈥淥ne that was kind of cool was for Nova Craft canoes鈥︹�� said Block, lowering his voice to a low, relaxing tone. 鈥淭hat was kind of a whisper, it was very quiet, you鈥檙e out on the water, it鈥檚 serene, it鈥檚 peaceful.鈥�

To learn more about Frank Block, visit . Books narrated by Block can be found on audible.com.

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