Soda’s Rich Summers nominated for International Award
Former Soda Springs resident Rich Summers was recently nominated for “The One Voice Awards,” for his voiceover work on the 2025 documentary “The Fort Knox Story.” The award ceremony is being held in London on Saturday, 16th May 2026.
Summers grew up in Soda Springs, and was a familiar radio voice in the region, dating back to his time at KBRV. Eventually, Summers switched from radio to Voiceover work, where he has also found a great deal of success. His voice is instantly familiar, comfortable, and impressive. We had the pleasure of speaking with him on the occasion of the award announcement.
As a basic grounding, can you tell me a bit about what your life in Soda Spring was like? Are there elements of it that have influenced/informed your voice acting?
Growing up in Soda Springs in the 60’s and 70’s was a great time. We didn’t have computers or cell phones, so we played baseball in the summer, football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and ran track in the spring. We got outside and moved around. We raced slot cars on each other’s tracks, hiked, swam, fished at Ledge Creek, rode bikes everywhere, and stayed out till it was dark. Our parents didn’t have as many worries about our safety as parents do now. I’m sure having such a grounded and active childhood growing up in Soda Springs is translated into my reads when I audition or when I book a job.
What was your basic path like to where you are now? Has voice acting always interested you, or did you discover it by happenstance?
I started working in radio my senior year at SSHS. Started at KBRV. I attended Boise State (when the football field was green, haha!). After BSU, I came back to Soda and worked construction. As you know, the winters aren’t conducive to that, and several of us kept getting laid off for a few months every winter. I decided to go back to school at ISU, and I got a job on the FM station that had just been put on the air. I did the evening show. Eventually I ended up being the Program Director, and that led me into a long career in radio that took me from Soda Springs to Phoenix and a few places in between. Eventually I came back to Boise in 1998 and never looked back. Spent 20 years in country radio in Boise. Radio went through a pretty radical change with the deregulation, and corporate ownership. I left radio, or maybe radio left me, in 2018 (the corporate VP and I didn’t laugh at the same jokes). That’s when I made the jump to full time VO work.
What are some of your favorite roles/projects you have worked on?
That’s kind of hard to answer. Each project is different. Each genre has its own nuances and styles. It’s really more voice “acting” than voice “over”. If I had to pick, obviously one would be the Fort Knox story, which is the piece nominated. I’ve done voice work for Warner Music Nashville, Old Wisconsin Sausage, AeroMexico, Wild Turkey and others. I’ve also done voices for video games, nothing major like World of Warcraft or Call of Duty, but characters for games developed by smaller independent gaming companies. I’ve done voices for online slot machine games. They’re all fun, and each has their own stories in the script. As a voice actor, it’s your job to figure out what the writer was really thinking and trying to say, and WHO he is saying it to. Then you create a persona for that script, and hope that your audition books the job. Rejection is a pretty common thing. As voice actors, we all audition a LOT more than we book.
How did you “find your voice”?
Here’s the thing about that. I didn’t find my voice, per se. It’s mine. It’s what sets me apart from other voice actors. We all have our own, unique voice print. What we have to do is learn how to use the voice God gave to us. That took me a while. Radio and voice over/voice acting do not handshake well. They are two completely different worlds. Every year I spent in radio was a year of developing bad habits for voice acting. I had to learn how to reinvent myself and my craft. I started working with VO coaches who helped me break out of the radio sound. Just like a singer works with a vocal coach, voice actors that are serious about their career work with industry proven VO coaches. I still work with coaches now.
What would you advise people--especially younger students thinking about possible careers--to do by way of preparation if they were interested in voice acting as a profession?
The first thing to think about is this: A great voice does not guarantee you any success as a voice actor. I have a really nice pen. It doesn’t make me a great writer. If someone is thinking about getting into voice acting, the sooner you start, the better you’ll be. Be prepared to spend money on your career. Coaching and studio equipment aren’t cheap, but you have to be willing to invest in yourself, your equipment, and your career. Be prepared for it to take a while to develop. A good coach will tell you when you’re ready to start putting yourself out there. Be prepared to spend money on a professionally produced demo. Those aren’t cheap. And be patient. Patient with yourself and the VO business. Nothing ever happens as fast as we would all like it to. It’s a marathon, not a 40 yard dash.
What is an average work day like for you?
I get up around 7am. First thing I do is check my email for any auditions that may have come in overnight and what the deadline is. Auditions that come in overnight are usually from overseas clients, and their turnaround time is often shorter than those we get from domestic sources. I head to my booth and start recording any auditions that are due by 9am MST. Then I start getting auditions from agents in the US. They usually give you at least 24 hours, or to the next morning to get those auditions done and back to the respective agents. Then, I look at what we call the “Pay To Play” voice casting websites. There’s a lot of work available to audition for, but you have to pay a subscription service to audition, hence the nickname. All said and done, I do anywhere from 15 – 25 auditions a day. If I book ONE job in 50 auditions, then I’m having a good couple of days. If I book one job in 100 auditions, then I’m having an okay week. Like I said, we all live with rejection every day, but it’s not really rejection. It just means you weren’t right for that job. The casting director might like your sound, but can’t hear it in the context of the project. They may shortlist you and keep you in mind for another project. So it’s not really rejection, it’s selection.
I usually finish auditions by noon or early afternoon. Then I spend some time doing self-marketing to potential new clients. Or maybe I’m working on invoicing and actual business chores. It is a business, and you have to be willing to invest the time in that end of it as well.
What would you like to say about the project for which you have been nominated?
The Fort Knox Story is such a beautiful piece. Beau Graves, the producer for Avalaunch Media in Lehi, Utah did an amazing job putting the visuals together with the music. He wanted a really grounded and storyteller read. The company’s founder had passed away, and this was a tribute to him. I was fortunate to be chosen to tell the story of the founder and his family. It just all came together. Really proud to have been part of it. Will we win? I mean, I hope so, but there are 9 other amazing voice talents from all over the world in that category. For me, just being “in the same room” with them is an honor.
Anything else you’d like people from Caribou County to know about you, the profession, or anything else?
In this day and age, it doesn’t matter where you live to be able to work as a voice actor. It used to be that you needed to be in LA, or NYC, or other major metro areas where studios existed and produced content with voice acting involved. Technology now is such, that I can be in my booth, in my home in the mountains north of Boise, and be in a session with clients and producers from all over the world. I’ve voiced projects for clients in the UK, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Portugal, Brazil and others. Literally all over the globe.
By the way, I’m not the only voice actor with roots in Soda Springs. Marie Westbook-Belle grew up in Soda Springs as well. She’s now one of the most sought after female voice talents in the industry. You’ve probably heard her on movie trailers for studios like Pixar and Universal. Game promos for AAA video games from Blizzard and other notable companies. She’s extremely talented and deserves recognition as well. We’ve become good friends with our Soda connection and chat every so often. She’s an inspiration and living proof that you can grow up in Soda Springs and make a pretty great career out of voice acting. You should check out her website, https://mariewestbrook.com.
To summarize, voice acting can be extremely rewarding and fun, and you can earn a pretty decent amount of money, IF you’re willing to do your due diligence, put in the work to become successful at it, and the patience and perseverance to stay at it until it all starts coming together for you. There are no overnight success stories in VO. Getting lucky just means you were prepared, and that preparedness met opportunity. That’s luck in the VO world.
The “Fort Knox” documentary (which is about the company, not the gold storage location) can be found on Rich’s youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@richsummersvoiceover. Also, check out his website at richsummersvo.com. We thank him for his time, and wish him well at the awards!
