Grant Wiens burst onto the airwaves with his own pirate radio station, at the age of twelve, and has been involved in voiceover work ever since.
One of the first problems he encountered was a staff shortage. He salvaged the situation by creating dozens of original characters to fill the various time slots. Grant had no inkling his ability to impersonate everyone—from neighbours, friends, and teachers to television personalities, movie stars, and politicians—would become his career. He kissed his dream to become an astronaut good-bye.
Following high school and an encounter with the radio/television authorities, Grant decided to take a more traditional approach and get an education in broadcasting. He attended Lethbridge College in Alberta, Canada, working at 1090 CHEC at the same time. Two years later Grant graduated with honours in Applied Arts and Sciences—Radio Arts.
Instead of accepting full time work at CHEC, Grant headed to the west coast to take on a new challenge—the all-night show on CHQB in Powell River, British Columbia. In only two months, he clawed his way to the top announcing spot—morning show host.
Grant learned a lot about the many facets of radio in this small market station including news, sports, music, programming, and most importantly—commercial production. The next stop on the radio roller coaster was CHNL in Kamloops, British Columbia. The next six years saw Grant broaden his experience as a broadcaster, and one of his first major successes involved creating a ratings-dominant afternoon drive show.
After a one-year stint backpacking around Europe, listening to accents and visiting radio stations, Grant returned with new ideas. He developed an award-winning morning show as the “Breakfast Flake” and crushed the competition in the ratings. You’ll see how in this Radio NL 1981 aircheck, which includes a call from Canada’s prime minister.
The next step in Grant’s on-air career took place at 630 CHED in Edmonton, just as Canada’s very first morning crew was being developed. During more than 1500 air shifts, he wove a host of characters—both original and famous characters—into daily features, spoof spots, phone calls, and songs, as in this brief aircheck from 1985.
In the mid eighties, demand for Grant’s voiceover talent and character voices grew. Leaving behind the security of full-time employment as an on-air radio personality, he opened Voicemaker, a radio and television recording studio. New clients included Super Channel, Family Channel, Teletoon, and Movie Central, as well as numerous ad agencies and television networks.
Grant juggled his days, navigating between QCTV television host, airborne traffic announcer, and voicing for 96 K-lite. This encompassed voicing thousands of station imaging IDs and radio commercials, as well as comedy bits for the morning shows of Len Theusen, Clay Hagel, and Mike Lynch. Perhaps you’ll remember some of these Teletoon favourites and K-Lite Classics.
Clients continue to find Grant’s ability to perform his 100+ character voices unique and effective advertising tools. His talent for documentary film narration and educational/instructional multi-media projects have become a mainstay. Grant has narrated projects for clients around the globe, including the Microsoft, United Nations, UNESCO, and the World Health Organization.
It’s always a pleasure to work with Grant. He is a total professional and I have learned a lot from him over the years. His work ethic is impeccable and I highly recommend him!
Mark Smith, Safesound Productions/Kidsounds, Wolverhampton, Englan