Dick Shale was a pre-War voice actor hired by the West Virginia state government[citation needed] to narrate and present many audio tours of popular tourist destinations in Appalachia.
Background[]
Shale's narrations included speaker booths at the sites themselves (such as the Uncanny Caverns audio tour) and holotapes distributed with audio information about popular Appalachian landmarks, presumably to be used by the listener as a self-guided audio tour of Appalachia.
The production value of these guided narrations was towards the low-end, and advertisements for various companies feature prominently in all and occasionally dominate the entire narration and uncut booth chatter can even be heard in one of the audio tour sessions. Despite the low production quality (or because of), Shale has many audio tours at several locations. He also took part in voicing several contests and prize giveaways, including the Pulowski Preservation Shelter Squat and the Red Rocket Gas-A-Thon. For the full list of Dick Shale's holotapes and tours, see below.
Significant voice work[]
Audio tour stations[]
- Colonel Kelly monument audio tour station
- The Giant Teapot audio tour station
- Miners Monument audio tour station
- Philippi Battlefield Cemetery audio tour station
- Prickett's Fort audio tour stations
- Uncanny Caverns audio tour stations
Holotapes[]
- Appalachia landmarks - Philippi's Cemetery Battlefield
- Appalachia landmarks - Pumpkin House
- Appalachia landmarks - Prickett's Fort
- The Golden Holotape
Appearances[]
Dick Shale is mentioned only in Fallout 76.
Behind the scenes[]
- Dick Shale was written by three different level designers, one of whom was Steve Massey, who wrote Shale's tour of Uncanny Caverns and The Golden Holotape.[Non-game 1]
- Dick Shale's voice acting and host work is similar to that of The Simpsons character Troy McClure, a washed up B-movie actor who regularly appears hosting infomercials, educational films, and contests, similar to Shale's work in hosting corporate contests. Shale's delivery in The Golden Holotape, introducing himself with "I'm Dick Shale! You may recognize me from contests like...", as well as his introduction in The Giant Teapot audio tour is similar to McClure's delivery of "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such [media] as..."
- According to Massey, Shale was not specifically a reference to Troy McClure, though he was inspired by that type of character, an ego-inflated local celebrity. He acknowledged that the character was "Simpsons-like" and mentioned the deliberateness of Shale's product placement in his tours.[Non-game 1]
References[]
Non-game