Bernie Wagenblast sits for a photo at her home, Friday, June 16, 2023, in Cranford, N.J. As culture wars erupt anew in the United States over sex and gender, Wagenblast is exchanging that voice for a new one, with a pitch and cadence that reflects a transition from being the man he was to the woman she is becoming. AP Photo/John Minchillo
The voice is familiar to the millions who ride New York City’s subways, its deep and resonant tone ringing through tunnels and across the tracks. For more than a decade, Bernie Wagenblast has lent that voice to automated announcements alerting passengers to train arrivals and politely directing people to “please stand away from the platform edge.”
But earlier this year, Wagenblast, 66, went on the radio to publicly reveal a different voice — higher pitched and softer spoken — that is more reflective of the transition from the man he was to the transgender woman she was always meant to be.
For decades, Wagenblast’s voice — low, authoritative and benign all at once — has provided a career and livelihood. Yet she knows that her transformation won’t be complete unless she replaces her “guy voice” with one that has the vocal register, timbre and tone of a woman.
“Because my voice has played such a critical role in my life, to me it’s important that my voice sound as authentically female as it can,” she said at her home in Cranford, New Jersey, about 20 miles (33 kilometers) southwest of Manhattan.
The change won’t affect the subway announcements that have made Wagenblast’s voice recognizable. There are no plans to rerecord the work she did for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the country’s busiest public transit system, or for the Port Authority of New York, which uses her voice for announcements on the AirTrain that serves Newark airport.
By sharing her story, she aspires to use her new voice, literally and figuratively, to inspire and empower others struggling with…
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