Christy Springfield

by Coleen Cook, Spectrio Creative Consultant

She’s been a “Talking Christmas Tree,” the Atlantic City beach “Sun Check Girl” and a veteran DJ in Philly radio for more than 30 years. Christy Springfield is still a vocal mainstay in the Philadelphia market. As she laughingly admitted to us, “I’m getting to the point where I don’t like to say how long I’ve been doing this!”

Born and raised near Atlantic City, and an aspiring college theater major, she recalls, “While still in high school around Christmas time, I applied to a local department store for a temporary job. When the store noticed on my resume that I wanted to major in theater, they hired me to be their first ‘Talking Christmas Tree.’ That was my first foray into voice work!”

After high school graduation, Christy won a spot as a Playboy Bunny cocktail waitress in Atlantic City, using DJ as her bunny name while also working part-time at WMID/WGRF Radio. While at the Playboy Club, the stage show producer tapped her to narrate his stage show then, and then later hired her for the same job at New York City’s Rainbow Room.

A year later, Christy moved on, joining Atlantic City’s top contemporary station, WAYV FM 95 as a DJ. Working a variety of shifts, she became the beach front radio station’s trademark ‘Sun Check Girl.’

“The station was on the beach along the boardwalk,” she explains, “so one summer they decided to do something on-air to remind sun bathing listeners to turn over so that they didn’t burn.’ ”The legendary WAYV FM 95 “sun check” for beach listeners was born, running every half hour on summer days, with Springfield voicing the recordings. She recalls, “First, you would hear a little ding on-air, like a bell hop bell, and then I say ‘It’s time to turn over!’ ” The “Sun Checks” rapidly became a station trademark. “I became known as the “Sun Check Girl,” Springfield laughs. “For all I know, they may still be running!”

Packing her bags in 1983 for Philly, Christy joined 98 WCAU-FM as the first female “Hot Hits” jock in the country. When the station changed formats five years later to Oldies 98 WOGL, she survived the shakeup, morphing into the first female FM Oldies jock around.

After ending twenty-two years as a 98 personality, followed by a one year stop at Oldies 950 WPEN, Christy joined 92.5 WXTU in 2006 as a weekend personality, where she’s at today. She’s also added traffic and news reporting for the Total Traffic network to her “to do” list, working under the same of “Donna Bradley” for stations in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Philadelphia. When asked about the diversity of her career, she jokes, “I’m a walking trivia question!”

Along the way, Christy also made her mark as a voice-over talent, now enjoying a long list of credits for narration and commercial work. She’s now -the recipient of a number of ‘Achievements in Radio Awards’ for Best Performance in a Radio Spot (WOGL, WMGK, WXTU) as well as for Best Midday (WOGL) and Weekend Shows (WXTU). On the TV side, Springfield still occasionally co-hosts Dancin’ On Air for WPHL-TV, Dance Party USA for the USA Network, as well as spots with KYW-TV CBS3 and Philly 57.

When not on the air, Christy records for Spectrio (formerly AMS/Audiomax in Bluebell, PA), lending her voice to on hold messaging, and IVR, narrating for clients like Sam’s Club, Aetna US Health Care, Hallmark Gold Crown, Domino’s Pizza, AAA, Sysco and Bayada Nurses, to name just a few.

And these days, She’s also busy passing on her expertise to the next generation, now teaching Temple University students the art of media voice work, and having a wonderful time doing it. With no plans to slow down, Christy continues as one of Philadelphia’s most recognizable names and voices. Listen yourself to find out why we’ve named Christy Springfield a Voice of Choice!