West Kelowna DJs branch into digital-first storytelling
Published 5:30 am Saturday, February 28, 2026
After a lengthy career in traditional radio, a West Kelowna couple have found a new way to uses their voices to entertain listeners in new advertising and marketing formats.
Andy James and Tamara Joel, known as Andy and TJ during their broadcasting run in Kelowna from 2002 to 2021, made a transition into the digital era five years ago with their voice-over brand Married with Mics.
Operating out of their home studio, the couple embarked on a side career doing voiceovers in the latter years of their radio tenure, and made the commitment to launch their new business in 2021.
They say while conventional radio has receded in audience pull, the demand for authentic, human voice across online content, advertising, streaming, social campaigns and branded storytelling has surged.
Through their connections with Toronto, Los Angeles and New York City studios and content producers, James says their business has flourished.
And with the advances or technology, they can be connected with studios elsewhere around the globe from home with no integrity lost on their voicework.
“It has just been incredible how technology has changed our industry,” said James. “I am thankful we have been able to reinvent ourselves from our radio career and thrive. It is so much fun to do, it is hard to consider it work.”
“We have worked with some incredibly creative people and remain thankful for that opportunity.”
“If we had know in 2014 what we discovered in 2021, we would have made the leap sooner but that is balanced against the fear of the unknown when you have kids to feed and the comfort benefits of a regular cheque.”
He says their kids still get a charge out of hearing their voices on social media platforms, but for him comes the realization of how many hands are involved in producing an advertisement or media campaign spot.
“That is what is amazing to me is thinking about that part of it, how many people are involved in the process,” he said.
Andy has voiced national ad campaigns for McDonald’s, Amazon and FanDuel while Tamara has worked with Coca-Cola, Hillshire Farms, J.P Morgan/Chase and most recently Neuriva as the voice for the elephant marketing mascot.
While AI poses issues for voiceover work like most other aspects of the present media world, James says Canada has strong legal protections in place to protect against voice print duplication theft while the U.S. is in the midst of creating the same legislation.
He cited one voice actor in Toronto who took TikTok to court over the usage of her voice and she won, setting a legal precedent of accountability so often lacking in the social media world.
“AI is here now and it come down to licensing your voice for any usage,” he said. “It can be done ethically, but when you replicate someone’s voice (like substituting a created character for a real actor) it just does not sound the same, subtle nuances are missing.”
“To the listener, they may have a hard time figuring out why, they just know somehow it is not genuine and that doesn’t sit right.”
