These are the actors who made P.A. announcements on M*A*S*H

One "unseen" P.A. announcer actually appeared in three episodes.

"Incoming wounded," the P.A. system often announced on M*A*S*H, or maybe "One minute to Charlie." These alerts served as a perfect transition device on a groundbreaking show that often shifted between tense and hilarious scenes. However, the P.A. wasn't always broadcasting an alert. Depending on who was on the mic, sometimes the P.A. painted a soothing picture, announced a party or cracked a joke.

For many M*A*S*H fans, a lingering question remains in the back of their brains when the P.A. sounds. "Who is the voice making these announcements?" Considered an unseen character, the M*A*S*H announcer adds a little bit of mystique to the 4077th camp, but for attentive listeners, you likely deduced it wasn't just one actor behind the mic of the P.A.

On M*A*S*H, at least three cast members can be heard making announcements over the P.A., starting right in the pilot episode, where Jamie Farr does all the announcements before we ever see Maxwell Klinger onscreen. The first M*A*S*H episode even ends with Farr introducing the whole cast over the P.A. and using their real names: 

"Attention. Attention. The following personnel are assigned to the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital: Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Loretta Swit, G. Wood, Larry Linville, Gary Burghoff, Karen Phillip, George Morgan, Patrick Adiarte, Timothy Brown, Odessa Cleveland."

Klinger would later also hop on the P.A. in the episodes "Father's Day" ("Attention Major Houlihan. Last call for Major Houlihan. You have a phone call. Oh by the way, it's your father!") and "Operation Friendship," ("Paging Charles Emerson Winchester the living. This is your saviour speaking. You are wanted in the reading room. So for the last time I say, 'Chop chop. Chuck chuck.'"), but Gary Burghoff has Farr beat for more times on the P.A. system.

We heard Radar on the P.A. at least five times, including making this memorable announcement in "The Longjohn Flap":

"Attention. Attention. Here's the announcement you've all been waiting for: Lt. Col. Henry Blake is the proud father of a bouncing baby appendix. Henry's doing fine. And the underwear's been saved!"

But the best time Radar got personal on the P.A. was definitely in "Bombed," when he read everybody a letter from his mom:

"Testing, test... 1, 2, 3. Testing, 1, 2. Radar here, uh... there's nobody on the radio now except 'Seoul City' Sue, so I figured I'd keep you entertained by reading you a letter from my mom. Here it goes. 'Dear Son, I got your lovely letter. You certainly asked a lot of questions. About the car, you may. About Jennifer next door, yes. About Eleanor Simon, she did once or twice but not too much. About your uncle Albert, no on drinking, yes on AA. About the dog Leon, three times in the bedroom, once under the washer and twice on the cat. Testing. About the cat, we don't have one anymore. About your cousin Ernie, he's in the..."

Radar's reading is interrupted by an explosion and quickly morphs into a warning: "Oh! Oh! Here we go again! Watch out!"

We also heard Radar on the P.A. in an episode that saw a rare appearance of Henry Blake on the P.A., "Check-Up." Radar was testing the mic, "Testing, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Testing, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. I got a gal in Kalamazoo..." before we heard Blake begrudgingly announce:

"Attention. Attention, please. May I have the attention of each and every personnel, please. This is your commanding officer, Colonel Blake. Now, it's required that uh... everyone be given a routine medical check-up. This, according to a new Army regulation, which is uh... your uh... RP78-stroke-8-O-double 78J... uh blah blah blah. Now, accordingly, enlisted men will fall into the mess tent to receive their physicals. Officers will examine themselves and vice versa in private." Blake then says to Radar still on the mic: "Is there anything else I should tell them, Radar? Okay." Then he returns to the regular bulletin: "Tonight's movie is a double feature: Godzilla and the Bobbiesoxer plus Ma and Pa Kettle Have a Baby."

But most times we heard voices on the P.A., there were two actors doing most of the voice work on M*A*S*H, Todd Susman and Sal Viscuso. Susman voiced the P.A. Announcer in 47 episodes from 1973 to 1979, including most notably "Abyssinia, Henry," "5 O'Clock Charlie," "Of Moose and Men" and "Welcome to Korea." In "Welcome to Korea," we even heard him make a pretty important M*A*S*H introduction:

"Attention. Attention, please. The following personnel are permanently assigned to the M*A*S*H 4077: Alan Alda as Hawkeye, Mike Farrell as B.J. Hunnicutt, Loretta Swit as Hot Lips Houlihan, Larry Linville as Frank Burns, Gary Burghoff as Radar O'Reilly, William Christopher as Father Mulcahy, Jamie Farr as Corporal Klinger, and reporting for duty as new commanding officer at 1600 hours 19th September 1952, Harry Morgan as Col. Sherman Potter, Regular Army. God help us all."

Susman appeared once on M*A*S*H, as Private Danny Baker in "Operation Noselift," and he has appeared on TV from the 1970s right up to today, with his activity really spiking in the 1980s in memorable guest appearances on hit shows like The Facts of Life (he played the prison warden in "Christmas in the Big House") and ALF (he gets saved by ALF as Willie's coworker who was also secretly in witness protection in "Hide Away").

Todd Susman on M*A*S*H

Todd Susman on The Facts of Life

Todd Susman on ALF

Sal Viscuso, on the other hand, actually appeared in three episodes of M*A*S*H, in addition to recurring roles on sitcoms like Mary, Mary (Sikanda), Soap (Tim Flotsky), and Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Bobby Bigmouth). He even joined the cast of the short-lived series The Montefuscos. But on M*A*S*H, we saw him twice in a patient bed and once at confession with Father Mulcahy.

Sal Viscuso on M*A*S*H episode ''Dear Sigmund''

Sal Viscuso on M*A*S*H episode ''Post Op''

Sal Viscuso on M*A*S*H episode ''Tea and Empathy''

But much more frequently, Viscuso voiced the P.A. announcer for M*A*S*H, totaling 40 times from 1976 to 1979 including episodes like "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "Potter's Retirement," "Dear Comrade" and "Preventive Medicine." Our favorite was probably this warning for Klinger that rang out in "Fade In, Fade Out": "Attention. Corporal Klinger report to Col. Potter's office on the double and bring your lawyer."

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28 Comments

WILD 36 months ago
Todd Susman was on M*A*S*H as the P.A. System Announcer for 46 episodes.
WILD 36 months ago
Todd Susman was P.A. Announcer (voice) on the Futurama episode: "War Is the H-Word".

"War Is the H-Word" is the second episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired on November 26, 2000. The episode parodies several war films and shows, including Starship Troopers, Star Wars and M*A*S*H.
WILD 36 months ago
When Sal Viscuso was on Soap he played Father Timothy Flotsky who left the priesthood to be with Corinne (Jessica's adopted daughter. Corinne was courting Father Tim (Viscuso), who ended up leaving the priesthood, with the two eventually marrying and having a child who is possessed by the Devil.
MASH_lady 52 months ago
Potter and Charles also made announcements over the PA system at least one time each.
Equinox MASH_lady 32 months ago
Potter when announcing his favorite movie.
Charles berating the camp over the newspaper.
Father Mulcahy lecturing about the stolen money.
Hawkeye after taking a 24-hr break from making jokes.
Hawkeye when Radar is going home.
TobyGibbs 60 months ago
I urge MeTV to recheck its claim that Jamie Farr served as the p.a. announcer in the pilot episode. In my opinion, it sounds NOTHING like him. It does, however, sound a lot like Bill Idelson, an actor (and future "M*A*S*H" writer) who played Herman Glimscher on 'The Dick Van Dyke Show.'
And there's at least one more "M*A*S*H" p.a. announcer who is heard on several episode late in the first season and early in the second. Listen to the p.a. announcer in 'Ceasefire,' the second-to-last episode of the first season. That is neither Susman nor Viscuso. Some sources say it is an actor named Jimmy Lydon. 'Ceasefire' is just one of several episodes with that p.a. announcer. 'Five O'Clock Charlie' is another.
But I feel confident the p.a. announcer in the pilot is not Jamie Farr. Farr is alive. Somebody ASK him!
WILD TobyGibbs 36 months ago
Idelson guest starred on episodes of Dragnet, The Twilight Zone, My Favorite Martian, The Odd Couple, Happy Days, Perry Mason and Will & Grace, in which he appeared along with his wife and daughter.

He wrote the Long Distance Call episode of The Twilight Zone (1960) for CBS then several episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, leading him to further writing work on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., The Andy Griffith Show, Get Smart, The Odd Couple, M*A*S*H and Happy Days. He received two Writers Guild Awards for best episodic comedy, one for an episode of Get Smart and the other for an episode of The Andy Griffith Show.

His producing credits included The McLean Stevenson Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Anna and the King and Love, American Style.
WILD TobyGibbs 36 months ago
Viscuso was one of two regular public address announcers in the series M*A*S*H. The more commonly heard voice was that of actor Todd Susman. Some sources also list Viscuso as the PA announcer in the film MASH, though this is not accurate. (The voice of the PA announcer in the movie was actor David Arkin, who played Sgt. Vollmer as well.)
JM4415 TobyGibbs 27 months ago
I think it was S1E10, "I Hate a Mystery", not the pilot. The PA voice sounds much more like Jamie Farr than Sussman or Viscuso. Listen carefully to the announcement about tonight's movie being Les Misérables and see what you think.
Wiseguy 65 months ago
Both Todd Susman and Sal Viscuso guest-starred on Barney Miller.
DamienIrons 65 months ago
Was there two PA systems? In the episode "Private Charles Lamb" Frank is standing by the door of Henry's office when an announcement is made then walks thru the outer office and NO ONE IS THERE!!!!!
DaveCreek DamienIrons 36 months ago
I also wondered where the P.A. announcer was, when it wasn't one of the regular characters. It almost seemed, especially when "incoming wounded" was announced, that the notification was coming from a different location, but that didn't make any sense.
mjjg 66 months ago
I was going to say that as well he played Private Danny Baker and had a nose operation
jerilynn 66 months ago
I was going to comment on the overlooked fact of Todd Susman being on M*A*S*H in "Operation Noselift" (S2, Ep18). It seems others beat me to it.
Deleted 66 months ago
This comment has been removed.
cperrynaples 66 months ago
Oh come on. these spam posts are becoming absurd! Get-rich-quick schemes I accept, but male-growth drugs? Stephanie, even you have to agree this has gone too far!!
Kathleen 66 months ago
Sussman was in the episode Operation Nose lift. Yall better watch the series more carefully.
TerrellMartin 66 months ago
You would think that before they throw these out they would check for facts... M*A*S*H fans are like Star Wars fans... WE KNOW THE DETAILS lol
JosephBurt 66 months ago
Contrary to the article Todd Susman appeared as Private Danny Baker in Operation: Noselift. He wore a prosthetic nose and wanted to have elective surgery. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0638374/
cperrynaples JosephBurt 66 months ago
Are you sure it was a prosthetic nose...LOL! Yes, it's not as big as Klinger's, but it sticks out!
ndebrabant 66 months ago
They are wrong about Todd Susman not being on M*A*S*H. He was in the episode Operation Noselift (1974) as Private Danny Baker. He got a nose job.
KJW 66 months ago
Susman did appear on the show as PVT Baker in season 2 “Operation Noselift”.
cperrynaples 66 months ago
Both Susman and Viscuso have long credits on IMDB and I think they're both alive! Those guys have such distinctive voices that if you played the audio, I could tell which is Susman and which is Viscuso!
cperrynaples cperrynaples 66 months ago
PS Yep, they're alive and working! Susman is 72 and plays a judge on Bull, while Viscuso is 70 and was last seen in L&O: True Crime!
After Sal Viscuso's dulcet tones on M*A*S*H were no longer needed, he went and played on SOAP, as a priest.
I remember Father Tim! He had an affair with Corrine and performed an exorcism!
You said you're getting ANNTENNA TV now, right? Well did you know that ATV shows SOAP? Or don't you have an urge to walk down that path of Memory Lane?
Yes Stephanie, I do have Antenna TV and yes I know Soap is on it! At this stage of my life, I have to be selective and Soap just doesn't seem that funny now! Now if they ran Mary Hartman, well that's a whole other story!
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