Voice of the CTA Lee Crooks isn’t a familiar name, but we’ve been listening to him for over two decades

Lee Crooks was first hired as the voice of the CTA in 1998, and his voice has remained a fixture on Chicago buses and trains since the early 2000s. (Morgan Ciocca / Vocalo)

Across Chicago, maybe the most recognizable sound is one drilled into the brains of commuters saying things like, “This is State and Lake.”

The disembodied voice isn’t a robot or AI. It’s voice actor Lee Crooks, whose words have echoed through the CTA’s L trains for more than two decades.