LISA BUSSARD: Hi, my name is Lisa Bussard from Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, and I'm curious to know more about the guy that says, "You've got mail."</s>ELWOOD EDWARDS (voice-over): My name is Elwood Edwards, people know me as El, and I'm the voice of "You've got mail."</s>KATHERINE BORSCENIK, DIRECTOR OF AOL PROGRAMMING: Elwood, in the late 1980's, was a self-described computer junkie, and his wife Karen was a customer service representative that worked at</s>AOL. EDWARDS: I recorded phrases on a cassette tape and it was digitized into the software, initially as a test, and it caught on. The "You've got mail" phrase is heard in excess of 40 million times per day.</s>BORSCENIK: There's a bit of a mystique behind Elwood. I think it's a little bit less important about who Elwood is, but what that phrase has come to represent for so many people. Really, it's synonymous with getting e-mail, and it's a personal voice on top of what is a technical experience, getting mail delivered. Elwood's voice will remain as part of AOL. It's pretty much associated in our customer's mind with the happy experience of receiving e-mail.</s>EDWARDS: It has become something that is a normal part of so many people's daily lives.
Ask CNN: The Man Behind AOL's `You've Got Mail'